Best wishes to Crehore in her retirement

BOUQUETS >> To Mary P. Crehore, who announced she is retiring as director of the Avon Lake Public Library after 15 years of service.

Crehore will retire June 30. We learned that Crehore, 68, stayed true to her dreams. Since she was 11 years old, she knew she wanted to become a librarian.

Many people have dreams and achieve their goals. Dreams do change for some.

Not Crehore. She stayed focused.

Crehore’s first library job was at the Amherst Public Library on the public service desk in 1980 and then getting into administration in 1994. She served as director of Grafton-Midview Public Library before joining Avon Lake.

At Avon Lake, she and her team established a Story Book Trail and Little Free Library in the Kopf Family Reservation of the Lorain County Metro Parks. In 2016, the staff planted a garden outside of the children’s department and gave most of the harvest to Community Resource Services in Avon Lake.

We congratulate and wish Crehore the best on her retirement.

BOUQUETS » To Lorain County Probate Court Judge James T. Walther who received the Meritorious Service award June 5 from the Ohio Association of Probate Judges.

Walther was presented the award by the association’s president Judge Jan Michael Long during its annual conference in Warren.

As part of the conference, Walther gave a lecture to more than 70 probate judges on conducting jury trials in Probate Court.

Walther said, “While I appreciate this acknowledgment, it is important to remember that it is my responsibility to educate others about the essential role Probate Court plays in our community.”

Walther is no stranger to receiving accolades. In March, he was the recipient of the Ohio Friend of 4-H Award.

The 4-H Award recognizes businesses and people who have supported the program, but are not members of it.

According to the Lorain County Advisory Committee’s application for the award, Walther allocated $55,400 for 2012; $60,120 for 2013; $58,132 for 2014; and $30,000 for 2015 and requested Lorain County commissioners put funds into the budget for the Ohio State University Extension Office in 2015 and 2016.

These allocations and requests effectively saved 4-H programs in Lorain County at a time when the county was facing a budget shortfall.

Walther is truly deserving of the Meritorious Service award. He has been an effective jurist while sitting on the bench. Both awards prove it.

BRICKBATS » To Jonathan McCann, the 29-year-old Sheffield Township man who will spend 14 years in prison for slashing a woman’s face while she tried to save her friend Aug. 25.

McCann received his punishment for the crimes June 12 from Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John R. Miraldi.

McCann pleaded guilty April 25 to three counts of felonious assault and one count of domestic violence. He also pleaded no contest to a single count of attempted murder.

Police said one of the victims drove her friend, another victim, to her home in the 300 block of East 45th Street in Sheffield Township.

About a minute after dropping her off, the woman received a phone call from the same friend claiming some damage was done inside the house. Then the phone cut off.

The woman drove back to the house and looked through a window and saw McCann lying on top of her friend.

Police said the woman beat on the door and yelled. McCann approached the door and told the woman who returned she was going to die.

McCann attempted to stab her twice in her abdomen, but she avoided the blows, receiving wounds to her arms. He then slashed her and the wounds required 80 stitches.

Both women were present for the sentencing.

If there was a case where someone needs to be off our streets for a long time, this is the one. McCann’s a monster.

BRICKBATS » To Marvin A. Davis Jr., the 23-year-old Cleveland man and former Grafton Correctional Institution official who was sentenced June 12 to nine months in jail for smuggling drugs into the facility.

Davis pleaded guilty May 1 to charges of illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specific government facility, two counts of possession of drugs and trafficking in drugs.

The people who supervised Davis and put trust in him to uphold the law, likely are disappointed in him. He failed them and the criminal justice system.

Davis is a young man who could have had positive impact on younger inmates where he worked. Instead of showing prisoners the right way, he chose to violate the law.

And because of Davis’ bad choices, he’s now in the penal system. Sad.