{"id":26225,"date":"2019-07-04T07:30:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T11:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=26225"},"modified":"2019-07-02T16:37:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T20:37:21","slug":"ag-yost-unveils-student-design-selected-for-stop-bullying-license-plates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/ag-yost-unveils-student-design-selected-for-stop-bullying-license-plates\/","title":{"rendered":"AG Yost Unveils Student Design Selected for \u2018Stop Bullying\u2019 License Plates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Winning \u201cStop Bullying\u201d license plate design. Designed by Brooke Balser, granddaughter of Jerry Balser, Antwerp, OH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An 11 year-old Clevel<\/strong>and-area girl who has been dancing since she could walk, who plays catcher on her softball team and who just closed out the fifth grade with straight A\u2019s is stepping into a statewide spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s thanks to another of her passions: art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the Ohio Education Association announced today that the design selected for a new \u201cStop Bullying\u201d Ohio license plate is one created by Brooke Balser, a student at Independence Middle School in Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBullies gain power when the people around them look the other way, stay silent or ignore the problem,\u201d Yost said. \u201cEach time we see Brooke\u2019s colorful \u2018Bully-Free Car\u2019 design on an Ohio license plate, we\u2019ll be reminded to treat others with respect and to stand up against bullying behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yost and the OEA announced a contest at the start of May to select the license plate design. Ohio schoolchildren enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade during the recently-concluded school year were invited to send in entries. In all, 171 entries were received. An OEA committee judged the submissions on creativity, reflection of the \u201cstop bullying\u201d theme, and originality of design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Rep. Dave Greenspan (R-Westlake) was a primary sponsor of legislation introduced in 2018 to create the \u201cStop Bullying\u201d plates. A measure implementing that idea became law in March 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributions collected when vehicle owners order the plates will fund grants for nonprofit organizations, schools and school districts to provide bullying prevention training programs or similar educational opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An 11 year-old Cleveland-area girl who has been dancing since she could walk, who plays catcher on her softball team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":26226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[12597,12596,12595],"class_list":["post-26225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-brooke-balser","tag-oea","tag-yost"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t