Withrow chosen for council seat
Marlene Arthur, who served on council for three decades, died April 29 at age 87.
According to Ohio Revised Code, the council has 30 days to name someone to fill the seat or the duty falls to the mayor to appoint someone to the seat.
As the May meeting of council took place only a few days after Arthur's death, the mayor and council agreed to deal with the matter at their June meeting, which took place on June 3.
Three applicants expressed interest in the seat: Eric Rawlins, Charlie Withrow and Sandy Daniel.
However, prior to the meeting, Rawlins withdrew his name from consideration.
In the days preceding the meeting, Mayor Jeff Gaskin said discussions with council had resulted in a 2-2 tie between Withrow and Daniel and no consensus had been achieved. He said he was prepared to appoint Daniel to the position.
However, at the start of the meeting, it was announced by members that council member Chuck Austin would be voting, along with Mary Cogan and Brad Adkins, for Withrow.
Cogan said council members had been contacted by Lawrence County Commissioner Colton Copley, who is Arthur's grandson, and he had expressed strong opposition to Daniel filling Arthur's seat.
Gaskin then called for a vote on the matter, stating he would appoint the council's choice.
Cogan, Arthur and Austin voted for Withrow, while members David Classing and Rocky McCoy voted for Daniel.
Each member simply stated the name of their choice, except Adkins, who, in voting for Withrow, added the remark, "He has business experience. He's not anti-business."
This prompted a response from one of Daniel's supporters, who said, "She is not anti-business."
"That's not what the yard sign said," Adkins responded, before Gaskin cut him off and called for order, as Daniel and her sister left the meeting.
Following this, Gaskin went to his office to get a Bible and proceeded to administer the oath of office to Withrow.
However, following the meeting, complications with the seat arose, as it was discovered that Withrow does no meet the residency requirements for the seat.
"He will on Aug. 1," Gaskin told The Tribune on Monday, stating that a one-year residency is required.
Gaskin said the code says the mayor "shall appoint" in the case of a vacancy, according to ORC. "But it doesn't say when."
Gaskin said he intends to wait until the council's meeting in August, which will fall on the fifth of that month, to officially appoint Withrow. The seat will remain vacant for the council's July meeting.
"It was the council's choice," he said.
Gaskin pointed out that Arthur's seat was on the ballot this November, and her term expires at the end of the year.
"So it's only six months left," he said.
He said candidates, including Withrow, should he choose to run, have until Aug. 6 to file petitions for the board of election for the November election.
In other business at the June 3 meeting, the council:
—Heard from several residents, led by Michael Chapman, who sought for the village to vacate an alley behind their homes on Mulberry Street.
Chapman stated the alley is grassy and graveled and that he and other residents maintain it.
"The property is not being used," he said. "And it hasn't in years."
Gaskin asked Chapman what he planned for the property and he said he hoped to extend his garage into his portion. He said the residents would split the alley between them.
He said they were able to get signatures from five of the six property owners in favor of the village vacating the alley.
The group was advised they would need to come back and present a request with six signatures for the council to consider a vacation.
—Heard from Jeremy Clay, of Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation, who gave an update on projects at The Point industrial park.
Clay's visit, previously scheduled, came days after it was announced that health food company Azure plans to open a facility in South Point, bringing 150 jobs with it. The facility is expected to open in July 2026.
"And they are bringing no one with them," Clay said of the jobs at the new location. "They will be hiring top to bottom. This is a big win for the community."
—Heard from Linda Main, of People for the Point, who reminded the room that the nonprofit's Party in the Park will take place July 5 at the village park, with fireworks set for 10 p.m.
—Voted to repeal an ordinance, passed earlier this year, in which public employees would pay 10 percent of their benefits. This reverted to the previous setup, in which the village paid 100 percent of benefits.
—Heard from Gaskin, who said the village is receiving $200,000 from the Ohio General Assembly in its capital projects legislation, to build an outdoor amphitheater. Gaskin said the structure, which be approximately 50 feet long, would be used for concerts and showing movies.
—Authorized Gaskin to request a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for improvements on the village's riverfront. The village received $1.2 million last year from the General Assembly in funds Gov. Mike DeWine set aside for the state's Appalachian counties. The funds Gaskin is seeking would be used for that project.
—Heard from fire chief Mark Goodall, who said the village's new fire truck, a 2025 model, was brought to Lawrence County and made an appearance in the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade, before being returned to the manufacturer for additional work and completion.
