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Today is Jan. 22, 2021.

 
  • Last chance for vitamin D! Today and tomorrow will have highs of 29, with a little more sun peeking through tomorrow. Fun's over on Sunday though. We should see some snow and maybe some accumulation.
     
  • A local couple went viral on Facebook recently with their musical salute to Northeast Ohio's bumpy roads. In the style of John Denver, of course.
     
  • Today's email is super text-heavy. It's like reading a phone book. Sorry about that. Unsurprisingly, all the GIFs I could find online related to Mantua are not about our Mantua.

Covid

The waiting is the hardest part



Local health officials briefed us yesterday on the next phase of vaccination and how the county is moving forward. As of now, Ohio isn't receiving enough doses of the vaccine to keep up with the demand or with the schedule proposed by Governor DeWine. 

Portage County Health Commissioner Joseph Diorio said the county has the plan and the infrastructure in place to administer many more vaccines than they're currently receiving.

"We could have been done with the 1A group weeks ago," he said, "but we are only receiving limited quantities of vaccine."

Here's what we know:
 
  • The health district is finishing up this week with the first phase of vaccinations, including the second dose, for nurses, doctors and other care workers. 
     
  • Starting this week, residents aged 80 and up can register here to be placed on a scheduling list for vaccination. You can also call 330-296-9919 Ext. 400.
     
  • There's a list available of pharmacies and other vaccine providers that will be receiving small quantities of the vaccine for general distribution.
     
  • There will be a pop-up testing site in Kent on Jan. 28 and 29. More information here on that.
 

The Portage County Administration Building is opening back up


On Monday the building will be open with staff for regular Monday through Friday hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office will be taking extra measures to follow Covid guidelines and to keep the staff safe.
 
  • Masks will be mandated inside for both staff and visitors, and temperature scanners are placed at the main entrance. 
     
  • The office has consulted with the local emergency management agency to work out best practices. "We can do it safely," Emergency Management Director Ryan Shackelford told us, because of the "tireless efforts to place mitigations measures in each county office."

Village people

Notes from Tuesday night's Mantua Village Council meeting


As The Portager grows, one of our top priorities is to provide more local government coverage from all across the county. It's not something we can do comprehensively right away because I have to commit a reporter for most of an entire day's shift to attend meetings and follow up with officials to get more context and clarification. And we only have... one reporter.

But whenever we've asked in surveys what kind of coverage you want, local government tops the list every time. Which is great! It means you want high-quality journalism about important topics and not just sensational crime stories and goofy, irrelevant GIFs.

Happy to oblige. I tapped Michael Indriolo (who else?) to cover Mantua's Village Council meeting Tuesday night. Here's what he found out:
 
  • Councilwoman Paula Tubalkain resigned. She wants to free up time to concentrate on family, friends and herself, she wrote in her resignation letter to the council. If you’ve lived in Mantua for more than one year (per Ohio Revised Code) and you’re interested in filling the position, email Mayor Linda Clark at mantuamayor@sbcglobal.net. 
     
  • The village administrator position is also sitting empty. Clark has been performing village administrator duties while the council re-evaluates the job description. Whether the village administrator will serve as a rental inspector and grant supervisor on top of the job’s other responsibilities is still up in the air. 
     
  • It wasn’t all vacancies. The council approved the appointment of two-year Mantua resident Nina Schroeder to the Parks Board, the Cemetery Committee and the Shade Tree Committee in response to her letter of interest in those positions.
     
  • Amendments to the recent water, wastewater and storm sewer utility merger with Portage County passed, nullifying past legislation from when the village owned those utility facilities. The council clarified that residents will only have to pay the county.
     
  • Construction on the new Dollar General is slated to begin within the next few months in the vacant lot next to Mantua Hardware on Main Street.
Support locally owned news and reach thousands of Portage County's most active residents. Write to ads@theportager.com to learn more about advertising. (Ask about our full-year ad special.)

Letter to the editor

Who is sitting in the Portage County jail?


A few weeks ago I had a letter to the editor in The Portager suggesting it would benefit the citizens of Portage County to look into our policies around incarceration at our local jail, especially for those who are held pre-trial (i.e., have been charged, but not yet had their trial). Thanks to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, we now have information about who is sitting in our jails. (The statistics below cover the period from March 1, 2019, to Nov. 15, 2020.)

It turns out that Portage County is similar to the rest of Ohio in that the majority of the people held in our jail on any given day are awaiting trial — 63 percent to be precise. Almost a third of these folks — about 40 people — have been charged with a misdemeanor.

In our legal system, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and it is likely that many who are there now will have their charges dropped or substantially reduced. Most of these individuals are there because they cannot pay bail, which turns our jails into debtors prisons. Incarcerated people risk losing jobs, housing and access to their children.

Who is really benefiting, when other more humane and inexpensive alternatives, like electronic monitoring, are available for those accused of low-level crimes?

All over the country, we see that reform-minded prosecutors are getting elected to pursue improvements for their local criminal justice system. Prosecutor Vigluicci, what kinds of reforms is your office pursuing? How can you help make pre-trial decarceration the new normal in Portage County?

A Portage County grassroots action team, organized through the ACLU, has formed to examine local criminal justice practices and to pursue potential reforms. New members are welcome. Our next team meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 27 via Zoom. Register here.

Kathy Kerns

The Portager publishes a range of opinions from our readers. You can submit a letter to the editor by writing to editors@theportager.com.

News briefs

Stow native arrested on terrorism charges




Cole James Bridges, a U.S. Army soldier, was caught making plans online to blow up the New York City 9/11 memorial. He was also charged with attempting to provide ISIS with information and advice to ambush U.S. soldiers.

You can read the full story from the Associated Press (via Fox 8 News).

More news:
 
  • United Way has $76,269 in grant funding available for nonprofits that provide food, shelter and other resources to low-income communities. See if your organization qualifies and submit an application.
     
  • Old news, but we're just seeing this: Treno Ristorante in downtown Kent is temporarily shut down, the restaurant announced in a post at the start of the new year.
Get out there and enjoy the weekend, folks! We'll see you back here Monday morning. Be safe till then.

Ben

330-249-1338
ben@theportager.com
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Publisher Ben Wolford writes these emails. Reporters Carter Eugene Adams, Roger Di Paolo and Michael Indriolo are contributors. Natalie Wolford is contributing editor. Roger Hoover is the creative director.

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