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How to vote in 2024

By
Paula Wethington
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Lucas Zielinksi, with Turning Point USA, hands Amelia Mathkour, a music, business and tech major at Owens Community College, a pamphlet about voting registration. Zielinksi said he was on campus for the day to help students register to vote. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

Lucas County Board of Elections explains voting details, process

Toledo – With Election Day a month away, preparations are in full swing at the Lucas County Board of Elections office.

“We’re up and running and getting everything ready,” said Timothy Monaco, deputy director of the elections office. “It’s a wonderful time. It’s important to exercise your right to vote.”

Logistics that the staff and officers have been handling for weeks on behalf of Lucas County’s 303 voting precincts include preparing ballots, training precinct election officials, and getting early voting dates and times posted on their website.

Monaco said the most commonly asked question from voters during the past couple of weeks has been when absentee ballots will arrive in the mail. 

Here’s the answer: Ohio voters can look for the absentee ballots starting Oct. 8, which is one day after registration ends for the Nov. 5 election.

The Lucas County Board of Elections staff doesn’t give predictions on voter turnout, Monaco said. But, according to state election records, 67 percent of registered Lucas County voters participated in the 2020 presidential election, and 66 percent did so in the 2016 presidential election. This participation includes absentee voting, early in-person voting and traditional Election Day voting.

Those choices are meant to help all eligible voters participate, whether they prefer going in person to a local polling site or to cast a ballot before they travel out of town.

“It’s important to make your plan as to who you are going to vote for,” Monaco said. “Make sure you make a plan and know what is on your ballot.”

While the presidential campaign is the key race of the Nov. 5 election, there are also races in Lucas County for local judges and city officials. For those who want to see the list ahead of time, ballot proofs are available for review on the election board’s website.

“Ballots will be three pages for everyone and four pages for some,” Monaco said.

While some people remember how they wish to vote when going to the polls, others find it helpful to bring paper notes or refer to a list on their phone, Monaco said. “Some folks really come prepared,” he said.

“It’s also important to be respectful at the location,” he added, referring to an Ohio law that prohibits photos of marked ballots. “We do ask that you limit cell phone use at the ballot.”

Many other election details are explained at lucascountyohiovotes.gov.

Election calendar

Key dates for the November 5 election:

  • Military and overseas civilian voting: Started Sept. 20.
  • Voter registration deadline: 9 p.m. Oct. 7.
  • Early in-person voting season: Oct. 8.-Nov. 3.
  • Absentee ballot postmark deadline: Nov. 4.
  • Election Day: Nov. 5.

CAMPUS TALK

OWENS COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS SOUND OFF ABOUT VOTING

Question: How important is voting to you?

Oliver Odendahl
James Johnson
Nivant Dawson
Sydney Stanley
David Case III

Voting is not my main concern, but it is pretty important because it is the future of America and I would like to have a say in what is gonna be my future. I usually try to vote on voting day, if I can’t I’ll do the absentee ballot.

Oliver Odendahl | EMT Major | Tontogany Resident

I am not a registered voter. If I was to lie to you I’d say yes. But honestly, I don’t have enough time … it’s not really a main priority, even though it should be. I do plan on voting at some point, maybe when I’m in my adult phase. Even though I’m not a registered voter I do think voting is important because it basically determines the society and the rules and regulations we live by.

James Johnson | Broadcast Media Technology Major | Toledo Resident

I’d say voting is very important. There’s certain aspects of it that do feel sort of depressing, when you think about it, because a lot of people would say people voting normally wouldn’t matter because of a small majority in the Electoral College – their votes matter 100 times more than your own. That’s what it feels like at least from what I know. It does feel a little degrading knowing that’s going to happen.

Nivant Dawson | Business Major | Toledo Resident

I think voting is important, but I’m not exactly sure why it’s important. I mean, there’s a lot of things that come from it. You’re voting for someone that you’re putting your trust and you’re faith into to guide us all in the right direction, but we just all don’t know what that direction is yet. So, we’re just kind of free-balling it, in a way. So, I don’t know … I’ve never voted before but this will be interesting. I really don’t know what all is involved. I just have a lot to learn about voting – like what I should be looking for in the leader I’m going to be voting for. So, yeah, it’s coming up soon. There’s a lot to learn.

Sydney Stanley | Chemistry Major | Millbury Resident

Voting is very important, especially in this day and age, when everything’s going on.

David Chase III | Literature Major | Toledo Resident
Registration details

Ohio voters must be registered by 9 p.m. Oct. 7 to be eligible to vote in the Nov. 5 election.

Residents can register to vote, look up voter registration, change their address, find an early voting location, look up Election Day polling location or track an absentee ballot at VoteOhio.gov.

Photo ID requirement

Bring your photo ID when voting. The options are:

- Current Ohio driver’s license or State of Ohio ID card.

- Interim ID form issued by Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

- U.S. passport or U.S. passport card.

- U.S. military ID card, Ohio National Guard ID card or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.

A registered voter who has changed his or her name since the photo ID was issued will need to show proof of legal name change and sign a form. A photo ID card can show a former address if a current address is on file with the voting records. If you forget a photo ID, you can request a provisional ballot. 

How to vote absentee

An absentee ballot in Ohio needs to be requested, signed, dated and submitted for each election. Military personnel and civilian overseas voters can file one application for all elections happening in a given year.

The application asks for the number on your Ohio driver’s license or Ohio ID card, last four digits of your social security number, or a photocopy of other eligible ID such as a U.S. passport or military ID.

Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 4 and can be hand delivered to the Board of Elections on Nov. 5.

Additional instructions are on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website.

In-person early voting

Ohio’s in-person early voting season begins Oct. 8 and ends Nov. 3. 

The Lucas County Early Vote Center is at 3737 W. Sylvania Ave. Suite 121 Entrance C (at the rear of the Lucas County Board of Elections building) in west Toledo.

Voting times and dates can be found at LucasCountyOhioVotes.gov.

Election Day voting

Polling sites are open in Ohio from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5. You can look up your polling location at VoteOhio.Gov.

What’s on the ballot?

A “ballot proof” is available for review on the Lucas County Board of Elections page. It lists candidates and ballot issues by precinct, so voters know what to expect.

For example: Six president/vice president candidate teams have declared in Ohio, with an additional write-in option available. Other candidate races include U.S. Senator, Lucas County Sheriff and openings on Toledo City Council.

