COLUMBIANA CORNER The point? Smart pencils help students on exams

Along with bottled water, chewing gum and several other motivational aids given Columbiana High School seniors during the recent 12th-grade proficiency tests were what Dr. Joseph Shivers, high school principal, called "smart pencils."
Shivers said the red No. 2 lead pencils with the Columbiana Clippers logo are smart pencils "because they have all the answers."
Checking it twice: After announcing last week that volunteers had counted 5,058 residents in a citywide census effort, officials were asked about the accuracy of the count. Volunteers said much of the task was checking, rechecking and cross-checking counts on census forms residents returned against those taken by telephone and volunteers who went door to door.
City Law Director Bradley Allison prepared individual, notorized affidavits that each volunteer had to sign, stating the census was done in a fair and accurate manner.
U.S. Census 2000 figures put East Palestine 71 residents shy of 5,000 required for a municipality to be a city. If the secretary of state approves the local census figures, East Palestine will retain its city status.
"We made our list and checked it twice," Allison quipped.
A hold on report: The wintry blast of weather that hit the area last week had Salem Service Director Joe Julian wondering if winter is really over.
At a recent city council meeting, Julian told legislators that he had intended to give them his annual report on snow-removal costs but decided to postpone the presentation.
"After looking out today, I wasn't sure I was done" plowing snow, Julian quipped.
Team's excellence: The stands don't fill up with cheering spectators and they don't get their picture in the paper as the sports teams do, but the Academic Challenge Team at Springfield Local High School is just as deserving of praise.
Just like the basketball and football teams, the Academic Challenge Team had an undefeated regular season. They work as hard as athletes, coming in early, practicing through the season, attending the meets.
High School Principal Dan Simcox is as proud of the academic team as he is of the athletes.
Adviser Jerry Hiznay coached the varsity to an 8-0 regular season. They lost to Boardman in the tournament. Varsity members are Trent Henry, Neil Anthonsen, Ryan Hodros, Matt Landis, Anthony Stall and Joe Carmany.
XCONTRIBUTORS: Norman Leigh and Nancy Tullis, Vindicator Salem Bureau; correspondent Joyce O'Connell.