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‘Socially conscious’ art gallery opens Downtown

By
Toledo Free Press
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Toledo’s art lovers can add “gallery opening” to their agendas 6-9 p.m. Dec. 13 as Delightful Art with Dee becomes Downtown’s newest space for socially conscious art.


The gallery, from local artist Dee Brown, is a project intended to bring art into the lives of underprivileged and underrepresented communities including veterans, people with disabilities and members of the hearingimpaired community.


A portion of proceeds from sales at the Delightful Art gallery will go toward organizing free art classes.


Delightful Art with Dee is located in the Davis Building, at 137 N. Michigan St., behind The Paula Brown Shop.


The Dec. 13 event will feature the work of local photographer Yvonne Moryc. Brown plans to feature a new artist in the gallery each month.

Youth-created art gallery opens at Juvenile Justice Center

By
Danielle Stanton
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The Juvenile Justice Center, 1801 Spielbusch Ave. in Downtown Toledo, opened a new gallery that’s being touted as the first of its kind in the country.

On the first and second floors, hung on the wall behind glass, are works of art created by juveniles while they were inmates at the center.

Many of the artists were not allowed to attend the opening ceremony Dec. 10 because they were still serving out their sentence except for Wayne Gaston, who was one of two inmates present. Gaston, 15, created a Native American-inspired sculpture of a snake, eagle, elk and wolf representing “life, freedom and the struggle” of his time at the Juvenile Justice Center.

“It’s just a little thing I put together,” Gaston said. “I feel proud.”

The 21-piece gallery is being upheld as an example of what troubled youth can accomplish with the right amount of support and encouragement.

“We finally have an avenue to see the great work these kids can do,” said assistant court administrator Kendra Kec, who has watched kids thrive in the art classes over many years. “This is a great outlet for (the youth).”

Lucas County Juvenile Judge Denise Navarre Cubbon said the center is charged with the responsibilty of helping children and their families make important changes in their lives, and the gallery is now a part of that. One of their goals is to create law abiding, successful citizens and art is one way to do that, Cubbon said.

“The art represents the process of learning,” Cubbon said. “It’s a positive activity to promote responsible behavior. Many children never had the opportunity to explore this talent.”

The gallery is a year and a half in the making and is the brainchild of teachers Joe Szafarowicz and Jan Revill, who instruct the art class. The classes are “integrated,” meaning they also teach another subject such as history, social studies and language arts.

Both Szafarowicz and Refill have been teaching for 10 years. They teach one female class and three male classes every day. They also teach at the Youth Treatment Center, 225 11th St., in the Discovery Art Program.

The art classes are based on state of Ohio standards and are classes you would find in a regular high school, Revill said.

Szafarowicz said he noticed after a period of time that the art classes had a great positive effect on the students and that would carry over into the atmosphere at the Juvenile Justice Center.

“It really engages them,” he said. “It makes them calmer and better.”

Students in the program were often hesitant about creating art. Many had never picked up a paintbruch or pencil before, Revill said.

The biggest benefit, she said, is the sense of accomplishment they feel.

“I’m really proud of them. Most of the students have never done anything like this before,” said Revill who has a degree in art therapy and psychology. She also teaches at Phoenix Academy, a charter school.

The gallery will turn over three to four times a year with new artwork.

ProMedica to build new hospital in Lenawee Co.

By
Joel Sensenig
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ProMedica has announced plans to build a new hospital in Lenawee County to replace ProMedica Bixby and Herrick hospitals.

The new 145,000-square-foot hospital will be located on M-52 on the site of the former Mission Pointe Golf Course. The location is between the current sites of ProMedica Bixby Hospital in Adrian and ProMedica Herrick Hospital in Tecumseh.

The facility will be a full-service hospital with up to 80 acute care beds, an emergency department, surgical capabilities that include orthopedic care, a women’s health center, a cancer center, a pain management clinic and an inpatient psychiatric unit, Pro-
Medica officials stated in a news release. The building will be developed following LEED Silver Eligible Certification standards to ensure sustainability and offer best-in-class design, construction and energy efficiency.