Ohio Issue 1 is a proposed state constitutional amendment that has gained a lot of attention. This issue, if approved, would designate a redistricting commission to draw state legislative and congressional districts.

There are other issues locally, such as a proposed bond issue for the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library and a tax renewal request from the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

Are ballot “selfies” allowed?

Ohio does not permit photos to be taken of a marked ballot. It’s actually a fifth-degree felony should that take place, according to Ohio law.

The “I Voted” Sticker

A traditionally popular way to showcase voter participation is through an “I voted” sticker, picked up on Election Day at the polling site.

Ohio’s current “I Voted” sticker design was adopted in 2019 through a student art contest. A red squiggle depicts a map of Ohio, nestled in a blue circle outline, with the phrase “Ohio Voted.”

Voters are invited to download the image to share on social media at the Ohio Secretary of State website. That website also has also a “future voter” coloring page for children available for download.

Is campaigning allowed at election sites?

Ohio does not allow election campaigning, also known as electioneering, within 100 feet of a voting site. This means no campaigning messages on attire such as shirts or hats, Monaco said.

Two small United States flags are placed at each voting site to designate the “neutral” zone where this applies. 

Where is the Board of Elections office?

If you need to visit the Lucas County Board of Elections regarding a voting matter, that office moved about two years ago from its former location at One Government Center to 3737 W. Sylvania Road in West Toledo.

When are election numbers official?

Ballots cast on Election Day will be delivered in person to the Lucas County Board of Elections for the counting procedures.

There will be numbers reported after that count is complete. 

The Ohio Secretary of State does not consider voter counts to be official until two or three weeks later, after provisional ballots are accounted for and to give time for absentee ballots to arrive that met the postmark deadline.

The Humorists

By
Don Lee
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RubyCats cat cafe' celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 9, and welcomed its first cat Dec. 30. RubyCats is Toledo's first cat cafe, and is located at 618 Adams St. in downtown Toledo.

Editorial cartoon by Don Lee for the Toledo Free Press.

WTOL story on RubyCats

The antics of a morning show radio DJ

By
Steven J Athanas
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Shenanigan tales from Steven J Athanas

One would assume (and they’d be right) that if you played in a rock’n’roll band in northwest Ohio in the ’70s and ’80s, you would need to supplement your income (understatement).

Holding up convenience stores could be an option, but musicians, as a rule, are too … how shall I say – chicken shit for that kind of work. They could be a sanitation engineer…yeah right; try ‘n get ‘em outta bed before 11! City council? Nah. That’s definitely a left-brain/right-brain endeavor.

I held a few day jobs while burning the midnight oil with rock’n’roll. Back in the beginning, I was a carry-out at Churchill’s; I worked at a bookstore at Franklin Park Mall; and I was a game room/industrial arts instructor at the Boys Club (yeah, just boys at that time). I even recall once when the members of Jello had a sleepover, woke at 3 a.m. and rode our bikes behind grocery stores, stealing pop bottles to turn in for the money so we could buy band equipment (yeah, that worked out well).

Of course one of my favorite jobs was working at Boogie Records. What a great bunch of people. More on that to come.

I managed a nightclub — Steven Jay’s — and even though my name was writ large on top of the building, it didn’t mean I wasn’t the one pulling puke-encrusted broken beer bottles out of an overflowing toilet at 4 a.m. Glory days.

And — point of pride — I taught K-12 art classes at various schools and the Toledo Museum of Art.

Radio dreams commence

The one job I held for a few years that I have to think had a negligible effect on my resumé is the time I spent in radio (well, both on radio and in radio).

A lot of the bands I played in had a good reputation with local radio stations, and we would frequently play at their functions. A perfect example were a number of the Hasty Pudding concerts at the Ottawa Park Amphitheater that WIOT put on when I was with The Raisin Band in the early ‘70s.

Because of that alignment, I became acquainted with the DJs, program directors, etc. from some of the rock stations. It was that connection that encouraged me to ask for a job as a DJ at Reams Broadcasting, who owned WIOT, and a couple other stations.

One of the sister stations was WCWA, whose format was a jumbled format of talk, swing and oldies. When I asked if I could do a shift, they accommodated me and gave me a Sunday morning slot on WCWA. Not exactly my musical niche, and not exactly a good time of day, after having been working in the night clubs until 2 a.m. the Saturday night before. But I took it, with no expectations, just to see where it might take me.

Back then, the music on radio stations was mainly played two ways: on vinyl (LPs or 45s) or on “carts,” which looked like 8-track modules, with just a song or a commercial per unit. And yes, records would skip, the carts would jam up, and the DJs would freak out. The worst thing (well, one of the worst) that could happen was “dead air,” when there was nothing going out over the airwaves due to a glitch of some sort, or the DJ staying in the bathroom too long.

DJs would have to plan their bodily functions when a longer song was playing, like In-A-Gada-Da-Vida, or the long version of Chicago’s I’m a Man. It never seemed to fail that if there was dead air, that was when the bosses were listening, and then there was hell to pay. 

I had been doing my “CWA” (pronounced SEE-way) gig for about a month when I decided to set up a meeting with Bob Lafferty, who was the general manager of Reams Broadcasting, and who was instrumental in me getting the initial gig. I wanted his input about how I was doing and had some ideas about my show I wanted to run by him.

I’ll never forget. I was very enthusiastic with my “presentation,” throwing great ideas at him, left and right. Still, I could tell by the somewhat glazed look on his face that he wasn’t hearing a word I was saying!! It pissed me off!

When I was done and steaming in my seat, Bob smiled at me and shook his head. It was obvious he hadn’t heard a word I’d said, but what he said next shocked me to my core.

”How would you like to do the morning show on WIOT?”

The “morning show” on any given radio station was the dream slot for a DJ. It was a.m. drive time, when the majority of the populace were trapped in their cars, going to work, listening to the AM or FM dial. This was pre-Spotify, pre-Sirius, pre-ANYTHING except you and your radio (unless you had a cassette/8-track or later CD functions in your car.) WIOT was the top station in the market, so this was beyond anything I could ever imagine.

And the money reflected that.

I was stunned. Why me of all people? It seems there was “friction” with the current team — Mark Benson and Lou Hebert — both veterans of the airwaves.

