Congratulations to Fire District on anniversary

BOUQUETS>> To The Madison Fire District on marking its 50th anniversary.

“Madison was seeing a lot of growth in the 1960s and early ‘70s, and the demands by the community for better fire service response were increasing,” said Madison Township Trustee Kenneth Gauntner Jr.

During that same period, both the village and township were dealing with a lack of adequate revenue to operate two separate fire departments with a total of three fire stations, he added.

An opportunity to consolidate operations arose when Ohio House Bill 454 took effect on Oct. 30, 1969. The new state law allowed for the creation of a joint fire district between a village and township, Gauntner explained.

On Feb. 10, 1970, the Madison Township trustees adopted a resolution to abolish its fire department and establish a joint fire district with Madison Village, Gauntner said. Madison Village Council then reciprocated by passing a similar resolution about a week later.

Looking back over the past 50 years, Gauntner believes that the Madison area has benefited by having a joint fire district.

“As fire board trustees, we all work for the benefit of the entire community,” he said. “I have not seen any of the board members I have served with be pro township or pro village. Our votes and decisions in the six years I have been on the Fire Board have been based on what is best for all of the community of Madison.”

Residents can’t ask for more than that from the folks who serve them.

BOUQUETS» To Cleveland Metroparks on the planned September opening of its second Nature Preschool in North Chagrin Reservation.

Comprised of 2,189 acres and spanning areas in Cuyahoga and Lake counties, North Chagrin Reservation is located in Gates Mills, Mayfield Village and Willoughby Hills.

According to Director of Outdoor Experiences Mary Rouse, the first Cleveland Metroparks Nature Preschool opened in Rocky River Reservation in 2018.

“Due to its success and its alignment with our educational mission, we wanted to expand opportunities for families to participate,” Rouse said. “North Chagrin Reservation and its Nature Center offer great opportunities for children to interact with the natural world. In addition, North Chagrin Reservation had space available for us to renovate to build the preschool classroom. It also provides us a great opportunity to serve the community on the east side of the Cleveland metropolitan area.

“For our entire 102-plus-year history, we have been focused on the core pillars of education, recreation and conservation. We know that it’s important to connect children to nature at a young age and the first preschool was an opportunity to help make those connections over an extended period of time through a statelicensed early childhood education program.”

For 2020, a total of 36 students can be enrolled.

What an exciting opportunity for youngsters on the east side of Cleveland.

BRICKBATS» To Larry Dean Harmon of Akron who was indicted federally for a business that authorities said laundered more than $300 million in cryptocurrency used by customers to make illegal purchases from the darknet marketplace.

The 36-year-old was arrested after the unsealing of an indictment handed up by a Washington, D.C., grand jury in December. FBI and IRS agents also searched Harmon’s home and offices in the Akron area and a property he leased in the Central American country of Belize.

Harmon operated a “mixing” or “tumbling” service from 2014 through 2017 that would collect a fee from darknet customers seeking to hide the source or ownership of cryptocurrency from the prying eyes of law enforcement, prosecutors said.

Harmon advertised those services through his company called Helix and operated a darknet search engine called Grams, prosecutors said. He is accused of partnering with the underground marketplace AlphaBay seized by authorities.

Harmon is innocent unless proven guilty, but these charges are troubling. The technology may have changed, but money laundering is still money laundering.

BRICKBATS» To those responsible for dousing an SUV with gasoline and lighting it on fire in Euclid.

The Euclid Fire Department is seeking help identifying the suspects accused of arson.

The incident occurred around 4:20 a.m., Feb. 17, on E. 192nd Street north of Lake Shore Boulevard.

The department has video from a home in the area showing two suspects committing the crime and then fleeing south toward Lake Shore Boulevard.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Euclid Fire Investigators at 216-289-8425.

What are people thinking? They will be caught and made to pay for their crimes.