“The two facilities are only 12 miles apart. Both of them provide almost identical
services,” said Tim Jakacki, president of ProMedica Bixby and Herrick hospitals. “This will eliminate redundancy of those services, and by doing that it makes it much more cost effective, much more efficient and it concentrates all of those services in one location.”

ProMedica has owned Bixby and Herrick hospitals since 1999.

The project will begin in early 2016 and be completed 18-22 months later, Jakacki said. Staffing adjustments are uncertain, but Jakacki said the company will weigh whether to replace certain positions left empty due to attrition between now and when the new facility opens.

“Internally, we referred to this as a generational investment, because it’s going to be here for multiple generations and decades to come in the same way these two facilities have been,” he said.

For more information, visit www.promedica.org.

New company continues to make, sell Banner mattress brand

By
Duane Ramsey
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The well-known and respected Banner brand of locally produced mattresses is still available in Toledo from Banner Factory Direct which recently opened a new showroom in Toledo to sell mattress and furniture products.

“It’s a brand new company. We started a new company, bought the rights to use the Banner name and purchased the mattress factory,” said Bard Strand one of four former Banner Mattress employees who formed the new company.

Banner Factory Direct opened the 18,000 square-foot retail showroom at 2544 North Reynolds Road at Elmer just before Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The company is leasing the store, Strand reported.

The four owners include Strand who is responsible for sales and marketing; Wayne Leahy in charge of buying and merchandising; Chris Frybarger running the factory operations; and Ray Rygalski, responsible for delivery, service and warehousing. Including the four partners, the company currently has a total of 10 employees.

“We’re working owners who are involved in the business every day,” Strand said. “We want to thank the Toledo community for the tremendous support they have given us. It’s been very positive.”

Banner Factory Direct is the only retailer making and selling 2-sided “flippable” mattresses in today’s marketplace, according to Strand. The mattresses are produced in the former Banner Mattress factory locater at Bishop and Monroe Streets in Toledo.

“Nobody else makes them any longer but us so we’re the only retail outlet for these locally-made mattresses,” he said.

Strand said that the mattress selection in the new showroom is complete and they are working to expand the furniture selection there. He said they wanted to open their own showroom rather than be in one of the former Banner store locations which were being sold by the former company.

Strand reported that they are looking at possible locations for a second showroom in the Toledo area.

The new company is talking with several companies about making private label mattress products for other regional retailers due to the production capacity of the factory, according to Strand.

The Banner brand has been made and sold in Toledo since the original company was founded in 1929. It was operated by three generations of the Karp family and employed as many as 100 people until the business was closed earlier this year.  Strand served as general manager of the company at the time of its closing.

“Banner mattresses are made by and for people who live in this area with those dollars staying in the local community,” said Frybarger, who served as factory operations manager and worked for the former company for more than 30 years.

Banner Factory Direct’s showroom is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Noon to 5 p.m.

BG Arts Council seeks ‘50+ Shades of Grey’ artists

By
Toledo Free Press
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The Bowling Green Arts Council is looking for a few good artists who may have a little grey up top.

The arts group, in its fourth year of existence, will host an art show in January entitled “50+ Shades of Grey.” 

The Jan. 9-28 exhibit will showcase work of artists age 50 and older. The show will be at the Myles Baker St. Gallery, 434 E. Wooster St., in the Dairy Queen building in Bowling Green. 

An opening reception is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Jan. 9. This is the first year the council has tried the 50-plus show.

“This is something for the more mature artist, whether they’re new to art, maybe doing something in retirement,” said Beth Genson, vice president of the arts council. “It’s a good opportunity for them to find exposure for their work and find like-minded artists to show with.”

The exhibit’s theme is open and both 2-D and 3-D work will be accepted. The cost to participate is $25. 

“We’re keeping the theme open so whatever medium they work in, whatever style or subject matter, they’re welcome,” Genson said.

Artists within a 100-mile radius of Bowling Green who would like to participate can find a full prospectus and online entry on the website at www.bgartscouncil.com. 

Entries must be received by Dec. 22.

Genson said the venue is a welcoming space for those who may be intimidated of larger galleries and museums.