You Might Like
News
Area students named to OU's Spring 2025 President's List
News
DeWine, mental health leaders unveil 988 license plate
News
Concert series returns Tuesday night
News
DeWine announces Ohio Missing Persons Working Group recommendations
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Morro Bay engineer announces candidacy for SLO County Board of Supervisors
Another candidate has entered the race for the District 2 seat on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, but he isn't a totally new face. Michael Erin Woody, a civil engineer from Morro Bay, has a history in local politics. He ran as a Republican against Salud Carbajal for his seat in Congress in 2018, and previously intended to run for the District 2 Supervisor seat in 2022, but was pushed out of the race due to redistricting. Woody left the Republican party six years ago during the first Trump administration and now has no political party affiliation, he told The Tribune. He also sat on the Fresno City Council for one term in 1992, The Tribune previously reported. Woody, who sits on the Salinan Tribal Council of SLO and Monterey counties, is running on a platform of environmental stewardship, government transparency and giving voice to coastal communities who have been 'ignored by local politicians,' he said in a news release announcing his campaign. 'For too long, District 2's coastal communities from Los Osos to the Monterey County line have not been heard by local politicians,' Woody said in the release. 'This election will decide the future of this region, and we cannot afford to destroy our Central Coast values and lifestyle.' District 2 encompasses SLO County's northern coastal communities including Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cayucos, Harmony, Cambria, San Simeon, parts of San Luis Obispo and Ragged Point extending to the Monterey County line. The seat has long been held by Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who in Mahy announced he would not seek reelection after 20 years on the board. Instead, Woody will go up against local business leader Jim Dantona, president and CEO of the SLO Chamber of Commerce, who announced his candidacy last month. The primary election will be held on June 2, 2026. 'This is a perfect fit with my background, profession and education, and my cultural background,' Woody said. 'I think this would be a great fit for me in order to serve this community as a whole and see what I can do to affect some real change out here and give voices to people that candidly don't have voices out here.' Well-known business leader announces run for SLO County Board of Supervisors District 2 candidate has a background in local government and tribal leadership Woody studied civil engineering at Fresno State and earned his master's degree in public administration from Harvard. He has been a licensed civil engineer in California for over 25 years and founded Struct One Engineering & Construction in San Luis Obispo in 2014. He previously sat on the Fresno City Council for one term, serving as vice chair of the Fresno County Transportation Authority and holding other appointments in the city's police, fire and retirement agencies. In 2016, he served as senior policy advisor during Katcho Achadjian's congressional campaign. Woody's community engagement also extends beyond his background in local politics. As the Salinan Tribal Council's primary liaison to multiple state and federal government agencies, Woody worked with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through which he helped the tribe apply for federal acknowledgment, which is pending, he said. As an indigenous tribal member, Woody said he brings with him a very different perspective from the other county supervisors and candidates. 'When people talk about what's going on in the oceans or what's going on out here, we see it differently, and a lot of times, those unique voices have been lost,' he told The Tribune. ' I'd like to share that with people and give that different perspective to our public discussions.' In Morro Bay, Woody has served on multiple city lease review and budget review committees and as vice chair of the Citizens Finance Committee, he said in the release. He is also involved in the Carrizo Plains Native American Advisory Council and previously served on the Morro Bay Maritime Museum Board of Directors, he said. 'My unique combination of education, professional experience, and community involvement brings to this office the qualifications needed to represent District 2,' Woody said in the release. 'As both an engineer who understands infrastructure and environmental impacts, and a tribal leader with deep roots in environmental stewardship, I have the technical knowledge and cultural perspective to protect our coastal communities while ensuring responsible development.' What is Morro Bay candidate's platform? Having intended to run for District 2 Supervisor before, Woody has a clear vision of how he would use his time on the board. His largest concerns involved the environmental protection of SLO County, government transparency in public works projects and enacting local campaign and governance reforms. 'As both an engineer and a Salinan Indian who serves with pride on his tribal council, I take very seriously the idea of environmental stewardship,' Woody said in the release. 'I will give a voice to our coastal communities that are not being listened to.' One recent example he pointed to was the recent Moss Landing battery fire in Monterey County. The company that ran the facility wants to build a similar plant in Morro Bay, but Woody said coastal residents' concerns with the project have gone unheard. 'A similar fire in Morro Bay would force evacuation of over 10,000 residents across Morro Bay, Los Osos and Cayucos,' he said in the release. As supervisor, Woody would propose updating county code and zoning to prohibit battery storage facilities within three miles of sensitive areas including schools, neighborhoods, parks and coastlines, he said in the release. He also called for more transparency in major public works projects, calling out the proposed offshore wind project off the coast of Cambria and San Simeon for engaging in 'bait and switch' tactics. 'Initially presented as 100 turbines at 600 feet tall covering 70 square miles, the project has grown to upwards of 600 turbines at 1,100 feet tall covering nearly 400 square miles,' Woody said in the release. 'This type of deception has become all too common in San Luis Obispo County.' Lastly, Woody calls for comprehensive campaign finance and governance reforms, including enacting term limits for supervisors, limiting campaign contribution to $500 per donor and banning corporate and Political Action Committee donations. 'It really is time that we start having such things as term limits contribution limits and completely banning all PAC and corporate donations,' he told The Tribune. 'To me, these are just common sense things to do in order to start making these offices more responsive to the community as a whole.' Solve the daily Crossword
