New park in Braceville honors Judge Swift and his late son

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By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

BRACEVILLE — Trumbull County Probate Judge Thomas A. Swift helped dedicate a park named in his honor Friday and pledged money to help pay for a multipurpose trail there in memory of his late son, Ethan.

Members of the county MetroParks system held the ceremony under a tent during a mostly cold and wet morning on the edge of a 12.2-acre site along the Mahoning River. But warm thoughts about the future of the park and the county park system prevailed.

Park board member Dave Ambrose said the board plans to apply sometime next year for funding to build a parking lot and canoe/kayak launch on the partly wooded land off Benedict-Leavittsburg Road near the LaBrae Athletic Club sports complex.

Ambrose said that the two projects would appear to qualify for state funding but that it will be about August 2007 before the board will know.

Establishing a canoe/kayak launch there fits in with the park board's plans for developing a water trail to provide canoeing opportunities between the board's Foster Park in Newton Township, Judge Thomas A. Swift MetroPark, and Canoe City in Leavittsburg, Ambrose said.

Those three parks — in addition to a half-acre partially built canoe launch on Lynwood Drive N.W. near Burbank Park in Warren and a recently purchased 72-acre tract four miles west of Judge Swift park, also on the river — create exciting canoeing possibilities, said Bill Flynn, former park board chairman.

Three-mile water trail

When the Judge Swift canoe launch is built, paddlers will have a fairly clean and unobstructed three-mile water trail to Canoe City, said Trish Nuskievicz, a county planner. Removal of two dams along the river — off Lynwood Drive and Lover's Lane in Warren — have made the river cleaner in the past year because flowing water is cleaner.

There are 24 miles of navigable river between Foster Park and Packard Park in Warren, Nuskievicz said. The only obstructions are the Leavittsburg Dam near Canoe City and some trees, she said.

Flynn negotiated the purchase of the Judge Swift park land from the Bruner Land Co. of Byesville, Ohio, at a cost of $30,900. He said securing the Judge Swift land in 2005 and three other park properties this year allows the park board to preserve land and some day develop it. "It's a start," he said.

Swift family

Judge Swift, an avid runner and outdoors enthusiast, was accompanied at the dedication by his daughter, Heather, of Ithaca, N.Y., and son, Bryan, of Columbus. Judge Swift announced that the Swift family would donate money in Ethan Swift's name. Ethan, who was 30 years old when he died in 2004, liked to hunt and fish, Judge Swift said.

Judge Swift said he hopes he can someday persuade the public to approve a small park levy. "There's nothing that promotes quality of life and keeps families in the area the way a park system does," Judge Swift said.

Introduced at the dedication were the park board's two newest members, Mike Wilson, executive director of the Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District; and John Picuri of the county engineer's office.

runyan@vindy.com

Saturday, September 30, 2006