“You can walk into a coffee shop or a bakery, get a cup of coffee and go browse through the gallery, it’s a much more comfortable feeling for some people,” she said. “It’s a way for people to enjoy the arts in their own community without feeling uncomfortable.”

Information and registration for an open-call exhibit for February and the second annual Artists-4-Animals Show in April are also available on the website.

World War II project unites teens with the past

By
Joel Sensenig
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With World War II being a popular setting in video games and movies, many of today’s teenagers are familiar in a peripheral way with the war that ended seven decades ago.

A project undertaken by 33 Toledo high school students ensures the lessons of the war hit home.

As part of their semester-long studies in a WWII course, students from Rogers, Scott, Start, Waite and Woodward high schools will present the stories of Toledoans killed in the global conflict during the second annual Fallen Heroes Memorial Assembly, set for 10 a.m. Dec. 15 at the Waite High School auditorium.

For the past several months, these students have used a variety of national and local resources to research a fraction of the more than 1,000 veterans from Lucas County who died in the war. In that time, they’ve tracked down school activities, family names and addresses, career paths and military histories of their subjects.

Joe Boyle, a social studies teacher at Waite, got the idea for the project after taking part in a WWII project called the Normandy Scholars Institute, sponsored by National History Day. As part of the project, Boyle and a student from Rogers went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. for a week to study with scholars about the war and for another week in Normandy, France, learning from the battlegrounds and ending with a visit to the Normandy American Cemetery, where students read graveside eulogies of the veterans they had been studying.

“For a number of reasons, it was one of the most powerful moments of my life,” Boyle said. His great uncle, Sgt. Paul Boyle, is buried at the cemetery.  “I grew up with stories of my uncle Paul, and that’s what got me involved in history in the first place.”

After thinking of ways he could duplicate the international experience back home, Boyle came up with the plan to have students learn about Toledoans who died in WWII, also writing eulogies for them which will be read at the assembly Dec. 15.

“The most important thing to me was the war became personal

[to them]

,” Boyle said. “I think pop culture is doing a better job than it did maybe 10 years ago, but a lot of WWII pop culture really glorifies the war. I hate to say it makes it look like a video game when we’re actually talking about video games here, but kids play ‘Call of Duty,’ and it’s fun and the war looks like it was a great adventure. What I want them to get out of this project is it wasn’t a video game for these guys. These were guys just like you and I from Toledo who went off and did extraordinary things and paid the ultimate price.”

Dylan Reed, a Waite senior, studied the life of Harry Brooks, a Toledo resident who died in 1943 after the B-24 named “Superman” he was in was attacked. The bombardier of the plane was Louis Zamperini, a man whose story was chronicled in the book “Unbroken.” The story will be released Christmas Day as a major motion picture produced and directed by Angelina Jolie. Brooks is a character in the movie.

Reed, a wrestler, said he admires the mental toughness Brooks showed in battle.

“He held on for nine days after he was hit in the head with two pieces of shrapnel,” Reed said. “He obviously didn’t lack the fighting spirit. Which makes him a true hero. I hope to carry some of that mental toughness with me, to help me get through life, in order to be successful. As a wrestler, you never stop going until you hear the whistle, and that seems like something Harry Brooks would understand.”

Sylvia Rombach, a junior at Waite, studied the life of Baird Brooks Jr., a Waite alum who was rejected from three different branches of the military four times. He died near Rome, Italy in June 1944, days before Rome was liberated by the Allies.

“This project really opened up a new interest for me,” Rombach said. “To learn all about someone who was sitting in the same place I do everyday, and had the courage to go into the military right out of high school to fight in a world war is extraordinary. This project was far more intriguing than any other project I’ve done.”

Rombach said the perseverance Brooks displayed will stick with her.

“He never gave up on anything,” she said. “I look up to my fallen hero, and I’m fascinated by the fact that he never gave up despite his flaws. I try to do everything with a can-do attitude and do my best in all of my endeavors. He is a great inspiration.”

Boyle’s passion for the Fallen Heroes project is easy to see.

“There is a spirit that moves behind the scenes that makes this project magical,” he said, noting the surprising facts learned about these subjects never ceases to amaze him. “It never occurred to me that there would be a Toledo connection to Zamperini’s story.”