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
University of Chicago considers restructuring arts and humanities division to cut costs
The University of Chicago is considering a substantial restructuring of the school's Division of the Arts and Humanities to cut costs, citing historic financial strain under the Trump administration. 'University leadership is looking across the entire institution for ways to significantly reduce costs and increase revenue, while continuing to fulfill our mission,' Nelson wrote in the email. The faculty-led committees were instructed to propose changes by the end of August. The Chicago Maroon, the university's student newspaper, first reported on the reorganization efforts Monday. A U. of C. spokesperson told The Tribune in a statement that similar 'focused planning' is taking place across the university. 'This spring and summer, academic leaders across every school and division have been working with faculty and other colleagues to make timely strategic plans for this academic year and years to come,' the spokesperson said. The move comes as the Trump administration exercises increased scrutiny against colleges and universities across the country, including taking steps to pull funding at elite institutions. Nelson pointed to cuts to federal research funding, shifting policies surrounding international students and graduate student loans, and general volatility in the American economy as sources of U. of C.'s underlying fiscal pressures. The proposed changes could be enacted for the 2026-27 academic year, she told faculty. 'The status quo is not an option,' Nelson wrote. 'To simply copy and paste means the inkpad will run dry, and the Division of the Arts & Humanities will very soon be a pale, indecipherable version of what we once aspired to be.' Nelson has been communicating with faculty since January about efforts to plan for the division's future, the university spokesperson said. More than 40 faculty members are participating in the committees. The committees target five different areas for restructuring and cuts: college teaching, divisional organization, languages, master's programs and PhD programs. Each group received a list of 'questions for exploration,' according to documents reviewed by The Tribune. Among those questions: 'Could we envision an organization with 8 departments?' and 'Are there languages we no longer need to teach?' Faculty members described an environment of confusion and frustration in the division, as speculation swirls about the impact of possible cuts. Tyler Williams, an associate professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and a member of the languages committee, said much of the group feels unequipped to suggest changes in a limited time frame. Many are hesitant to propose any spending reductions. 'The process is too fast and too uninformed,' Williams said. 'We're being asked to think of suggestions that could affect dozens of jobs, which could affect the way all languages are taught at the University of Chicago.' Other committees have prioritized identifying changes that would minimize the impact on students. Daisy Delogu, a professor of French literature, was assigned to the PhD programs committee. Her focus has been on finding ways to streamline the PhD process to reduce administrative spending. 'We've been asking ourselves, 'Are these requirements evaluating or advancing students towards certain goals? Do we have milestones in place that are meaningful to students' learning? Or do they feel kind of like giant hoops?'' Delogu said. Some faculty members fear the reorganizing efforts could jeopardize the work of small, specialized departments and their professors. Andrew Ollett, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, specializes in philology and Sanskrit. Because the discipline is so specialized, class sizes are often small — but the department is nationally ranked, Ollett said. 'We have a historic department that has had many luminaries associated with it in the past,' Ollett said. 'I'm really shocked to think that we could just cease to exist over the next year, without substantive discussion, without real faculty consultation, without a review of our program.' In recent years, U. of C. officials have outlined plans to reduce the university's climbing deficit, which topped $288 million last year. But a slew of federal changes under President Donald Trump have thrown the higher education landscape into uncertainty. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have frozen or terminated millions of grants, with little communication to researchers and universities. U. of C. relied on $543 million in federal grant funding in 2024, which accounted for 18% of its revenue, according to bond issuance documents. The school has also faced inquiries from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security on admissions practices and international students. In her email, Dean Nelson highlighted the threat of an increased tax on the university's $10 billion endowment under Trump's 'big beautiful bill.' Federal legislators initially proposed a draft that would have cost the school more than $50 million in additional taxes — but the final version of the bill has no impact on U. of C. based on its student-adjusted endowment. 'The looming federal crisis seems to me to have been very substantially diminished or postponed,' said Clifford Ando, the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Classics. 'So why not put the brakes on and run this process deliberately and carefully?' It's not the first structural change in recent months – U. of C. announced the merger of the Division of the Humanities and UChicago Arts in April. That move was a strategic decision to 'better reflect and support the incredibly vibrant intellectual and creative community' at U. of C., the spokesperson said. Nelson framed the committees as a way to ensure thoughtful faculty input wth restructuring. The Division of the Arts and Humanities remains in a 'relatively good budget position' heading into the upcoming fiscal year, she said. 'If we do nothing, or if we become divided, we will essentially hand over control of shaping the future of the arts and humanities at UChicago to others outside our division,' Nelson wrote.
