2016 vol 8 issue 06 - March 15 2016

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VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 6 | Community News Powered by the Citizens of Westlake and Bay Village | MARCH 15, 2016
More stories, photos
and events online at
wbvobserver.com
Our community’s favorite newspaper,
/wbvobserver written by the residents of Westlake & Bay Village.
» See TRAINING page 2
PHOTO BY KAREN DERBY
by KAREN DERBY
Bay High staff members and
students collaborated with
Bay Village police officers
to prepare for the possibility of
an armed intruder at the school.
The training exercise took place
Friday, March 11 – a day off school
for students and a professional
development day for faculty.
The morning began as
a relaxed gathering in the
cafeteria to enjoy coffee and
donuts. Unexpected gun-shots
soon rang out, and two
armed attackers had students
running for their lives. Most
students quickly escaped, but
several were left
injured by gunfire
and screaming for help. Police
officers killed or subdued the
attackers before tending to the
bleeding students, using tour-niquets
or other first aid for a
variety of gunshot wounds.
The bullets were blanks, of
course, and the injured students
were playing roles. Teachers
who tried to help the injured get
away were asked to leave them
there, as they were an important
part of the officers’ training.
“The training exercise is
based on debriefings we’ve
had covering the Chardon High
School and Newtown shoot-ings,
as well as other shooter
incidents,” said Bay Village
Detective Kevin Krolkoski.
“We do a lot of dry runs on
lockdowns, here in the cafeteria
or during class exchange, but
everyone knows how it’s going
to start and how it’s going to
end,” Krolkoski said. “In this
scenario, no one really knows
how it’s going to start. People
will evacuate the building or
go into lockdown, depending
upon where they are. It’s a real
opportunity to see how people
react in a surprise situation.”
Students later encountered
more gunfire as they congre-gated
in hallways waiting to go
into a class. Teachers quickly
herded kids into classrooms
and barricaded doors, piling
chairs and bookcases to block
entry of any intruder. Smoke
from gunfire filled the hallways,
and one assailant pounded on
doors, mimicking an innocent
classmate desperate to be let in.
Once again, police exchanged
gunfire with the shooters and
overtook them.
“The gunshots were really
frightening at first,” said senior
PHOTO BY DENNY WENDELL
by TARA WENDELL
When you have a sound
plan and stick to it, you
can expect things to turn
out well. Such has been the case with
Westlake. The city administration,
under Mayor Dennis Clough, has a
track record of making wise finan-cial
decisions, from offering business
incentives to investing in infrastruc-ture.
A strong leader surrounded
by a team of capable department
heads and council members sharing
a vision for the future have put the
city on a path of growth.
In a long-awaited decision on the
terms of Westlake’s contract with the
Cleveland Division of Water, the Court
of Common Pleas ruled last month
in Westlake’s favor, finding that the
city is entitled to obtain water from a
secondary provider and is not liable
for any costs to Cleveland Water, as
the water service agreement expired
in March 2015.
» See WESTLAKE page 2
Westlake State of the City address
City moves on from water decision, sets sights on improvements
Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough points out the city’s low sewer rates during his presentation on March 8.
» See COMEDY page 2
Stand-up
comedy
coming to
Westlake
by KEVIN DEFRANK
Why did the chicken walk
into the bar, after it
crossed the road?
Who knows! It is impossible
to determine the intentions of a
chicken. They lack advanced cog-nitive
skills and are not capable of
explaining themselves. But if the
chicken was in or near Westlake
or Bay Village, one might say it
was looking for something fun
to do!
As an alternative for people
to get out and have fun, there
is a series of stand-up comedy
shows coming to Dave & Buster’s
in Westlake.
The project is being called
Laugh Series CLE and the goal
is to produce live entertain-ment
(and better jokes than
the one you read above) for
Westlake Easter Egg Scramble set for March 19
by AL PSOTA
Spring is in the air, Easter
is fast approaching and
both will be celebrated at
the Westlake Easter Egg Hunt
sponsored by the Westlake Town
Criers.
This year the event will be
held on Saturday, March 19, at
the playground in front of the
Westlake Recreation Center,
28955 Hilliard Blvd. This is a
free event for children age 10
and younger.
Promptly at 1:00 p.m., chil-dren
ages 4 through 6 will take
off on a scramble for wrapped
candy and in search for spe-cial
eggs that are redeemable
for stuffed animals. A second
scramble will be held at 1:30
p.m. for children ages 7 through
10. Simultaneously there is a
non-competitive egg hunt for
children age 3 and under.
Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny
will be passing out candy and
will be available for pictures.
There will also be face paint-ing
and refreshments hosted by
members of the Westlake High
School National Honor Society
as well as a raffle for large stuffed
bunnies.
There is no charge for the
event and a good time is had by
all. Please come early as parking
is limited. 
PHOTO BY AL PSOTA
Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny
will hand out candy at the
Westlake Easter Egg Hunt.
Active shooter
training exercise at
Bay High plans for
the unthinkable
Bay Village police officers train at Bay High
School with staff and students during an active
shooter training scenario on Friday, March 11.