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OBITUARIES

Daniel Brady, 49, of Lockbourne

Mabel Puckett, 93, of Circleville

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2 Sections, 12 Pages

Volume 128, No. 145

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Circleville, OH 43113

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By Steven CoLLinSStaff RepoRteR

CIRCLEVILLE — A Logan Elm science teacher is attending a science cruise where she will assist on a survey of Alaskan walleye pollock in the nations largest single-species ishery.

Kacey Shaffer, a biology and physical science teacher at Logan Elm High School, will leave July 26 for a 19-day survey of the wall-eye Pollock populations in Alaska. She will be participating through the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration’s (NOAA) Teacher at Sea Program.

“Through my experience with NOAA, my students will not only be able to learn irst-hand about exciting research projects at sea, they will be witnesses to them, and on some level, participants in them,” Shaffer said. “Making their learning relevant through my own hands-on experiences is vital to getting students excited about science.”

Shaffer said she was honored to be one of 25 teachers that was selected from more than 200 ap-plicants.

“The congratulatory email came in February, and my reaction was the equivalent to one’s reaction to the best Christmas present they’ve ever received,” she said. “Nearly 700 teachers have had a once in a lifetime opportunity thanks to NOAA, and now I’m one of those 700. That is a humbling thought.”

Jennifer Hammond, Teachers at Sea program director, said the

program gives teachers the chance to work side-by-side with world-renowned scientists with cutting edge technology on the ocean loor.

“Teachers describe this authentic research experience as transforma-tive and one that allows them to bring new knowledge and excite-ment back to their classrooms,” Hammond said.

Tim Williams, superintendent at Logan Elm Local Schools, said the district offers Schaffer its full support.

“The district is proud that Ms. Shaffer was selected by NOAA to participate in the teacher at sea program,” he said. “The trip will allow her to gain valuable knowl-edge that she will be able to share with her students.”

Shaffer said she was excited and nervous for her trip and shocked at the length of the cruise when she found out.

“I found out I was chosen for this year’s ield season back in February, and since then I’ve spent countless hours reading the blog

posts from former Teachers at Sea,” Shaffer said. “That has been valuable in helping me prepare for the scope of work I’ll be doing and understanding what life is like on the ship. I’m anxious to learn about all of the equipment and brush up on my data collection skills. I also think I’ll spend a lot of time up on the bridge watching the waters for sea life.”

Shaffer said she hopes her expe-rience helps to excite the students and get them interested in science.

“I’m a irm believer that if you are excited about the material and can outwardly show the students it is important, they will take an interest,” she said. “It is sort of like a ripple effect. If I can hook a few students in with something awe-some about science, then hopefully they can share that interest with someone and so on. I know that I’ll return from this trip with so much energy and can’t wait to share that with my students.”

Schaffer said with the amount of information that will relate to both biology and physical science that it wouldn’t surprise her to cover it in every chapter of the lesson.

“This trip will be so far outside the box from our typical profes-sional development that the ideas for activities will be brand new,” she said. “It ties perfectly into the beginning of the school year — sharp new pencils, brand new notebooks, thousands of new ideas for lessons and activities.”

Shaffer said the experience going on the cruise will give her a

Logan Elm teacher to take part in science cruise

By AMAnDA PLottSStaff RepoRteR

CIRCLEVILLE — Outside the controversy brewing about the potential sale of the Court Street Intermediate School property, oficials of Lighthouse Baptist Church said they hope to use the property as its main Circleville campus.

Kirk McMahon, superintendent of Circleville City Schools, said the $400,000 bid on the property will be

Church hopes for permanent spot

to call home

By AMAnDA PLottSStaff RepoRteR

CIRCLEVILLE — A single bid on the Court Street Inter-mediate property

would bring $400,000 to the Circleville City School Dis-trict, but Mayor Don McIlroy believes more may be at stake than the short-term monetary gain.

Lighthouse Baptist Church offered the only bid on the property that went for public auction Thursday, a igure that met the minimum bid announced at the time of the sale. Church oficials said they plan to use the property as its permanent Circleville campus.

McIlroy, however, is con-cerned that a church occupy-ing prime commercial property is not the best use of the asset and will not increase economic development in the area.

“We need economic de-velopment here very badly,” he said. “I do not believe the best use of that property is a church.”