For the instructor, seeing the students identify with local people who paid the ultimate sacrifice is most gratifying.

“I try to reiterate this to the kids again and again and again: You come from a city of heroes,” Boyle said. “This city gets run down so much. There’s so much negative about Toledo all the time, and it’s hard to find role models that aren’t sullied by something. “Every one of these kids has found a way to grab on to these guys from 70 years ago, from the same city, and find something to believe in. It’s my favorite thing about this.”

All Saints Lutheran gets ‘real’ with its 20th nativity scene

By
Toledo Free Press
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It’s not every Christmas one sees living, breathing camels in nativity scenes.

Now in its 20th year hosting a live nativity scene, All Saints Lutheran Church, 5445 Heatherdowns Blvd., decided to make the annual tradition a little more life-like for its 6-8 p.m. Dec. 20-21 drive-through event.

“In the past we’ve brought in llamas and tried to pass them off as camels,” said Pastor Richard Rentner with a laugh. “But this year we’re working with a different supplier in Michigan who’s bringing in some real camels.”

The humped animals will join a donkey, sheep and goats in the church’s seven-scene telling of the Christmas story. The scenes will feature two casts of about 40 church members apiece, with each performing half-hour shifts. Rentner said it takes up to 10 minutes for motorists to pass through the scenes, which are accompanied by Christmas music.

Visitors are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items, which are collected by volunteers prior to the first scene. The items are then distributed to area food banks.

Rentner, who has been pastor at All Saints for six years, was surprised when he discovered what the nativity scene entailed.

“I didn’t know quite what to expect,” he said. “But the first time I saw it and participated in it, it just blew me away. It was absolutely one of the most fun things I’ve done in the church.”

The church encourages all of its members to take part in the event, with few requirements for each role, Rentner said.

“One year we had a woman in a wheelchair as Mary,” he said. “It was neat, because it didn’t matter. It wasn’t critical. But there’s Mary in a wheelchair — it was wonderful.”

The church expects to welcome about 400 people through the nativity scene, Rentner said. Off-duty Toledo police officers help direct traffic at the scene.

The pastor said the event brings together the community, both from the church and, hopefully, the neighborhood.

“It brings people together,” Rentner said. “It gives everyone an opportunity to tell the Christmas story, from the little kids on up.”

Although the church has not had much success with its efforts to invite its neighbors on Heatherdowns Boulevard to help take part in the nativity scene, Rentner said it

will keep trying.

“We keep pushing it,” he said. “We want this to be an inclusive thing. We try really hard to build bridges with our neighbors.”

The pastor said the church realized the importance of the nativity scene to the community several years ago after someone broke into its storage shed and stole all of the electrical equipment – three weeks before the nativity scene was set to occur.

Rentner said the community quickly responded, donating more than enough money to All Saints for new equipment. The church then donated about $1,000 in extra funds to area food banks.

For more information on the church, visit allsaintstoledo.org

Letters to the Editor, Dec. 14, 2014

By
Dock David Treece
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Giving Tuesday a success

Thank You!

Without yet knowing the amount of money raised in Northwest Ohio during Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2, I can honestly say that it was a great success!  

This idea of a coordinated giving day is gaining momentum. We know at least 214 organizations throughout Northwest Ohio participated in this giving day – more than twice the number who participated in 2013. 

As it relates to Giving Tuesday, the intent of Toledo Community Foundation and The Center for Nonprofit Resources was to increase the capacity of local nonprofits or to raise money for themselves. 

The Center for Nonprofit Resources offered a training session in early November to interested nonprofits and offered tools and techniques to help organizations prepare for this day.  In addition, the Foundation has built an incentive pool to provide matching grants to participating organizations. 

On Jan. 24,, local nonprofits that participated in Giving Tuesday can apply for a grant to match, dollar-for-dollar, up to the first $1,000 raised Dec. 2. 

While we didn’t track the donations of individual organizations, what we do know is that nonprofits jumped on the bandwagon and used proven practices and innovative strategies to raise funds and increase their own brand awareness.   That alone is a great success because it’s something they can use in the future.  

