Fri Feb 10 2012
By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
Major crime reports dropped 6.6 percent from 2008 to 2009 in Kent. In the past 10 years, major crimes have declined nearly 27 percent. That's good news.
One category, however, saw a 100 percent increase from 2008 to 2009: Criminal homicide. The assault that led to the death of Kent State University student Christopher Kernich in November was the first homicide in Kent since 2004, when the city saw two murders. Prior to 2004, the most recent homicide in Kent occurred in 2000.
The tally in that category for 2010 has already reached one with the January assault and subsequent death last month of KSU graduate student John T. White.
For those keeping track, since 2000 five people have been murdered in Kent.
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In Kent at least, The Portage Hike and Bike Trail doesn't have much further to go before it stretches like a ribbon of smooth black asphalt and crushed gravel paths between the cities of Ravenna and Tallmadge.
The trails already beckon Kent residents to enjoy two beautiful and serene trips. One ride heads northeast from Crain Avenue toward Towner's Woods and the scent of fresh peach pies at Beckwith's Orchard. Another trip departs from Fred Fuller Park southwest along the glistening Cuyahoga River to its intersection with Middlebury Road.
The trail leg that will connect Fred Fuller Park to John Brown Tannery Park by winding northeast along the river is currently on the drawing board with $750,000 in funding from AMATS, and it could be under construction in late 2011.
Kent Parks and Recreation Director John Idone said connections from Tannery Park through downtown to Crain Avenue will be on-road.
"Just because we feel like downtown is a destination point," Idone said. "Physically it would be difficult to have an off-road usage there."
Theoretically, by 2013 you could hop on a bike in Ravenna and ride all the way through Kent and well into Tallmadge.
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For Maynard Jordan, Haiti is far from a "Caribbean Enigma." The Kent resident has been writing his so-titled book since he began a master's thesis on the country in 1968.
The book covers the island country's history from 1804, when its inhabitants gained their independence from France, until President Barack Obama's inauguration in January 2009.
Jordan stopped with Obama's inauguration because both countries have been so intertwined throughout the years that ending the book with the election of this nation's first black president seemed fitting, he said.
His book is self-published, but Jordan is working to get it on the market. He expects a flood of books on Haiti to fly off the presses following the massive earthquake that struck there in January.
"But they're all going to be after the earthquake," Jordan said.
The book is available on his Web site at www.toughfolks.com.
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Need a passport? You may want to get it now while the price is still moderately affordable.
The U.S. Department of State is weighing a $35 increase that could take effect this year that would bump the cost from the current $100 fee for people 16 and older. The current renewal fee is $75.
Passports are a necessity even for trips across the Canadian border to Niagara Falls. Applications are available at most U.S. post offices.
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Weapons are not allowed on university campuses. Even people with concealed carry weapon permits cannot carry a gun on campus. The weapon must remain locked in the permit-holder's vehicle.
I found that to be an interesting fact given the campus shooting at Ohio State University. KSU Safety Director and Police Chief John Peach assured me universities are exempt from the concealed carry legislation passed in Ohio.
He should know. Peach testified before the legislative committee that finalized the wording of the law.
"And I think (the legislation) is as good as we can get it right now," he said.
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