McIlroy said his intention is to go to the school board meet-ing on July 30 and ask them to “reject the bid for the good of the community of Circleville and Pickaway County.”

McIlroy said he has spent

the last two years working to get the South Court Street connector project done with ODOT. The project would move the trafic light on U.S. Route 23 near Taco Bell 300 feet south and connect Route 23 to South Court Street.

“The connector project has a great deal of impact

on Circleville and Pickaway County,” he said. “It would provide easier access and the opportunity to rejuvenate the west side shopping center.”

The connector also offers the promise of helping bring in more development in areas such as the old Thomson RCA site, McIlroy said, and ulti-

mately more jobs, more people moving into the community and more students going to the city schools.

He said that some of the bidders at Thursday’s auction were there because he has been talking to them about the area and connector project. He said they saw the potential for

the area but were not expect-ing a minimum bid at the $400,000 level because it was never announced prior to the auction.

“The city worked with the school board to get the prop-erty zoned for retail, and now the connector project will have

Mayor urges board to reject elementary school bid

NaNcy Radcliff

Kirk McMahon, superintendent of Circleville City Schools, addresses potential buyers and others of the details of the auction of the Court Street intermediate property held thursday in the cafeteria. the one and only bid came from Light-house Baptist Church.

“I’m anxious to learn about all of the equipment and brush up on my data collection skills. I also think I’ll spend a lot of time up on the bridge watching the waters for sea life.”

Kacey Shafer, Logan Elm High School Teacher

By DeBrA toBinlogaN daily NewS

LOGAN — Murder suspect Michael J. Napoli of Westerville has been charged with aggravated murder (F-1), aggravated burglary (F-1), and attempted aggravated murder (F-2).

Napoli was identiied by his ex-wife, Kimberly Napoli, as the person who shot her and then turned the gun on and killed James Boergers Jr., 31, of Jack-sonville, Fla., Saturday night.

Kimberly and Boergers were staying at the Wildwoods Back-woods Retreat cabins on State Route 678 when the

Charges iled on murder suspect

Michael napoli

See ChurCh on PAGe A2

See nAPoLi on PAGe A2See CruiSe on PAGe A2

See BiD on PAGe A2

Page A2 Friday, July 25, 2014 Circleville Herald

CommunityCircleville HeraldS E R V I N G A L L O F P I C K A W A Y C O U N T Y

This photo from the May 30, 1975 edition of The Circleville Herald shows the farewell gift received by Gary Dean from the Circleville High School classes of 1975, 1976 and 1977. Dean, now a local realtor, served as the high school band director beginning in 1970. This photo was published as part of the school’s Red and Black page.

Gary Dean

lashback fridayphotos from our archivespresented to the school board

July 30 for approval, and he would like to see the transfer of the title completed on or before Sept. 1.

Ryan Bevan, founding and senior pastor for Lighthouse Baptist Church, said they have been looking for a more per-manent opportunity since they started renting space at Everts Middle School for their services on Sundays.

Bevan said the Lighthouse Baptist Church started in 2003 with eight people in Chillicothe and has steadily grown since then. They currently have two campuses in Chillicothe.

He said the church always wanted to branch out and had eyes on the Circleville area because they received a lot of visitors from Pickaway County.

The church held its irst Sun-day services on March 30 with around 40 people in attendance. Bevan said they have grown to about 80 people in just a few short months. He said on special days and events, they have had over 200 people in attendance and are steadily increasing their growth.

He said the plan is to use the former school as is.

“As we grow and inances allow, we will renovate further,” he said. “We will let the Lord lead.”

Nathan Woodworth, Circlev-ille campus pastor, said he was at a loss of words and excited by the results of the auction and is ready to take the next step with the Circleville campus.

Woodworth said they spend a lot of time setting up and tearing down for services each week at Everts, and a permanent space will give them more time throughout the week for ad-ditional services.

If the bid is accepted and the church moves to the newly acquired property, Woodworth said there will be an increase in responsibilities that comes with the property, such as mowing and cleaning.

“We have a great group of servants ready to jump in and help out,” he said.

Woodworth said that many people questioned the future of the church but he believes that by having a permanent spot, people will see that the church is in it for the long haul.

