By Jan H. Kennedy
FPS correspondent
July 1, 2008

Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials will disclose the penalty for a fish kill in Big Sandy Creek this Thursday.

A 2 p.m. meeting has been scheduled with Minerva officials, Minerva Cheese Co. and Ohio Division of Wildlife investigators  to learn what penalties will be assessed for the whey discharge into the village's waste water treatment plant June 16 that killed more than 5,000 fish in the Big Sandy Creek.

 Restitution is based on the number, size and type of fish killed, said Doug Miller of the Ohio Division of Wildlife Division III office in Summit County. The majority of fish killed were suckers and darters, a small, minnow-like fish. Depending on the size, darters have a value between 33 cents to $1. Suckers average about $2 each. Bass are worth from $1 to $20 each, but not a lot of bass were killed, Miller said. One Northern pike died, and it could bring up to $25.

 Miller estimated the cost could reach up to $10,000. The discharge created no danger to human health, Miller said, because no toxins or chemicals were involved. The whey absorbs the oxygen in the water and the fish suffocated due to low-dissolved oxygen levels.

Service Director Steve Jackson would like to see parents become more aware of where their children are and what they are doing. Jackson told council at its June 24 meeting about damage constantly occurring in village parks, especially Bi-Centennial Park.

 Teenagers have been spray-painting what Jackson called "pretty good art." Jackson's crews paint over it, but the artwork returns within days.

"The last time, they wrote ‘Don't bother, we have plenty of markers and paint','" he said.

 Two years ago, a new roof was put on a pavilion, and two days later kids were on the roof pulling it off. A new surface was put on the basketball court this year, and kids have peeled some of it up on the corners. The door to a maintenance building was kicked in, locks are broken and toys and park equipment are damaged.

"Where are the parents?" Jackson asked. "I was pretty crazy when I was a kid, but we never destroyed things in the name of fun. I don't know what to do, but add security. Maybe plainclothes someone and have them watch the park."