Indianapolis Star
2 days ago
- Indianapolis Star
Transgender Hoosiers push back on ban on driver's license gender changes. Will opposition matter?
Dozens of Hoosiers testified on July 22 in opposition to a proposed rule change by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles that would prohibit gender marker changes on driver's licenses, an effort stemming from Gov. Mike Braun's executive order from March that aimed to promote the 'biological dichotomy between men and women' and discourage 'modern gender ideology.' BMV leaders, though, likely don't have much power to significantly alter the proposed rule since the agency has to comply with Braun's order. "While we are committed to ensuring that all voices and points of view are heard and considered," Gregory Dunn, executive director of communications for the BMV said in a statement, "we also have a responsibility to carry out our duties as defined by law." What was intended to be an hour-long public hearing stretched nearly three hours as speakers criticized what some described as an intentionally anti-transgender initiative by state elected officials. Among them were transgender Hoosiers and advocates alike, including a 15-year-old nonbinary teenager looking to get their driver's license and a man with an intersex partner. Before Gov. Braun's order, people could change gender markers on their licenses by obtaining a court order, a process speakers described as arduous. Under the proposed rule change, the gender on an individual's driver's license must reflect their biological sex determined at birth. An 'X' will no longer be allowed in place of a gender marker for nonbinary people. While driver's licenses that have already changed will remain valid, new licenses issued must follow the updated guidelines. Shortly after Braun's executive order, the Indiana Department of Health told local health departments to stop accepting requests to change genders on birth certificates. When a health department subsequently refused to change the gender of a teenage transgender girl on the birth certificate, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued the governor for allegedly violating the equal protection and privacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The executive order has not been the first challenge to the BMV's policy of changing gender markers. In 2020, then-Attorney General Curtis Hill issued an advisory opinion saying the BMV did not have the authority to issue an 'X' as a gender marker. That opinion eventually led to an Indiana Court of Appeals decision in 2024 that determined 'gender' has the same legal meaning as 'sex" when it comes to laws pertaining to motor vehicles, a precedent that was cited by a regulatory analysis of the proposed rule change. That same regulatory analysis became a point of contention for some speakers, specifically one line that listed 'impacted parties' as 'none.' Those who testified cited scientific studies, legal principles, Bible verses and poems. They described hypothetical scenarios where the proposed rule change could cause more confusion at traffic stops, in hospitals and even when issuing a description for a missing person. Among the speakers was Kit Malone, a transgender woman and former strategist for the ACLU who said the change will impact transgender Hoosiers in everyday scenarios where IDs are required, like bars, movie theaters and grocery store checkouts, because many will not look like the gender listed on their ID. 'I updated my ID because it was getting weird not to,' she said. 'I was getting looks.' Eli Lucas, a transgender man who works for a Fortune 500 company in Indianapolis, said the change affects hardworking taxpayers like himself. He said he feared the change could complicate police interactions, enhance the risk of violence and create humiliation in everyday interactions that require an ID. 'We transgender Hoosiers are your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends and your family who simply want to live without fear,' he said. Others spoke to the broader political climate, referencing a pastor who delivered a sermon in June at an Indianapolis church where he told congregants to pray for the deaths of LGBTQ+ people. Some who testified said they had friends who had left Indiana because of its attitude toward transgender people, but that they loved the state they grew up in too much to follow them. Amy Kleyla, a combat veteran and 50501 protest organizer, said the national environment had gotten increasingly hostile as well. She said she transitioned 28 years ago but has never experienced as much hate as she has this year. 'That hate is force fed into the American people right now,' Kleyla said. The BMV did not provide details about how much the agency could modify the proposed changes to still comply with Braun's executive order. "Hoosiers have too many pressing needs to spend their tax dollars trying to redefine what it means to be a boy or a girl," Braun previously said when he signed the executive order. "Today's executive order will end any confusion about our state's policy on this issue so we can focus on my goal to secure freedom and opportunity for all Hoosiers."