We have heard stories of donors giving in incredible ways.  In one case, a donor made a gift of $10,000 in support at a local school and in another case, the donor provided a check for $1,000 while emailing friends to encourage similar support.  The result was the fivefold increase of this original $1,000 gift. 

Toledo Community Foundation will continue to report on these wonderful stories that far out strip any “campaign” number. 

Of course, we hope to keep you appraised of the numbers as we learn them, but from the number of participating organizations, the partnerships leveraged, incentives and communications we heard about, Dec. 2 was a monumental day.

Thank you to everyone in our community who participated in some way to make it a great day.

KEITH BURWELL, President, Toledo Community Foundation

No to NEXUS

The pipelines are coming!

One of the first is the Nexus pipeline, a 42-inch high- pressure natural gas behemoth snaking through the sensitive Oak Openings region.

Why would responsible people run a potential time bomb through the wooded park lands of Northwest Ohio? Ohio Farm Bureau Director of Energy Policy Dale Arnold says the region will see many more pipelines in the coming decade.

Will the region be crisscrossed with them willy-nilly, disrupting the lives of area residents for decades? The state or federal government needs to take action. We need established right-of-ways to route potentially dangerous gas pipelines across the state.

No more eminent domain thievery by private companies leaving many homeowners with worthless tainted properties.

PAUL WOHLFARTH, Ottawa Lake

Editor’s Note: The writer’s son has a 100-year-old 20-acre woods in the path of the NEXUS pipeline.

McGinnis: Getting old

By
Jeff McGinnis
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The first sign hit me like a ton of bricks one morning. I stumbled out of bed and to the bathroom, resisting every urge to be considered awake. As I went through humanity’s most time-tested morning ritual and relieved myself, I glanced up at the mirror in front of me. And there it was. Peppered among the sideburns that have been part of my face since childhood.

Gray.

I wouldn’t exactly say the arrival of the gray was a crisis, per se. But it was a solid reminder, a warning shot from Father Time. You are getting older, McGinnis. No matter how you fancy yourself some ageless teenager, forever concerned with making jokes about the minutia of pop culture for your audience of dozens, the march of the clock carries on, and you go along with it — whether you want to or not.

Soon, other signs began to make themselves known. The smile lines I had cultivated over decades of laughing at my own jokes no longer went away when I stopped smiling. The lines in my forehead that appeared when I cocked one eyebrow — a talent I developed trying to copy the Rock — they now seemed to be a permanent addition to my facial landscape, too. The gray that started on my face began to make guest appearances on my chest and elsewhere. No matter what they say, gray doesn’t make one look distinctive, especially when it begins to creep toward areas of the body that are already pretty distinctive on their own.

I reacted to these small signs of mortality in a very Jeff McGinnis fashion. Denial. I already pretty much hate looking at myself in the mirror, now I just have more reasons to avoid it. And as long as I can’t see the changes, I can forget that they’re there. I’m not old! I’m not even young! I don’t wanna grow up! I’m a Toys ‘R Us kid!

But the passage of time has insidious ways of making itself known. Even beyond the superficial physical changes it foists upon a person, they become hyper-aware of how culture moves on, too. The people I work with seem to get younger and younger with each passing year. One day I mentioned “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in conversation and got blank stares in reply. Dear God, is “Rocky” so old a reference that you young whippersnappers have never even HEARD of it? I shudder at the thought of mentioning any films from before even my time. (“It’s called ‘Citizen Kane.’ KANE. K-A-N-E. Directed by Orson Welles?” “Oh, that guy from the end of ‘The Muppet Movie?'”)

That’s just the tip of how ancient I am in pop culture terms, of course. I am no longer the prized demographic. Advertisers are aiming several years below me, now. They’re beginning to reboot toy lines I was too old to play with the first time around. They’re remaking movies I saw in the theater, for god’s sake! I’m too young to pay to see the same thing twice!

But I’m not too young, of course. I’m nowhere near too young. I’m thirty-(COUGH!) years old now, well into adulthood, far past most generous starting points for “middle-aged.” But I think we all trick ourselves into believing that wherever we are on the rollercoaster ride of life is still “young.” Old isn’t us. Old is our grandparents. Not our parents, though. Even as we jokingly refer to our folks as “old,” inside we never really mean it. Because if we have to admit our parents are aging, by proxy — we’re aging, too.