To add an even more bizarre aspect to this scenario, Lafferty told me he had dreamed that I was the one to take Mark’s seat. Let that sink in: I was dreamed into a new financial bracket. I went from making approximately 5K with my rock bands to 30K in the blink of an eye (a little more than a blink, I suppose, since this dude was sleeping).

The real challenge for me in taking this job was that I would be the one running the board. Some morning shows have a “producer,” someone who flips the switches, cues the music, keeps the show moving smoothly. The budget didn’t allow for that. Of course, I’d never sat behind a radio console, let alone be in charge. In addition, I had to be a part of the morning show team, being funny and informative…it was intimidating as hell.

So the powers that be had me sit in with some of the overnight jocks to learn it all. After awhile, I got the hang of it and Lou and I came together, live on-air.

A quick word about my partner of the airwaves: Lou Hebert (pronounced A-Bear) was/is a veteran of radio, television and newspaper. He is also an author, having published two books on local history, with a new release forthcoming. No chump here, buddy. Yet another initial intimidation. But we hit it off from the get-go, and off we went. We soon became “The Dawnbusters” and took IOT’s morning slot to No. 1 in less than a year.

Peter Cavanaugh, a radio genius in his own right, coached us along. He threw us all the bells and whistles we could possibly need (literally), and prompted us to be as zany as possible. We would do on-air bits, like “Fishing With Elvis,” where we had an Elvis impersonator take us fishing during walleye season.

Fishing with Elvis. (Courtesy Photo)

Sometimes we had guest stars (Adrian Cronauer, the original “Good Morning Vietnam” DJ, and Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), who reenacted the infamous “Turkey Drop“ (“Oh the humanity!”) from “WKRP In Cincinnati.”)  Hell, we even brought The Homewreckers into the tiny air studio to perform. Man, they were so pissed at me for getting them up so early.

Lou was a jack-of-all-trades and would do hilarious impersonations — Rudy, a very Tom Waits-ish discombobulated fellow and Jim Shorts, his Howard Cosell-esque sports announcer — to name a few. 

The one bit that was very popular was our “Song To Go”. Early in the show, we would put out a call for people to call in, and tell us something unusual or funny (hopefully both) that had happened to them. We’d record the call, then Lou and I would write a song parody, between 7 and 8, to match the caller’s incident. In the 8 o’clock hour, through the magic of “theater of the mind,” we’d put the sound effects of a drive-thru under the call; Lou and I would be the guys taking their order, then perform the song with me on guitar. Hellacious time crunch, but we pulled it off. Eat that, Weird Al Yankovic!!

The shenanigans went on for about a year when we started getting calls from other markets, trying to steal us away. Cleveland and Buffalo were two that come to mind, but we finally bit on 94.9, The Fox, in Cincinnati, a classic rock station. Lou and I loaded up our families and headed south.

Back then Cincinnati was a GIANT as a radio market. Many, many radio stations. But that didn’t hamper us. We excitedly boarded the company Learjet they sent that flew us down to southern Ohio to sign the contract. It was a fertile time in Cincinnati: The sheriff was always in the news for some asinine thing he’d done, the whole debacle over the Robert Mapplethorpe photo exhibition; and the Reds winning the Series…to name a few. Good radio fodder.

Still, it was tough. As I said, we were up against a huge amount of stations and personalities/schticks. We gave it our all, we really did. Nevertheless, after a year, call it “Radio Karma,” we were let go.

I came back to Toledo with my tail tucked between my legs, humbled by the whole experience. I never really lost The Homewreckers, as I would drive home on some weekends for the gigs, so I had that. Lou stayed in Cincy for awhile, but eventually returned. I landed a couple jobs with WXKR, 94.5, Classic Rock — some on air, as well as the promotions director. I hated it. I just didn’t feel justified promoting something my heart wasn’t into.

I just had dinner with a friend, and he asked me, “Why don’t you get back in radio?” I’ve really no desire. I don’t like the music (not that I liked it all that much then). The whole radio scene is a clique-ish scenario. These days it’s mostly syndicated, with a few giant conglomerate corporations deciding too much. The almighty dollar reigns. Ironically, music plays second fiddle to the buck. The thrill, for me, is gone. 

And besides: who would, who could dream me into another financial bracket these days?

Weekly happenings & news briefs

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Press Release
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Warren Haynes performs at the Stranahan on Feb. 11.

(Compiled from press releases)

Events

Northwest Ohio Vegan Advocates hold documentary screening, Q&A, Mini VeganFest

Learn about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, connect with local resources and discover local vegan products and organizations during this day-long event, which features a documentary screening of Eating Our Way to Extinction – a film showcasing the dire impact of our food choices on the planet and the animals we share it with. The documentary will be followed by a Q&A session.

There is also a Mini VeganFest, which includes vendors and resources, including Leaf and Seed, Phoenix Earth Co-op, The Good Shepherd Sanctuary, Vegan Taste, NOVA, Food Not Bombs and Farley’s Farm Sanctuary.

When & Where: Sat., Jan. 18, from 2-5 p.m. at Collingwood Arts Center. Free Admission.
GRAMMY® Award-winning vocalist Warren Haynes Band

Warren Haynes, the GRAMMY® Award-winning vocalist, songwriter, guitar legend, producer, and Gov’t Mule frontman will be coming to Stranahan Theater with his Warren Haynes Band on their Million Voices Whisper 2025 Tour.

When & Where: Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stranahan Theater.
Toledo Opera Returns with South Pacific

The Toledo Opera will present Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. The Toledo Opera will also host a free Pre-Opera Talk one hour before each show in the Grand Lobby of the Valentine Theatre.

Former Toledo Opera Resident Artist and regional soprano Grace Wipfli will provide historical context and insight and be available to take questions after the talk.

When & Where: Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Valentine Theatre.
TPS Strategic Interplay Chess Tournament on February 15

The Toledo Public Schools Strategic Interplay Chess Tournament will be held at the Toledo Museum of Art. Area students from 3rd to 12th grades are eligible to enter. $5 entrance fee at door. Email ldm43528@gmail.com for more details.

When & Where: Saturday, Feb. 15 at the Toledo Museum of Art. Check-in is at 11 a.m. and the tournament starts at noon.

News Briefs

Rep. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) earns legislator award

Rep. Grim received the Jack Wolfe Memorial Award for Democratic Legislator of the Year. The award, from the Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO), honors a legislator who is committed to improving Ohio’s election processes.

