Nancy Guthrie is excellent choice for Leader of the Year award | Bouquets and Brickbats

BOUQUETS >> To Nancy L. Guthrie, on being chosen as the 2018 Leader of the Year by Leadership Lake County.

This award is presented annually to an outstanding recipient for his or her contributions in Lake County, a news release stated. A committee comprised of Leadership Lake County trustees and graduates selects each year’s winner.

Guthrie, of Perry Township, is a senior vice president at KeyBank and a Leadership Lake County Class of 1996 graduate. She is a former member of the Leadership Lake County Board of Trustees and served two years as board chairwoman from 2014 through 2016.

In addition, Guthrie formerly served as a board member and chairwoman for the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce and for the Lakeland Foundation.

Kim Fraser, executive director of the Lake County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Board, chaired Leadership Lake County’s selection committee for the award. Fraser said Guthrie is motivating and leads by example in a quick and incredibly supportive way.

We believe that the committee made an excellent choice by naming Guthrie as 2018 Leadership Lake County Leader of the Year.

BOUQUETS >> To Josh Englehart, on being appointed as the new superintendent of Painesville Schools.

The superintendent search launched last January with a group of 60 staff members from departments across the Painesville School District, according to a news release.

Using feedback from staff that evening, revisions were made to the job description to incorporate four common threads: experience with a diverse population; understanding the culture of poverty; promotion of school safety through a partnership with local law enforcement; and a plan for sharing the multitude of student accomplishments with the community, the release also states.

Englehart, a longtime Painesville resident, is in his fifth year at Painesville Schools, serving as the district’s assistant superintendent.

Prior to working in Painesville city, he served as a principal with Warren City Schools and as a school improvement consultant with the Ohio Department of Education, after a 10-year career as a teacher and coach.

“I’ve been fortunate to have been part of the (Painesville City Schools) team for five years,” Englehart said. “This is an exceptionally dedicated and talented staff. Together, we have taken large strides in terms of curriculum development, operational efficiency, and positive school climate, and I look forward to many more years of doing this work together.”

We wish Englehart the best of luck in his new position.

BRICKBATS >> To former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante, after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges stemming from taking bribes in exchange for jobs and running an illegal gambling house.

Infante was sentenced May 11 in Trumbull County after a jury found him guilty May 7 of charges that included tampering with records, theft in office, gambling and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. He had served as Niles mayor for 24 years before losing in the 2015 Democratic primary.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has said Infante received nearly $200,000 in unreported cash, income and gifts, and ran an illegal gambling house in Girard.

Before being sentenced, the 62-year-old Infante asked for forgiveness and said he’d been humiliated.

Somehow, it’s hard to feel sorry for a person who was elected to public office and then breached the trust placed in him by voters.

BRICKBATS >> To Armando Gil of Eastlake, upon being sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting two girls.

Gil received the prison term May 14 in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

Gil, 58, apologized for his “inappropriate behavior” to the two victims, who were 12 through 14 at the time of the incidents.

Gil was someone the girls’ mother trusted. The incidents occurred at his home.

He was charged in July in a 13-count indictment, which included six counts of rape and seven counts of gross sexual imposition.

Gil avoided a possible sentence of life in prison by entering an Alford plea in March to two counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty yet maintain innocence of the charges. As part of the plea negotiations, prosecutors agreed to recommend no more than 20 years in prison.

In our opinion, Gil deserves his fate.