Feeding Deer, Renewal Levies & Fundraisers: A Week In Review

1. The Mentor Schools Board of Education decided to put two renewal levies on the May 2013 ballot during a work session Thursday afternoon.

The renewals, which would not raise taxes if passed, are for an operating levy that brings in about $15 million per year and a 1-mill permanent improvement levy that brings in about $1 million per year.

The Mentor Public Schools district has previously said that, according to the its 5-year financial projection, it needs to pass three levies in the next three years -- two renewals and a new one -- or it will face a $30 million deficit by the 2015-2016 school year.

2. Mentor City Council voted for two ordinances during its meeting Tuesday night that pertain to the city's ongoing deer population management plan.

And, though both passed, neither did unanimously.

The first ordinance added deer to the list of "nuisance animals" in Mentor.

Consequently, it is now a fourth-degree misdemeanor to feed or harbor deer.

Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said the purpose of the ordinance is to discourage deer from coming into residential parts of the city.

3. Several students from the area are still mourning the loss of Ann Anderson, who taught second grade for 15 years at St. Mary of the Assumption School in Mentor.

But, instead of just missing her, her memory motivated them to do good.

Students from St. Mary, Lake Catholic and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin sold T-shirts that say, "We Remember Ann Anderson," and donated the proceeds to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society during the Lake Catholic boys basketball game Friday.

4. Speaking of fundraisers, the family and friends of the Lukasiewicz and Blare family are holding to a fundraiser to help get them back on their feet.

They lost many of their possessions -- including their house, which will need to be rebuilt -- when a man drove a car into their home on Comanche Trail.

The benefit will be 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the LaMalfa Centre in Mentor.

Tickets cost $45 for adults and $10 for children.

The evening includes a sit-down dinner, desserts, entertainment, Chinese auction and raffles. The event page on Facebook has some additional details.

5. One last thing -- find out how Cleats in Mentor decided to change its name to The Happy Moose.