Rep. Michele Grim receives the Jack Wolfe Memorial Award. (Courtesy Photo)
New inclusive indoor playground

DOT (Defying Odds Therapy) Playspace, founded by pediatric occupational therapist Erica Zimmerman, announces its soft opening phase on Central Ave. Designed for children of all abilities, DOT Playspace combines play, learning and therapy in a safe, sensory-friendly environment.

Families can enjoy unlimited free play for $15 for the first child and $9 for each additional sibling, with no charge for caregivers or children under 12 months old.

New ProMedica Eidi Family Rehabilitation Center opens

ProMedica is pleased to announce the grand opening of the ProMedica Eidi Family Rehabilitation Center on Flower Hospital’s Campus at 5360 Harroun Rd. in Sylvania.

The newly consolidated and updated rehabilitation center will continue to treat various conditions, including stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, trauma, fractures and joint, replacement, amputation, complicated orthopedic conditions and more.

Oregon Library Branch Reopens

The Toledo Lucas County Public Library (Oregon Branch) is reopening. The branch, located at 3340 Dustin Rd., in Oregon, closed in August 2024 because a plumbing failure caused extensive water damage throughout the branch.

Over the past six months, the Toledo Library worked closely with its insurance company and a restoration company on mitigation efforts, including drying out the building; plus removal and replacement of drywall, carpet and in-floor electrical elements.

The Toledo Library also coordinated with the City of Oregon and an architecture firm to secure the permits needed to safely reopen the branch. Toledo Library staff are in the process of reinstalling the collection at the Oregon branch in preparation of its reopening.

Commissioners Join Large Urban Counties Alliance

The Board of Lucas County Commissioners voted to officially join the Ohio Large Urban Counties Alliance (OLUCA). Representatives from Ohio’s six largest counties – Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, Montgomery and Summit – have been meeting informally for about a year to discuss shared priorities and challenges.

The MOU approved by the Commissioners formalizes the relationship.

The Humorists

By
Don Lee
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Editorial Cartoon by Don Lee for the Toledo Free Press.

Heavy metal thrives at The Bridge

By
Rachel Boes
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Infectious Waste performs at the Bridge on Aug. 7. (Courtesy Photo)

BOWLING GREEN – The Bridge is an emerging music venue out of Bowling Green that hosts concerts of all genres, but it has mostly facilitated shows for high-energy heavy metal bands. The venue has emerged from an organization wholly unassociated with heavy metal – the Bowling Green Alliance Church. 

Drew Binkley, a member at BGCMAC since he was a child, spearheaded the music venue’s launch.

“About seven years ago, the church added a sanctuary addition to their building, and I’ve been active in the tri-state music scene for 10 years. About a year ago, I said, ‘Hey, we have sound equipment and a stage; why don’t we start hosting shows here?’ And the church has been more than supportive of this endeavor,” Binkley recalled.

After Instinct performs at The Bridge on March 30. (Courtesy Photo)

Binkley, a drummer, has played with many bands from Fort Wayne, Ind., Dearborn, Mich. and Toledo in several genres, like midwest emo, pop punk and post-noisecore. The experiences and relationships he built attending shows across the local music scene also inspired him to begin The Bridge.

Promoters can be difficult to work with and trust, and The Bridge has alleviated a lot of these hurdles musicians face when booking. 

The Toledo Free Press spoke with a band member who appreciated working with the venue.

“It’s a really honest business,” claimed Joey Scigliano, a member of the band Wasted Time. “When you work with people in music, you can work with someone that doesn’t necessarily have your best interest at heart. But, anytime I go to The Bridge, or hear someone talk about it, it’s always a good conversation.”

The acts booked here are in line with the venue’s acceptance of anyone walking through the door.

Leavi the Poet (Levi MacAllister) performs on Sept. 28. (Courtesy Photo)

“We tend to be a hit with the hardcore and metal scene because they get a kick out of playing in a church,” added Binkley. The venue has expanded to artforms outside of music, hosting poetry and open mic events. 

“The space is designed specifically for both Christian and non-Christian people to find unity through music in all of its forms,” Binkley said. “No one is going to be preaching at you; people are free to express themselves however they see fit.”

Scigliano, the guitarist in his three-man band, added, “We’ve been together a year and some change…all Toledo locals. We only play original music; our genre is part indie and heavy.” Their first show was hosted at The Bridge when their sound was more early West Coast punk. 

“We wanted to play at The Bridge because it’s known as a venue with a heavier sound,” Scigliano noted.

In their first show in November 2024, Wasted Time was on the docket with bands of all stripes, like Sheller – a loud, indie Fort Wayne band headlining for the show – and an energy-charged punk band from Toledo called No Place.

Scigliano even enjoyed hanging out at the venue with his bandmates after playing the concert.

“We met a lot of new people; some of the church goers introduced themselves,” he said. “This one kid comes up to me and asks me questions about the music and was talking about how cool the show was. Drew told me afterwards that this kid goes to the church and is reserved there.” 

Scigliano says that he’s felt very welcomed at The Bridge despite not attending the church.

“They cater to everyone at The Bridge. Although heavy music is associated with some adult themes, there were definitely kids there. They brought out pool noodles for them to dance with. There is a real communal sense there; they make it feel very welcoming.” 

The Bridge has even reached global audiences after hosting an act from Japan in August 2024: self-proclaimed the “first” Christian heavy metal band from Japan, Imari Tones. Despite the increased traffic, Binkley doesn’t keep any money. Whatever The Bridge makes from ticket sales goes to the staff setting up the show. 

Japanese band Imari Tones, front, poses with local bands on July 18. (Courtesy Photo)

Binkley is looking forward to the future of the venue. He has plans for its continued growth and reach.

“As we’ve grown this past year, we’ve started building networks for shows with other churches,” he said. “We also operate out of The Vineyard Church in Bowling Green and have had other churches express interest in hosting shows, too.” 

The Bridge will host their next event, Winter Ruckus, at Bowling Green Alliance Church on Jan. 25. Doors open at 5 p.m. 

This will be their second year hosting Winter Ruckus, a winter concert event.

