Board develops reapportionment plan

The 33rd Senate district, represented by Robert Hagan, would pick up part of Tuscarawas County.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Part of the House district held by state Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-57th, would be combined with part of a district held by Sylvester Patton of Youngstown, D-64th, under a reapportionment plan developed by the Ohio Apportionment Board.
The plan is one of four under consideration by the board. Others were submitted by the NAACP, the Ohio Republican Party and the Democrats of the Ohio House and Senate.
The board, which has to redraw the lines of the 99 House districts and 33 Senate districts because of population shifts shown by the 2000 census, is to vote on a plan Oct. 5.
The board, made up of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and a Democratic and Republican legislator, is controlled 4-1 by Republicans.
The part of Boccieri's district that was not combined with Patton's would take in a small sliver of eastern Stark County and extend into Carroll County and would be labeled the 61st district, according to the map supplied with the board's plan.
Other changes: There would be one other House district in Mahoning County, containing portions of the district held by Kenneth A. Carano of Austintown, D-65th.
According to the board's map, the northern part of Trumbull County that is part of the district held by Rep. Timothy J. Grendell of Chesterland, R-68th, would be combined with Ashtabula County into a House district.
There would be two other Trumbull County House districts that differ in shape from the ones held by Daniel J. Sferra of Warren, D-66th, and, Anthony A. Latell of Girard, D-67th.
Meanwhile, the Senate district held by Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, would pick up part of Tuscarawas County under the plan.
The Senate district held by Gregory L. DiDonato of Dennison, D-30th, would lose Guernsey County and parts of Tuscarawas County, but would pick up Belmont County.
The district represented by Timothy J. Ryan of Niles, D-32nd, would keep Trumbull County, would lose Geauga County and would pick up Ashtabula County.