AKRONHealth talk Oct. 19AKRON: Ron Rett, interim director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Summit County, will speak at the Community Welfare Forum luncheon on Oct. 19.The luncheon will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 292 E. Market St. Those not eating are asked to arrive at 12:30 p.m.Cost is $7.50, payable at the door. RSVP by noon Thursday to Chris Donatelli by email at cdonatelli@all4youth.org or by phone at 330-864-1359.Issue 2 discussionAKRON: The League of Women Voters of the Akron Area will sponsor a panel discussion of the impact of state Issue 2, a November ballot issue on restricting public employee unions. The panel of speakers includes state Sen. Tom Sawyer and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.The event will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Summit County Red Cross, 501 W. Market St. STOWCampaign eventsSTOW: Scott Buck, a Stow mayoral candidate, will have several open discussions and fundraisers this month.The open discussions will be from 7 to 8 p.m. every Monday in October, beginning this Monday, and from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday from this Wednesday through Nov. 2. The events will be on the first floor of the Stratford Place, 4301 Darrow Road in Stow.The “meet and greet” fundraisers will be Wednesday at On Tap, 4396 Kent Road; Oct. 18, at Beef O’Brady’s, 3732 Darrow Road; and Oct. 27 at On Tap. The events will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Cost is $25 per person and includes appetizers and a drink ticket.For information, visit Buck’s campaign website at
buckforstowmayor.com. AROUND OHIOPaper box theftsCANTON: Two neighboring newspapers in Northeast Ohio say 40 of their outdoor vending machines have been stolen in the last two months.On their websites, the Repository of Canton and the Independent of Massillon offer a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the thefts.The papers have posted video of a man and woman driving off from a restaurant with a metal vending box from each publication in the back of an SUV.Deputy police Chief Brian Carbenia in Stark County’s Perry Township tells WJW-TV the thieves may be taking the machines for the coins inside, or to sell them for scrap. He says scrap yards have not reported receiving any of the vending racks, but four turned up at an unattended recycling facility.Job choiceCLEVELAND: Nearly 50 county government employees in Cleveland have been told to quit their outside political positions or they’ll be fired.Cuyahoga County has given the workers a Friday deadline.According to the Plain Dealer, consultants concluded that the workers are classified employees forbidden by state law from holding elected office or serving on precinct and party executive committees.The directive comes from County Executive Ed Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat elected last year to replace a corruption-tainted three-commissioner government.Parma Councilman Roy Jech plans to quit his county job as a pipe fitter, rather than give up his council seat. He says the law governing public employees has never been enforced.Unclassified employees, including managers, are not affected. Neither are council members in suburbs with nonpartisan elections.Shuttle petitionCOLUMBUS: An Ohio man has launched an online petition asking the White House to give the state one of the retired space shuttles.The White House announced this year that the shuttles would go to Florida, New York, California and Washington, D.C.The Columbus Dispatch reports that Columbus businessman John Cavanaugh has used a newly-created portion of the White House website to create a petition to bring the space shuttle Enterprise to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton.The Enterprise is currently scheduled to go to New York.Cavanaugh tells the newspaper that his decision was motivated by economic concerns for the state.