Ohio lawmaker to tighten Medicaid eligibility, expand private school vouchers

By
Lori King
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Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, addresses reporters at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday, (Photo Credit: Andrew Tobias/Signal Statewide)
This story was originally published by Signal Statewide. Sign up for their free newsletters at SignalOhio.org/StateSignals. Statewide is a media partner of the Toledo Free Press.

By Andrew Tobias | Signal Statehouse

On Tuesday, new House Speaker Matt Huffman made his most expansive public comments since winning one of Ohio’s most powerful jobs earlier this month. He’s foreshadowing state law changes that would make it harder to qualify for Medicaid and easier to get a private-school voucher. 

As he settles into the new legislative session, Huffman, a Republican from Lima, touched on those and other topics affecting millions of Ohioans during an 80-minute meeting with reporters on Tuesday. His comments, while short on specifics, were the most extensive he’s made publicly since becoming speaker at the beginning of the month.

As leader of the Ohio House, Huffman holds one of the three most powerful positions in state government. The others are the governor, and the president of the Ohio Senate, a job Huffman held until the end of December, when he left due to term limits.

The new Senate president is Rob McColley, another Northwest Ohio Republican who is Huffman’s political protégée. The two men are expected to work closely in crafting legislation that would be sent to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. That’s in sharp contrast to last session, which was complicated by a political rivalry between Huffman and former House Speaker Jason Stephens, whose old leadership job Huffman now has.

Huffman spoke with reporters at the Statehouse as he announced the leaders of dozens of legislative committees who will review proposed law changes. Among the few Republicans not to get a committee position – a job that comes with prestige and a pay bump – was Stephens and a few of his top supporters.

Here’s what Huffman said about Medicaid, school vouchers and a few other high-profile topics.

Medicaid eligibility

Huffman said he supports a move from the DeWine administration to add work requirements to some people enrolled in Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor and disabled run by the state and federal government. The state has been soliciting public comments on the proposal since last month. State officials have estimated requiring these working-age people to hold a job or enlist in job training to receive Medicaid could affect 62,000 Ohioans. The Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based health policy think tank, estimates the number could be more like 450,000 Ohioans.

The proposal affects those who got Medicaid coverage through Obamacare, which increased the amount of money someone could make and still be eligible. About 3 million Ohioans, or a quarter of the state’s population, currently are enrolled in Medicaid. Enrollment percentages are higher in urban counties and in Appalachia.

DeWine previously sought to impose similar work requirements, but was rejected by President Joe Biden’s administration. Republicans expect incoming president Donald Trump will be more receptive.

Huffman said he doesn’t have a lot of specifics on other changes that could be made to Medicaid. But, he said he believes there are people enrolled in the program who aren’t entitled to benefits. He cited people he believes visit Ohio only occasionally but largely live out of state. He said this view is based on conversations with social service officials in his hometown.

“Frankly, there are people who are on [Medicaid rolls] who we know shouldn’t be on,” Huffman said.

K-12 education, private-school vouchers

Huffman signaled earlier this month that he doesn’t believe public K-12 schools should get the full funding increases envisioned in a landmark 2021 bill that overhauled Ohio’s public-school funding formula. The measure, branded the Fair School Funding Plan, increased the state’s share of school funding by $2 billion, but phases it in over six years.

The final two years of the increase would be in the state’s next two-year budget bill.

But Huffman said Tuesday that the current legislature isn’t bound by the decisions lawmakers made four years ago, and that other elements of the plan dictating how schools were supposed to spend the money weren’t implemented. Previous budgets were approved in a time of greater financial prosperity, including hundreds of millions of dollars the state got thanks to federal coronavirus relief. Lawmakers are expecting the next budget bill to be tighter.

“Every General Assembly has to take into account what is happening when they pass the budget,” Huffman said. “You know, successful businesses and people, for that matter, make long-term financial plans. They don’t plan things one or two years.”

On the other hand, Huffman indicated he doesn’t think potential belt-tightening should affect his long-term goals of expanding eligibility for private-school vouchers, which use state money to pay for kids to go to private schools. The legislature in the last budget bill vastly expanded eligibility for vouchers, costing the state an extra $1 billion.

Huffman said spending to send kids to private school, rather than giving public school districts the extra money, can be a good value to the state. State vouchers cap per-student spending at around an average of $7,000, while the average public-school student costs around $15,000, he said.

“It saves taxpayers money when we implement these programs,” Huffman said.

Unemployment / workers compensation insurance

Ohio is a rare state that runs public insurance programs for workers compensation and unemployment. Employers fund both through premiums they pay into the systems.

Huffman didn’t describe any specific reforms but criticized both programs. He said the unemployment system is a “failed insurance company” that “goes bankrupt” every 10 years or so. He said the state needs to consider the two ways to change its financial picture – either increasing the premiums companies pay or reducing the benefits the program pays out.

“We want people to understand that we’ve got a problem with the unemployment compensation system, and we want to deal with it,” Huffman said.

And he said the workers compensation system collects too much money, as evidenced by the huge rebates it occasionally issues back to employers. He didn’t elaborate on what changes might be made to the program, though.

Marijuana

DeWine last year called for the state to ban Delta 8 products, the so-called “diet weed’ synthetic that contains THC and is available in convenience stores. He and Huffman also want to tweak the recreational marijuana law that voters passed in November 2023.

But both proposals stalled last year in the face of opposition of some House members.

One reason the debate bogged down was disagreement over whether the legislature should ban Delta 8 and change marijuana laws in separate bills, or do it in the same bill.

Huffman said Tuesday he thinks it should happen in the same bill.

Signal Statewide is a nonprofit news organization covering government, education, health, economy and public safety.

The Humorists

By
Steven J Athanas
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0

Cartoon by Steven J Athanas for the Toledo Free Press.

Special Report: The spread of LifeWise

By
Laurie Bertke
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Opponents, supporters weigh in on Bible class program in Ohio

Part 2 of a limited series about Ohio-based LifeWise Academy.
RELATED STORY: PART 1 | What is LIfeWise?

NORTHWEST OHIO – Keith Comer didn’t set out to become an activist when he began looking into a program called LifeWise Academy.

While he never considered himself a “political person,” the father raising three children in the Old Fort Local School District outside Tiffin does pay close attention to all the bills introduced by his state representative in House District 88. Early last year, he said a bill proposing a one-word change to Ohio law governing religious release time education policy struck him as “fishy.”

