Students pay fitting tribute to late classmate

BOUQUETS >> To the Elyria Catholic High School students who organized to paint the school’s spirit rock June 12 to remember classmate Jakob Hwang, 17, who died a day earlier from non Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Sara Lanzola, the school’s minister, said, “The rock was originally going to be painted to show Jakob the students were thinking of him, but sadly, plans had to change due to the sad news. The students got behind Jakob throughout his year and a half battle.”

Megan Jancsura, 16, a junior at Elyria Catholic, was one of two girls who organized the painting.

Megan said, “Keileigh Hayes and I both heard about Jakob’s situation and knew we had to do something. We were both deeply saddened by the news and decided the rock was a good place to show him we were thinking of him.”

This was a fitting tribute to Jakob who was loved by many.

BOUQUETS » To Oberlin College for its decision to name the main library in the school’s Mudd Center, 148 W. College St., after Mary Church Terrell, an alumnus and civil rights activist.

Terrell graduated from Oberlin College in 1884.

She worked as a teacher, became a feminist and an activist, was a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women and a signer of the charter establishing the NA ACP.

Terrell also is known for her writing which furthered her beliefs in matters of society and politics.

Her autobiography, “A Colored Woman in a White World,” was published in 1940 and detailed the struggles she faced with gender and race discrimination.

We applaud Oberlin College for honoring Terrell, who was one of the important figures of her generation.

BRICKBATS » To John L. Rowan, the 38-year-old Parma man who confessed to murdering Harold Litten Jr. in 2017.

Rowan, who pleaded guilty, will serve 30 years to life in prison on charges including aggravated murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, aggravated robbery, robbery, theft and tampering with evidence.

Litten, 60, was found May 26, 2017, in an outbuilding on his property in North Ridgeville on Jaycox Road.

His family reported him missing April 20 of that year.

As part of the plea deal, the capital specifications which would have made Rowan eligible for the death penalty were dropped.

Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Laura Dezort said Litten’s family was amenable to the plea deal.

Richard Litten, Harold Litten’s son, gave a statement to the court on behalf of his family during which Rowan interrupted with profanity and repeatedly smiled and rolled his eyes.

The younger Litten said, “I guess we’ll never truly know why you did what you did. To murder, take someone’s life, is beyond barbaric. He had so much family that’s taken from him.”

Richard Litten continued, “You’re a coward; you’re lower than scum. I want you to feel that pain that he felt.”

Simply, Rowan is a monster and he is where he belongs.

BRICKBATS » To Steven F. Cicone, the 47-year-old Elyria man who police say is behind multiple thefts from cars parked inside the University Hospitals Elyria parking garage.

Cicone was charged with two counts of theft and misuse of a credit card.

Elyria police Capt. Chris Costantino said Cicone was caught by officers at 1:30 p.m. June 11 at the parking garage, 630 River St.

Police starting receiving complaints June 2 from people parked in and around the UH parking garage about items stolen from their vehicles.

On June 3, police received a call that a thin white man attempted to use two credit cards that weren’t his at Walgreens, 100 Cleveland St.

Costantino said Cicone was unsuccessful when he tried to purchase $300 worth of gift cards with one card and then tried to use a card that belonged to a woman.

Thefts from cars continued June 6, June 8 and June 9 from the UH Elyria parking garage.

Costantino said, “Fortunately, in two cases Cicone, was caught on tape and detectives went to the hospital to check the tapes. Police saw Cicone in the garage while they were about to leave and arrested him at 1:30 p.m.”

Although police say Cicone admitted to some of the crimes, he is innocent until proven guilty.

But he has a lot of explaining to do.

We applaud Oberlin College for honoring Mary Church Terrell...