SUMMIT COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT GENERAL DIVISION

GENERAL NOTESFALL 2009 www.summitcpcourt.net VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 3

This past spring Laura Kolb along with her husband David Kolb took ownership of the diner located in the basement of the main Courthouse, which is now called Laura’s Café. The Kolbs are striving to give the employees and jurors what they want to eat and drink throughout the workday. “Our customers’ comments and suggestions are always welcome,” said Laura Kolb. Laura points out that their early focus has been on creating healthier meals and snacks for their clientele.

Look for new menu items coming this winter as Laura and David continue to build their business. “We are now accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover and debit cards in order to make it as convenient as possible for our customers,” Laura said.

This summer, the Kolbs relocated to the Akron area from Columbus, Ohio. “We

plan on being here for a long time,” said Laura. “David and I are willing to do anything we can to meet our customers’ needs.”

The café is open from 6:30 AM until 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday. “It is important for us to get the word out that we are available for catering and coffee service,” Laura stated. If you have a need for either of these services or to check what is on the menu for lunch, you can reach the cafe at

330-374-0411.Laura’s Café is sponsoring

a Customer Appreciation Day on Monday, October 26th. Customers will receive complimentary cider and doughnuts, while getting the chance to meet the owners and their staff, which includes their cook Bruce Golomboski, and the long-awaited return of their cashier, a dear friend of the courthouse, Mary Appleby.

While Mary was away, she was able to take care of a few

health issues and is back to work feeling better than ever. “ I am thankful to the people who took care of me,” Mary said. “My friends really stood by me during that difficult time, and it meant and still means so much.”

“Again, thank you so much to everyone,” Mary said. “I cannot say it enough, how much I appreciate my friends at the courthouse and how much I enjoy being able to work at the place I love.”

The well-known story concerning Mary’s separation from her job has been chronicled by several news media including The Wall Street Journal. Many courthouse employees are excited to have this unsuspecting celebrity back where they value seeing Mary on a daily basis. Laura’s Café is officially giving their customers’ the best value in more ways than one.

Laura’s Café Provides A Great Value

Mary Appleby and Laura Kolb take a break at Laura’s Café.

The Summit County Court of Common Pleas-General Division was one of 38 downtown companies and organizations that participated in the Downtown Akron Partnership’s 2nd Annual Green and Clean Day. There were 13 General Division employees who teamed up to clean the Courthouse grounds and paint telephone kiosks on

Main Street this past May.At the kick-off luncheon held at

Lock 3, the General Division team of volunteers included: Andy Bauer, Cindy Burkett, Cathy Cherico, Christina Hartman, Colin Meeker, Monica Prexta-Siko, Debbie Rians, Sue Roszkowski, Deborah Smith, Terry Strubbe, Deborah Ruggles, Ruth

Squires and Caroline Zito. They won a gift certificate for breakfast at an Akron area restaurant of their choosing. The team voted and Wally Waffle was the winner! The team met at Wally Waffle on an early Friday morning in June and enjoyed a delicious breakfast.

Thank you to the team of volunteers who helped make a difference!

Second Annual Green and Clean Day

SUMMIT COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT GENERAL NOTES PAGE TWO

The Honorable Judge Tom Parker and his staff joined the Summit County Common Pleas – General Division this past May. Judge Park-er’s staff consists of his Bailiff, Kim Arnold, Judicial Attorney William Wellemeyer and Judicial Assistant Jacyln Darrah. Recently, the Judge took a few moments to answer some questions to allow all of us a chance to get to know him a little better. Q: Which academic institution(s) did you attend and please list the degrees you have earned?A: I started out in college at East Carolina University before transferring to Miami University in Oxford. I graduated from there in 1976 with a degree in Political Sci-ence. I earned my J.D. from Case West-ern Reserve University School of Law in 1979.Q: What was your job progression, which led you to this position? A: I was a summer clerk at Roetzel & Andress in 1978 and joined that firm after graduating from law school. I became a partner in 1986 and remained there until I joined Parker, Leiby Hanna & Rasnick, LLC on March 1, 2002. I served one term on the Akron School Board from 1990 through 1993. Throughout my law practice I was always involved in trial work, concentrating in civil defense matters, including product liability and business matters. These cases took me all across the United States. In 2002 I began to practice in the family law area and beginning in 2006, I accepted criminal defense appointments.Q: What is the biggest challenge of being a new Judge?A: The biggest challenge is being expected to deal with many areas of law I only rarely – or never – dealt with in private practice. Fortunately, I have an outstanding and experienced courtroom staff and we are learning very quickly. The second biggest challenge is wiping the smile off my face every morning when I walk into the courthouse, realizing I get to work here!Q: What do you hope to accomplish as a Judge of the General Divi-sion?A: I would like litigants, lawyers, court and probation staff to know that their cases will move efficiently, people will be treated with courtesy, and we will bring a level of professionalism to our work that will add to the already excellent reputation of the Summit County Common Pleas Court.Q:What are your hobbies?A: I like to spend time with my family, swim competitively, ride my motorcycle, write fiction, and read. I also lead a home Bible study through my church.