The existing law said a school district board may adopt a policy that authorizes a student to be excused from school to attend a released-time course in religious instruction. House Bill 445 proposed changing the word “may” to “shall,” making the adoption of such a policy a requirement for all public school districts.

The state legislature ultimately passed the proposal after it was amended into House Bill 8, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law Jan. 8. The law takes effect 90 days after the bill’s signing.

Comer’s review of the legislation introduced by Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) was his gateway to a deep dive into LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit organization lobbying for the bill that promoted Bible classes during public school hours.

Keith Comer at his kitchen table, where he spends time deep diving into LifeWise Academy. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

“I was looking at their website, and I was just trying to figure out where they had programs, but you had to type in each school district and then see if it had a program or not,” said Comer.

With a professional background in software engineering, he took it upon himself to write a program to speed up this cumbersome process. Comer drew on his experience working on an application that would “scrape” and compile data from different websites.

In what he describes as a “watching TV project” in the evenings, he wrote a program that plotted the data from the LifeWise website onto a Google map so he could see at a glance all the districts where they operate. He was astonished to discover the scope of LifeWise, which now operates about 160 programs in Ohio, alone — more than a quarter of the state’s school districts. The map also shows many more proposed LifeWise programs in varying stages of development.

Comer initially created the map to satisfy his own curiosity, but it was met with shock when he shared it to Reddit and Facebook. “No one had ever seen the true spread of their push into the schools,” he said.

Last March, he launched a website called Respect Public Schools to share the map he made, as well as enrollment data and other statistics documenting the growth of the program.

LifeWise Inc., a nonprofit headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio that reported a total annual revenue of more than $35 million on tax documents filed in November, expressed its disapproval of Comer’s website with cease and desist letters and threats of felony charges in April 2024. Comer denies any wrongdoing and has no plans to take the website down.

“I worked for a software company that did this very specific thing, and as long as you are not using copyrighted, trademarked data in certain ways, it is just publicly available data,” he said. “If you went to their website, typed in all 600 school districts, gathered that info…that’s the same thing that I’m doing. I can do it in 15 minutes, and it would take somebody else 15 days.”

The map and other statistics on Comer’s website are updated regularly with information pulled from the official LifeWise site, as well as the National Center for Education Statistics, which provides total enrollment data for public schools broken down by grade. Comer also gathers information by combing through LifeWise program Facebook pages, contacting public school districts directly via email and submitting public records requests.

Keith Comer shares research with Parents Against LifeWise, and now has a yard sign in front of his home in Tiffin. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

He connected with the founders of Parents Against LifeWise, another group dedicated to documenting violations and other concerns about LifeWise expressed by parents in districts with the program, and they collaborate on sharing their research. The parent group has a website and a Facebook group with more than 7,000 members from multiple states where LifeWise operates.

LifeWise moves into Toledo suburbs

Comer’s map shows dozens of LifeWise programs operating in northwest Ohio, mostly in smaller cities and rural public school districts. The map also shows there are at least 30 schools within Toledo and its immediate suburbs where groups are working to introduce

Two of those schools where LifeWise recently opened for enrollment are in Toledo suburban public school districts: Perrysburg and Anthony Wayne.

Since Perrysburg has had a district policy governing released time for religious instruction (RTRI) on the books since 1996, local LifeWise program director Frank Zenner said introducing the program into Perrysburg schools involved getting approval from the superintendent. “It really wasn’t a difficult sell,” he said.

Their program began with two elementary schools during the 2023-2024 school year. It expanded this school year to serve students in grades one through four from all four district elementary schools, and Zenner said 74 students are enrolled. Classes are held during lunch and recess and range in size from two or three to a dozen students.

Zorach v. Clauson, the 1952 U.S. Supreme Court case upholding RTRI laws, stipulates they must meet off school property, so students are shuttled to area churches located in close proximity to each school. Host sites for the classes include First Baptist Church of Perrysburg, Bethel Assembly of God, Perrysburg Alliance Church and Grace Church Perrysburg.

Frank Zenner, LifeWise program director for the Toledo area, enters the classroom at Perrysburg Alliance Church. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

Zenner said the program uses three donated buses to transport students to the churches, which takes about 10 minutes round trip. This leaves about 50 minutes for the students to eat a pizza lunch provided by the Perrysburg LifeWise program while they view a video or listen to a lesson from the teacher. They usually participate in some other activity to incorporate the lesson, and their discussion continues on the bus ride back to school.

Frank Zenner, Perrysburg LifeWise program director, inside the LifeWise classroom at Perrysburg Alliance Church. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

Lessons are based on the Bible, Zenner said, but also highlight character traits such as forgiveness or perseverance.

While LifeWise Academy is not affiliated with any one Christian denomination, its website says its teachings align with “historic, orthodox Christian beliefs.” The LifeWise curriculum is based on The Gospel Project, which comes from Lifeway Christian Resources, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention. According to the LifeWise website, this curriculum takes students through the entire Bible over five years and “each lesson reviews a Bible passage as well as a ‘Living LifeWise’ character trait, such as respect, love or kindness.”

Zenner acknowledges there can be tension between public and religious institutions, but said RTRI programs allow parents to choose how they want their children educated. “And I think the character development piece is pretty important stuff. That’s where my head and my heart is, and that’s why I’m involved with it,” he said.

With mostly local donors footing the bill for the program, there is no charge to participating students. Zenner said they come from a variety of backgrounds and are not necessarily affiliated with the sponsoring churches.

“We get kids that are churched. We certainly get kids that are nominally churched; the parents want their kids to be exposed or get the extra lesson. And then we get kids that are totally unchurched, that really don’t know what the Bible is,” he noted.

‘Living LifeWise’ character traits hang on the classroom wall at Perrysburg Alliance Church. (TFP Photo by Laurie Bertke)

Reaching kids who have never had a chance to hear the Gospel was an important motivation for Mariah Carroll in helping to bring LifeWise Academy to the Anthony Wayne district. The program began enrolling third graders from Monclova Primary School last fall and recently added a class for fourth graders.

Carroll, a mother of two who attend primary school in the district, originally heard about the program from a friend who serves as a LifeWise teacher in Eastwood Local Schools.

“I went home and talked it over with my husband and prayed about it, and I just knew that this was something that I wanted to help offer within our community,” she said.

Carroll got involved in bringing LifeWise to Anthony Wayne and was hired as the program’s first director. She said it’s important for kids to be able to hear about the Gospel because she knows it is something that changed her life and the lives of all her family members.