But to deny the pain of aging means you miss out on the pleasures, as well. Perspective is

gained with time. Experience earned. A dollop of wisdom, perhaps. And most importantly, a new generation to pass that onto.

My nieces are growing up faster than even cliché can imply. Kadence, the elder, is five. Just started her first year of preschool. Kendra, the younger, is three. She is the most curious and cheerful child I know. They brighten my life every time I see them, and make me want to be the best example for them I can.

I am so happy I will get the chance to watch these two, tiny human beings grow up. And if the cost of that pleasure is a few more lines on my face and a few more numbers added to my age, well, so be it. A bargain at the price, I’d say.

Stick around, gray. I’m starting to get used to you.

Civil War exhibit ‘Life and Limb’ on display at library till Jan. 2

By
Toledo Free Press
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A traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine called “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” remains on display until Jan. 2 at the Toledo-Lucas County Main Library, 325 Michigan St., in The Gallery on the second floor.

The six-panel, freestanding exhibit documents the medical equipment used in the Civil War, and the experience of the common soldier.

Civil War re-enactor Dr. Dale Deric at the ‘Life and Limb’ exhibit. Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni

A glass case is filled with medical instruments on loan from Dr. Dale Derick, a Toledo obstetrician and member of the Civil War Surgeons Association, who recently gave a talk at the library on medicine in the Civil War.

The instruments — a pocket instrument, chloroform can, glass flytrap, traveling pharmacy beaker and several saws — will probably be unfamiliar to modern visitors, but they once played a very important role, Derick said.

Derick began collecting Civil War items 14 years ago after he became involved in re-enactments at the urging of his son. He needed items to set up his faux field hospital. He has traveled the country, from Gettysburg to New Orleans, visiting antique stores to form his collection.

Ninety-five percent of his collection is original to the time. Most of his items are from the North because he portrays a Union doctor, but he does have some Confederate items. He and his wife attend about eight events a year, including performing re-enactments of amputations at Gettysburg.

Contrary to popular belief, most amputations were performed with chloroform, Derick said. Of the 80,000 surgeries performed during the Civil War, only 254 were done without anesthesia, he said.

Prior to amputations, patients were given just enough chloroform to render them unconscious so they could still breathe on their own, he said. But the procedure — meant to prevent gangrene — often left the soldier with what is called a “ghost limb,” in which he could still feel the sensation of the missing limb. Many of the soldiers thus believed they had not gotten any anesthesia because of the pain they felt.

The scene at a typical field hospital was “chaos,” Derick said. Doctors were evaluated on how fast they could perform a surgical procedure. Amputations were done in 10 minutes. Toward the end of the war, doctors performed fewer amputations and saved more limbs.

“This was an era where a pregnant woman was not encouraged to walk around the street,” Derick said. “If a man did not have a leg, how is he going to plow a field or support a wife? Women took up as shopkeepers and made a success of it. It was the beginning of the suffrage movement.”

Soldiers as young as 18 reported for duty without training and miles from home. Many suffered from diseases such as small pox, malaria and diarrheal disease, which took more lives than battefield injuries, according to the exhibition.

New weapon technology increased the risk of injury to the soldier. Rifled muskets fired further and were more accurate than previous weapons. They could also quickly reload and used the Minié ball, a soft-leaded bullet invented in the 1840s. The Minié ball caused severe damage because it changed shape on impact, shattering bone and dragging clothing and skin in to the wound, according to the exhibition.

In 1862, the federal government began allocating to veterans $75 to buy an artificial leg and $50 for an arm. By 1864, the Confederacy was providing such assistance. The money covered the cost of the devices and travel to a showroom to be fitted. There were 150 patents for artificial limb designs issued between 1861-1873, , according to the exhibition.

Thousands of veterans who were wounded during the war did not wear artificial limbs because they looked upon their “empty sleeve” as an “honorable scar,” a reminder of their honorable sacrifice to the nation, according to the exhibition. Many also did not accept charity because of attitudes of the time.

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