CHURCHContinued from page A1

incident occurred.The Hocking County

Sheriff’s Ofice reports it was notiied of the incident when Kimberly was able to escape from the scene to the nearby residence of Joe El-lis, who called 911 to report the shooting. Kimberly told Ellis she was shot by her ex-husband.

HCSO deputies, Hock-ing County EMS and a unit from Hocking Hills State Parks responded to the residence where Kimberly reiterated to deputies the shooter was her ex-husband and that he also shot and killed Boergers.

When deputies arrived at the cabin, Michael Na-poli was not located and a statewide BOLO (be on the lookout) alert was issued.

According to Hock-ing County Sheriff Lanny North, HCSO was con-tacted Sunday night by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Ofice advising they had located Michael’s van at the EconoLodge Motel in Jef-fersonville.

A photo of Michael was shown to the motel clerk who conirmed he was a registered guest at the motel since early Sunday after-noon.

HCSO deputies traveled to Fayette County, met with sheriff’s ofice person-nel and then made contact with Michael via phone by a Fayette County negotia-tor advising him to exit the motel room.

North stated investigators continued dialogue with Mi-chael for multiple hours in an attempt to have him sur-render. Deputies eventually gained entry into the room and located Michael with an apparent gunshot wound.

He was lown to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.

It is uncertain at this time the condition of Michael and Kimberly, but North indicated that Kimberly should be walking Friday.

Michael Napoli has not been arraigned at this time because of his condition.

NAPOLIContinued from page A1

renewed energy that will help to keep her from entering a rut and learn more.

“This will be my eighth year at Logan Elm and I don’t want to get into a rut, I never want the kids to think I don’t like teach-ing,” she said. “I absolutely love it, but there is no doubt traveling to a new place and increasing my content-knowledge in this way will be priceless to my outlook on the school year.”

Three years ago Shaffer at-tended Honeywell’s Educators at Space Academy and used what she learned there to develop lessons in the classroom, similar

to what she hopes to do upon her return from the classroom.

“I played the student for ive days and was then handed all of the materials to recreate those STEM (Science, Technology, En-gineering and Math) lessons in my classroom,” she said. “That was one of the best gifts I have ever been given! I can remember how jazzed I was to start that school year. I’m conident this experience will be equally as, if not more, energizing.”

“This is really a once in a lifetime trip and I can’t wait to get on my way,” she said.

Shaffer is writing a blog about her experience, acces-sible at: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/2014/shaffer.html.

CRUISEContinued from page A1

to be looked at to see if it is still feasible,” McIlroy said.

The connector project is scheduled for completion in 2016, but McIlroy said this may mean the city will have to pull out of the project.

Kirk McMahon, district superintendent, said the build-ing was appraised last summer for $575,000 as a special use property. It is now considered general business property, and the school board wanted to get two-thirds of the appraisal value out of the sale.

McIlroy contends the district should have advertised the minimum bid as part of its legal notice for the auction, especially since there was no such minimum placed on the sale of the Atwater Elementary School property that sold sev-eral months ago for $49,000.

“The last thing I expected today is that it would be a minimum bid at the $400,000 level, and it was not an-nounced prior to that,” McIl-roy said. “I am really disap-pointed, and I will be talking to the school board and hope they would rethink this bid.”

McMahon said the school board choose to put a mini-

mum bid on the property since it is considered a general busi-ness property, unlike Atwater, which did not draw the same interest.

McMahon said the school board was advised by its attor-ney that they did not have to make the minimum bid public knowledge until the auction took place. He said they have to do what is best for the school district at this time, but he said he does not feel advertisement of the minimum bid would have changed the outcome.

If the district had received no bids on the property or if the bid is rejected by the school board, McMahon said there are no plans to go back to a public auction.

He said it would cost $400,000 for the demolition and abatement of the Court Street Intermediate property. Once demolished, the prop-erty would go up for sale for $700,000 to $800,000.

If the board approves the sale, the proceeds will be used to enhance the school facili-ties. McMahon said that could include buying desks and computers, or could be used toward the district’s athletic facilities.

COURT STREETContinued from page A1

By The AssoCiATeD Press

CHINO HILLS, Calif. — Al-most every horse rescue in the country is running out of room or money as they continue to be strained by an inlux of abandoned equines, a trend that began during the recession.

Although hundreds of nonproits nationwide care for thousands of horses, resources are stretched thin. When the downturn started seven years ago, some owners got rid of their horses, many donors discontinued contributions to horse charities and adoptions plummeted.