She added that the LifeWise program is not forced on anyone, but is an option she believes parents should have. In its first semester, five third graders from Monclova Primary attended LifeWise classes during their lunch and recess at a nearby, off-site location.

Jackie Haines and her daughter, Harper, at Monclova Primary School in the Anthony Wayne district. (TFP Photo/Laurie Bertke)

For Jackie Haines, the timing of when the program is offered was key to her decision to enroll her third-grade daughter, Harper. She said she probably would not have signed her up if it would have meant her daughter would miss a class to attend. “Education is the number one priority for me, even what they consider ‘specials’ are to me vital for kids’ education experience.”

Haines said her daughter enjoys attending LifeWise, a program she believes builds character, confidence and bonds with peers. “For me, I just think it really enhances their toolkit when they face, inevitably, some type of adversity at school. And, obviously, it introduces kids to Jesus Christ, which, for us, as a family, that’s a core value for us.”

After getting to know the local people running the program and viewing the curriculum, Haines disputes widespread accusations she has seen on the Internet about LifeWise teaching homophobia, transphobia or hatred about other religions. “I don’t ever want to teach that type of hate to my child,” she emphasized.

“I have friends, we have connections at the school that are of different faiths. I would never want someone to step on my beliefs as a Christian. It’s an important thing that they are very mindful of,” Haines said.

Kristin Hady, a parent with three kids in Perrysburg district schools, disputes the notion that Bible education during the public school day does not impact students of other faiths. Her family is Muslim, and she said her fourth grader has already had another student at school tell her that she is going to hell because she doesn’t go to church. Hady doesn’t know if the other child attended LifeWise, but expressed her fear the program could amplify a sentiment that already exists among some in the community.

“When we make it a part of the school day, whether or not it’s optional, it then becomes something to ‘other’ other children that are not Christian,” said Hady. “I always think it’s a slippery slope when we are introducing religion into the school system, and not from an educational point of view — when we are actually teaching children to be one of the religions.”

Districts officials from both Anthony Wayne and Perrysburg declined to be interviewed about the LifeWise program.

When students miss class, LifeWise enrollment grows

Both LifeWise directors interviewed by the Toledo Free Press cite convenience for busy families as a primary reason for the classes to be held during school hours. These local programs are fairly small and held during lunch and recess, but what happens when students miss other classes to attend LifeWise programming?

Buddy Workman, a LifeWise advancement representative for northern Ohio, gives his viewpoint on his beliefs during a LifeWise meeting. (Courtesy Video/Keith Comer)

The LifeWise website states that “the class schedule is set by school personnel in consultation with LifeWise representatives. Usually, LifeWise classes are scheduled as part of the ‘specials’ rotation or during times when other elective courses are offered.”

This means students attending LifeWise in many districts often miss out on special or elective classes, such as library, art, music, gym and technology. Some LifeWise classes are also offered during intervention or enrichment periods and study halls.

As Comer delved deeper and connected with other parents raising concerns about LifeWise, he discovered a direct correlation between attendance size and when the programs are offered.

“What I found, the deeper I got into this, is that when students miss an actual class, the enrollment for LifeWise doubles,” he said.

According to statistics Comer has compiled on his website, a survey of 272 schools with LifeWise shows just under half of them offering programs during lunch and recess.

While these programs often start small, Comer said the logistics of offering LifeWise during lunch and recess become more difficult when enrollment rises above a certain threshold.

“Once you are trying to get 300 to 400 kids to an offsite location during a lunch period, you can’t do it,” said Comer. “So now they have to find a time that works, so that’s when it usually gets pushed into the specials.”

Danielle Wirick is a mother with a second grader in Defiance City Schools, a district about 60 miles west of Toledo. There, nearly 80 percent of students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade — more than 800 students — attend LifeWise. Wirick said her district eliminated a specials time slot to make room for LifeWise, and teachers have even listed it as a period on classroom newsletters.

Wirick said her child came home crying the first week of kindergarten because her child was the only one left behind during the LifeWise period. In past years, her child has been sent to the gym with other students not attending LifeWise.

This year, the district told Wirick the handful of students left behind during LifeWise are doing an online “character education” program, but she said it was never implemented as it was supposed to be, and there are no grades or assignments to hand in. She said her child spends that period in the library playing video games on the computer – with no structure or instruction.

Last year, Wirick shared her family’s negative experience with LifeWise when she testified against the Ohio House and Senate bills geared toward mandating schools to adopt RTRI policies. As a mother with a young child who is not in school yet, she said her goal is to get all the specials classes reinstated by the time her youngest is in kindergarten.

Her family’s experience demonstrates one way that public school students left behind during LifeWise classes can be adversely impacted. Comer said he doesn’t take issue with the religious aspect of the program, but rather the missed hours of instruction time, lack of accurate reporting on those hours, and how public schools are being forced to facilitate the logistics so LifeWise programs can operate.

“When you look at it on the scale of what they’re doing, it’s an impact,” he said. “I think everybody should know how much time is being missed. And I don’t think schools should be forced to come up with a plan to try to figure out what class do we drop to make this work.”

Pause and ponder with singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey

By
David Yonke
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Peter Mulvey will perform Jan. 18 in Toledo's Old West End. (Courtesy Photo/Elizabeth Witt)

TOLEDO – Peter Mulvey doesn’t want to win arguments; he just wants to tell stories that make people pause and ponder. And laugh.

There’s no end to the stories Mulvey can tell, from space travel and the environment to religion and social justice.

The singer-songwriter, who will be in concert Jan. 18 at the Flamb-OYE-nce Community House in Toledo’s Old West End, is a deep thinker and keen observer who holds a mirror up to society. That mirror helps people see the world – sometimes even the universe – from a different perspective.

“That’s it. That’s all I care about,” said Mulvey. “Let’s get in a room. I’ll sing some songs, I’ll tell some jokes, and we’ll all be together paying attention to the same thing – and that thing is not me. It’s the condition I’m trying to hold that mirror up to. That’s the thing we’re all here to contemplate.”

Take the latest developments in space technology, for example. What does the public think when they watch a rocket launch by Blue Origin, the company created by Amazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos?

Chances are they don’t see the event the same way Mulvey does.

