Titans band sure to thrill parade watchers

BOUQUETS >> To the members of the Lorain High School Titans Marching Band who will travel to Chicago on June 16 to march in that city’s 40th annual Puerto Rican People’s Parade. This will mark another milestone for the band, which has performed in several parades in the past across the country.

Tim Sivik, Lorain High School band director, and Jaime Lopez, vice president of the Lorain High Band Boosters, said many of the band’s 120 members are expected to go to the Windy City.

Lopez, an Admiral King High School band alumnus and father of two Lorain High band members, said, “We want to make the school look good and the city look good.”

Along with area festivals and events, the Lorain High band is not entirely new to traveling for parades that draw thousands in attendance and millions in viewers via television.

The band has traveled to Chicago before, marching in the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival parade, and last fall performed in Detroit for America’s Thanksgiving Parade, one of the largest in the nation.

And in June 2017, the Titans went to New York for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, which included a tribute to the Puerto Rican communities in Lorain and Cleveland.

We congratulate the Titans Marching Band for earning this most recent honor.

BOUQUETS » To Elyria attorneys John Stanley Haynes and Terry Smith Shilling, both 76, who were recognized March 28 by the Ohio State Bar Association for their 50 years of service to the legal profession.

Haynes and Shilling were admitted to the bar in 1968 after both graduated from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Haynes specializes in criminal law and divorce, where he has defended a number of high profile clients in the county.

Shilling served as Elyria law director from 1980 to 2011 and still practices income tax, probate, real estate and business law.

After 50 years of practicing, Shilling said the biggest change has been the ease of communication and the ability to get information by way of technology.

Haynes agreed saying technological advances have cut the amount of time it takes to research considerably.

We congratulate both attorneys for their longevity.

BRICKBATS » To Angela C. Davidson, the 33-year-old Lorain woman who will spend eight years in prison for the Dec. 9, 2016, stabbing death of Kelby Jackson.

Davidson, who was sentenced March 28, had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, two counts of felonious assault and a single count of domestic violence in the killing of Jackson, 28.

In front of Jackson’s family and Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher R. Rothgery, Davidson said she never intended for Jackson to die.

Davidson, who was homeless at the time of the attack, said, “I was just trying to stop him from hitting me any longer. Although it was no secret of the abuse that I was experiencing, things just got harder for all of us to handle.”

Jackson and his parents had allowed Davidson to stay in their Euclid Avenue home while she was on intervention in a separate drug case through Common Pleas Court.

Davidson must pay her debt to society because she took the life of a human being.

During her prison stint, she will have a long time to reflect on her mistakes.

Hopefully, she will learn from them or find herself in trouble again.

BRICKBATS » To Amber N. Digrino, the 32-year-old North Olmsted woman who is facing a charge of robbery after police say she stole items and used pepper spray to escape from authorities trying to apprehend her March 30.

North Olmsted police said loss prevention employees at Walmart, 24801 Brookpark Road, saw Digrino conceal general merchandise valued at $38.23.

Police said loss prevention officers approached Digrino about the items at 3:30 p.m.

She then pointed the pepper spray and released it in the face of one of the workers before leaving the scene.

A short time later, police arrested Digrino at her Clifford Drive residence.

Digrino must appear before Rocky River Municipal Court Judge Donna C. Fitzsimmons on April 12.

Digrino is innocent until proven guilty.

But we hope others think twice about the use of pepper spray.