“Some nonproits are down 50 percent,” said Shirley Puga, executive director and founder of the California-based National Equine Resource Network. “If you have a ixed population of animals and your donations go down 50 percent, that’s a huge constraint inancially.”

The economy has turned a corner, but things have only improved marginally for the res-cues, Puga said. An astonishing number of horses are still being abandoned and many people are still worried about their inances and not ready to resume donat-ing or adopting yet, she said.

Abandoned horses keep looding overtaxed rescues

By DeBrA ToBiNLogan DaiLy news eDitor

Dtobin@LoganDaiLy.com

LOGAN — Late Wednesday afternoon, ive misdemeanor (M-2) charges were iled in Hocking County Municipal Court against Hocking County Coroner Dave Cummin.

He is charged with three counts of dereliction of duty; one count of obstructing of-icial business; and one count of coercion.

According to the paperwork iled in Hocking County Mu-nicipal Court, the charges read as follows:

Dereliction of duty — Coroner David L. Cummin did knowingly and recklessly leave Hocking County without any coroner coverage on Jan. 10, 2014, thus leaving us without a coroner. Russell Swackham-mer died unattended and we had dificulty inding his family physician to have him sign off on the death certiicate, which was inally done after several hours.

Coroner David L. Cummin did knowingly and recklessly leave Hocking County without any coroner coverage between July 3 and July 6, 2014, thus resulting in leaving a de-scendant lie in the Hocking Valley Community Hospital Morgue from July 3, 2014, at approximately 2 p.m. until July 5, 2014, at approximately 6:30 p.m. at his direction. This resulted in the Athens County Coroner’s Ofice having to release the body.

Coroner David L. Cummin did knowingly and recklessly leave Hocking County without any coroner coverage on July 19, 2014, through July 20, 2014, thus resulting in failing to respond to the scene of a double shooting with one per-son deceased because he was not in town and told a com-missioner that he didn’t have any money in the lab/morgue and would not send the body for autopsy until he had it in writing that the commissioners would transfer the money into that fund.

Obstructing oficial busi-ness — Coroner Cummin told commissioner Walker that he didn’t have any money in the lab/morgue and would not send the body for autopsy until he had it in writing that the com-missioners would transfer the money into that fund.

Coercion — Coroner Cum-min told commissioner Walker that he didn’t have any money in the lab/morgue fund and would not send the body of a homicide victim for an autopsy

until he had it in writing.During a recent Hocking

County Commissioners meet-ing, commissioner Sandy Ogle said that she had not asked Cummin to ind a coroner to cover for him, but rather to ind someone to cover in his absence.

Cummin stated he has contacted doctors in Hocking County, at the advice of his attorney, and no doctors are willing to cover for him.

Cummin wondered how the county expects 24/7, 365-day service, when he has four chil-dren to take to soccer practices and other places.

Sheets said that if Cummin does not want to do his job, perhaps he should resign and thus solve the problem.

In their Tuesday meeting, the commissioners transferred $10,000 to the coroner’s lab and morgue line item, which covers autopsy expenses. The addition brings this year’s lab and morgue allotments to $28,800.

Commissioner John Walker reported receiving a call from Cummin at 10:30 p.m. Sat-urday. Cummin stated he did not have money in the lab and morgue account and requested an email stating a resolution.

Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf authorized the commissioners to give a resolu-tion by phone call, which they did. Commissioners approved him to immediately transport bodies to Columbus.

At their Tuesday meet-ing, they signed and passed the printed resolution, dated Sunday, July 20. It gave autho-rization for “David Cummin, Hocking County Coroner to transport bodies immediately to Columbus, Ohio” and promised to transfer the funds on Tues-day, July 22.

The commissioners stated that they always put money in the lab and morgue fund as it is needed. Walker said they appropriated the additional $10,000 Tuesday morning to try to get through the end of the year.

Cummin has argued with the commissioners for the past six months stating they cut his 2014 budget, which caused him to lose his two employees. However, the commissioners did not cut his budget, but they did not approve his requested amount. Cummin received the same amount in his 2014 budget as was appropriated in 2013.

Cummin was out of town at the time the charges were iled. He is not scheduled to return until Sunday.

Charges iled against Hocking County coroner

LOGAN