“Jeff Bezos could have paid everyone who ever worked for him a living wage and still been rich enough to buy a rocket ship,” Mulvey sings in his song A**hole in Space (Solo Mission).

“But no, he didn’t. He objectively didn’t. We should have moved the world before he came back down … we were too busy ordering a tripod with Prime delivery,” he complained.

This writer confessed a twinge of guilt to Mulvey that an Amazon Prime delivery had just arrived at his doorstep as the interview began.

“You know, I use Amazon,” Mulvey replied. “I do. It’s an incredible convenience. And it’s also hollowing out our world. And that strikes me as pretty much all of the 21st century. And most of the 20th.”

Peter Mulvey is a storyteller with a guitar. (Courtesy Photo/Elizabeth Witt)

He’s not against technology, not by a longshot. Mulvey has been an avid supporter for decades of the National Youth Science Camp, and gave a hugely popular TEDx Talk titled Vlad the Astrophysicist about life beyond planet earth.

“Yes, things are messed up. And yet things are also amazing,” he said. “Hepatitis C was fatal back in 2010, and it’s not fatal anymore.”

Mulvey grew up Catholic, and although he has parted ways with that church, he remains a person of faith and thinks going to church is a good thing.

Religion has done immense harm on earth, and it also has done immense good on earth. Just getting out of your house and getting together with your fellow humans to think about things in a public place on a weekly basis, that’s an incredibly valuable thing. And now that the church is in decline, we’ve lost that baby with the bathwater, right?

Peter Mulvey

“I always watched the New Atheists, you know, guys like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. God, they are just rude and combative. I mean, I get it. You’re in Toledo, right?” he asked.

“It’s winter time right now. And there’s a kid on the street because they’re gay or trans, and their religious parents have thrown them out of the house right now, within two miles of you, where you sit, and me where I sit. That’s going on. So I absolutely get it that religion needs to have a collision with modernity. But man, those New Atheists are just assholes.”

Mulvey doesn’t hope to resolve debates about religion, but he doesn’t hesitate to promote discussions on hot-button issues.

“I feel like we’re having this family squabble between science and religion, between the right and the left, between men and women, between, you know, country mouse and city mouse,” Mulvey said. “And I’m just more interested in telling stories about the way these things exist together than I am about winning arguments. That’s probably all of my work. I hope that’s all of my work.”

One of Mulvey’s most well-known songs is Take Down Your Flag, a heartfelt plea to lower the Confederate flag at the capitol building in South Carolina after the mass shooting at a Charleston church in 2015. The song has been covered by many artists, including Ani DiFranco, Keb’ Mo’, Jeff Daniels and Peter Yarrow.

“I wrote it in like six minutes, but in some ways it also took 44 years to write that song,” he said.

The song goes back to his childhood, growing up on the gritty northwest side of Milwaukee, where he felt like an outsider and bonded with another local outsider, Pamela Means.

“Neither of us fit in because she’s not black enough; she’s biracial and she’s queer. And I was an outsider because I was one of the only white people on the playground. We’re just good friends, and we’ve been talking about race and America since we were teens, specifically this black and white thing in America which, you know, is America’s biggest hang-up,” he said.

Mulvey was devastated watching news reports on TV after the June 17, 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in which an avowed white racist opened fire during a Bible study at the predominantly Black church, killing nine people and injuring one.

“The thing I couldn’t handle was one of the victims was 87 years old. How on earth? So I sort of wrote the song in a rush and I think it hit a nerve. I didn’t mean for it to be particularly political. It’s just that I couldn’t stand the thought.

“And that song just came tumbling out, and a lot of people decided that they wanted to cover that song, and I’m glad they did. And mostly we were white liberals trying to make sense of our view of things. I mean, we’re all human beings trying to make sense. But I should also point out that Bree Newsome, about eight days later, climbed that flagpole and just took the damn thing down. Hats off to her. Some people consider me an activist, and maybe I am, but not compared to Bree Newsome.”

Peter Mulvey said his song about the 2015 mass shooting at a Charleston, S.C., church took six minutes to write, but “in some ways it also took 44 years to write that song.” (Courtesy Photo/Elizabeth Witt)

While Mulvey has always cared about the world and the people in it, his priorities changed three years ago when he became a father for the first time.

“I’m suddenly deeply concerned about 2074. That’s when this guy [his son] will be 53 years old –  and I’ll be dead or I’ll be 105; those are my choices. But all of a sudden, this whole landscape opens up of things that are very concerning for you.

“And not just for your own sake. All parents experience that shift where you suddenly are demoted from the main character of your life to a supporting role – for at least 18 years, and probably for the rest of your life if you have any grasp on what’s important,” Mulvey said, adding with a laugh: “I’ve been complaining to the management about it.”

Mulvey, who lives in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts, has released 19 albums in his career, including a retrospective that came out last year.

“I’m working right now on a new record. It’s going to be a duet record with an artist from Woodstock; her name is Jenna Nicholls, and she’s a tremendous singer and arranger. And we have in common a bunch of Tin Pan Alley tunes that we love, you know, (Duke) Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael tunes.”

Mulvey and Nicholls are collaborating on the new songs that carry the torch of Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook.

“We pour our own musicality into those Jell-O molds,” he said.

Mulvey, whose music is a uniquely personal blend of folk, rock and jazz, plans to record an album of folk songs someday.

“One fine day I’ll make a record of folk songs because I’ve been called a folk singer my whole life, and I’m really not. Although I like folk songs and I certainly sing folk songs, but I’m not a folk singer, and one day I think I’ll make a record of folk songs just to sort of settle my own obstinacy.”

Meanwhile, Mulvey looks forward to performing in Toledo and going on tour across the country, but only for three or four days at a time so he can spend more time at home with his wife and young son.

“I’m sure that what I do is corny from many angles, and I’m sure that what I do is unintelligible from some angles,” he said. “Or, you know, maybe someone will consider what I do too obscure, and someone else will consider it too obvious. But I’m old enough now, we’re like, you know what, I do this thing, and I’m glad that I’m able to reach some audiences.”

Peter Mulvey performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Flamb-OYE-nce Community House, 2492 Scottwood Ave., Toledo. For more information go to overyonderconcerthouse.com or email overyonderconcerthouse@gmail.com

Daily Dose | The Humorists

By
Jerry King
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0

Cartoon by Jerry King.

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