Q&A withJudge Tom Parker

Judge Tom Parker

What is Barracuda and why does it keep blocking me?

The court purchased a device from Barracuda Networks to help limit certain types of Internet usage. The primary goal is not to restrict court staff. To the contrary, it is to ensure things continue to run safely and smoothly. We have the device configured to block websites that are fraudulent, can harm computer operations, and sites that require larger amounts of bandwidth with streaming content. For example, websites that allow you to stream ( w a t c h ) v i d e o s or music generally tie up a lot of bandwidth. If we allow too much bandwidth to be used on this type of thing it doesn’t leave enough bandwidth for others to perform mission-critical tasks such as legal research on Lexis-Nexis or offender searches. At times Barracuda categorizes websites incorrectly that should not be blocked. If you ever run into a situation where you need access to a website in order to get your job done, but Barracuda seems to blocking that site please let the computer department know so we can rectify.

A few handy keystrokes…

In Microsoft Office it is not unusual to find out there are at least three ways to accomplish the same task. A good example includes cut, copy and paste. Of course, you can do these things using the appropriate icons in the toolbar, but did you know you can highlight the word(s) and copy by holding down the “Ctrl” key and pressing “C”? Or paste with Ctrl+V? And you can cut by using Ctrl+X. You can also: bold using Ctrl+B, Italicize using Ctrl+I, Underline using Ctrl+U, and open the print menu using Ctrl+P. Sometimes these keyboard shortcuts can be a much quicker way to getting your work done.

Tips from IT

Prevention is key in avoiding illnesses

According to the Summit County Health District, there are some very basic things you can do to help prevent getting sick, and they are the same for seasonal influenza as they are for H1N1 influenza:• Wash your hands frequently with soap and

water. If soap and water are not available, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are effective. • Maintain healthy habits such as eating right,

getting enough sleep and exercise.• Get a seasonal flu shot. • Try to keep your hands away from your mouth,

nose or eyes.• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when

you cough or sneeze. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow or your upper sleeve, not your hands.• If you do get sick, stay home until you’re better.

The CDC recommends staying home for 24 hours after your fever is gone, without using fever-reducers.

Visit the Summit County Health District’s website at http://www.schd.org/ for additional information.

thank you for your service ...The Courts would like to acknowledge all of its longtime employees that have worked so hard and devoted many years of service to the people of Summit County. To the following friends who have moved on during the recent months, we thank you! Joanne Blakemore, Bailiff to Judge Gippin; Todd Connell, Judicial Assistant to Judge Gippin; Edward Schneider, Foreclosure Specialist; Janet Long, Receptionist; Shana Schweikert, Judicial Assistant to Judge Stormer; Carlo Veltri, Psychology Assistant; Wendy Dragon, Psychology Assistant; Martin Sellbom, Psychology Resident; Caroline Zito, Administrative Specialist; Cindy Burkett, Judicial Secretary; Jean White, Adult Probation Officer; Corinne Sanders, Purchasing Agent; and Vicki Manocchio, Administrative Secretary.

A warm welcome fromthe general division

Stating a new job can always be a little difficult but a few well wishes never hurt. The Courts would like to welcome all of our new employees hired in the recent months. We wish you the best of luck and welcome the following people aboard: In Judge Tom Parker’s Court: Kim Arnold, Bailiff; William Wellemeyer, Judicial Attorney; Jaclyn Darrah, Judicial Assistant; Lillian Mitchell, Judicial Assistant to Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer; Jude Chamberlain, Psychology Assistant; Danielle Burchett, Psychology Assistant; and Michelle Longoria, Administrative Secretary.

Nice work!Congratulations to the following employees who have recently been promoted, reclassified or have taken another position within the Courts: Melissa Ludwig, Secretary II; Michael Klamut, Adult Probation Supervisor and Laurie Fisher, Adult Probation Supervisor.

Adult Probation Officer, Danielle Sampson won a 2009 Ford Mustang, on September 4th, as part of the Cleveland Indians annual promotion, the Ultimate Car Giveaway. Based on good grades, Danielle’s daughter won four tickets to the Indians game from the High Achiever’s Club. While Danielle and her family were at the game, eight seats were selected at random for a post game opportunity to use a key, which may or may not start the car.

“I was the sixth person in line to get a chance to start the car,” Danielle said. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the dashboard lights come on.”

Congratulations to Danielle and her family!

Danielle Sampson reacts to winning a new car.

Daughter’s good grades and good luck gets P.O. a car

Chief Probation Officer Arian Davis presents Senior Probation Officer Jean White with a Proclamation of Appreciation signed by all ten Judges of the General Division. Also receiving a proclamation at the August Employee Appreciation Cookout were three other retirees Cindy Burkett, Janet Long and Corinne Sanders.

SUMMIT COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT GENARAL NOTES PAGE THREE