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Wear Blue Day marks Child Abuse Prevention Month

By
Jeff
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Lee Campbell, left, and Pebbles Spencer volunteer with LCCS’ Parent Partnership Program. Toledo Free Press photo by Christine Materni.

When her young daughter fell out a second-story window, Lee Campbell was high and afraid of going to jail. Instead of seeking medical attention, she put a bag of frozen peas on the child’s head and smoked some more crack.

“I was high and not caring about anybody but myself,” the Toledo woman said. “I never took her to the ER. I never did nothing. It was only by the grace of God she survived.”

Eventually Campbell came under the scrutiny of Lucas County Children Services (LCCS), who placed her five children in the care of her mother.

Pebbles Spencer regularly left her four kids in the care of family members while she went out drinking. Her nights usually ended in fights that landed her in and out of jail. Eventually she was also reported to LCCS.

“My caseworker told me to look in the mirror and ask ‘Is this what you want to do? Is this you?’ And when I looked in the mirror, I just started crying,” she said.

Campbell and Spencer are no longer the women they once were, who regularly made choices that harmed themselves and their children. Today, they are sober, reunited with their children and among the parent volunteers now helping other local parents navigate LCCS programs.

“Every day, you have a choice to do something different. You do not have to be who you were,” Campbell said. “It makes a difference when you can say, ‘This is my story, but that’s not who I am.'”

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and April 9 is the third annual Wear Blue Day in Lucas County.

“It’s something fairly simple, but it’s something that can be very meaningful,” said LCCS Executive Director Dean Sparks. “This is a time when we want to acknowledge that child abuse and neglect are a problem in our town and we’re going to do what we can. We’re going to commit the resources and unite to say child abuse is 100 percent preventable and we’re going to do everything we can to prevent it. All of us wearing blue shirts that day are standing up and saying, ‘I’m part of that.'”

As many as 1,800 children die in the U.S. from abuse or neglect each year, Sparks said.

Each April, LCCS holds a memorial ceremony for Lucas County children who have died in the past year from abuse, neglect or street violence.

This year’s ceremony will be 11:30 a.m. April 25 at LCCS, 705 Adams St. Twelve children were memorialized at last year’s ceremony, the most since Sparks started the memorial services more than a decade ago. This year, 18-month-old Elaina Steinfurth will be remembered.

The East Toledo toddler was killed in June after being thrown across the room by her mother and suffocated by her mother’s boyfriend. The months-long search for the girl drew national attention until her body was discovered hidden in the garage. Her mother and boyfriend were sentenced to life in prison.

“Whenever a child is senselessly murdered or killed, that takes a bit out of all of us I think,” Sparks said. “We do the memorial services to help our community heal, for our staff to be able to be introspective and understand how important it is what they do, and to say we must continue to fight against child abuse because it still happens, it’s real and the consequences are dire.”

The Lucas County Coroner’s Office is still reviewing records to make sure there are no other children to include in the memorial this year, said LCCS public information officer Julie Malkin.

Sparks said many people don’t report suspected abuse or neglect because they aren’t sure or they feel it’s none of their business. Others are afraid the person they want to report will find out and retaliate.

Reports can be left anonymously, but even if callers leave their name, LCCS never reveals who called, Sparks said. The agency’s hotline, (419) 213-CARE (2273), is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“When there are high-profile cases like Elaina Steinfurth’s, it heightens awareness and people call us because they are afraid the same thing is going to happen to a child they know,” Sparks said. “It strips away those excuses people have and pushes people to make some reports.”

SUBHEAD: Lucas County stats

In 2013, LCCS received 4,840 referrals involving 7,323 children. Investigations determined 952 were abused or neglected, according to the agency’s annual report. Fifty-two percent of investigations were for alleged physical abuse, 33 percent for neglect, 12 percent for sexual abuse and 2 percent for emotional abuse.

Of new cases opened in 2013, 44 percent of families were white, 30 percent were African-American and 24 percent were multiracial, according to LCCS. Two percent were categorized as “other or race unknown.”

About 70 percent of LCCS cases involve substance abuse. Of the drug cases, 80 percent involve heroin or prescription opiates, Sparks said. Human trafficking makes up another growing segment of LCCS cases, with about 15 victims currently in LCCS care, he said.

Sleep-related infant deaths are another category that seems to be on the rise, Sparks said. Lucas County recorded six deaths in 2010, five in 2011 and 16 in 2012, he said. Before 2009, most sleep-related deaths were classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Now, investigators consider other unsafe factors, such as cosleeping, particularly with an adult under the influence of alcohol or drugs; stomach sleeping; or sleeping with blankets, stuffed animals or bumper pads.

SUBHEAD: Parent program

The Parent Partnership Program has been used by LCCS for about four years, Sparks said. It is an expansion of LCCS’ Building a Better Future program. Campbell has been volunteering with the program for six years and Spencer for more than two years.

“I started thinking, all this stuff in my past couldn’t have been for nothing,” Campbell said. “God can take anything bad and turn it into good for someone else.”

Spencer agreed.

“When I was in the streets, I was doing more taking than giving,” Spencer said. “I’m a walking testimony to let them know they aren’t alone and if they listen, they don’t have to go as far as I went.”

SUBHEAD: Lee’s story

Life as Campbell knew it ended at age 6. That’s when she moved to Toledo with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend, who abused her mom and raped and molested Lee until he died when she was 15.

“I remember coming here to Toledo and everything just stopped,” Campbell said. “I prayed to die every day. Somebody told me if you’re in total darkness, God will come to you and talk to you right there and save you, so I used to climb in these big black garbage bags, thinking God will come to me. When he didn’t, I knew there wasn’t a God, that God and the devil were the same person. I believed that for years.

“Nobody ever spoke against it,” Campbell said of her abuse. “I was just that invisible person that no one could see. Nobody wondered, ‘Why does she not talk? Why does she have accidents at school and she’s 12 years old? What’s going on?’ Nobody questioned it. It was just, ‘Oh she’s just dirty, she’s nasty, she’s slow.’ [After he died] I had to figure out a way to kill that little girl off.”

After her abuser died, she started using pills, alcohol and prostitution to dull the pain. She drank and used drugs during all her pregnancies and tried to kill herself twice.

“I didn’t think it was wrong. This was normal,” Campbell said. “My life was broken from the beginning of time.”

A neighbor finally called LCCS after seeing one of Campbell’s daughters enter a neighborhood crack house looking for her, but Campbell managed to avoid the caseworker for months. Finally she was ordered to appear in court. When she didn’t show up, her mother was given custody of the kids. A few days later, Campbell got angry when her mom refused to let her see the kids.

“I said, ‘You’re the reason this is all happening. You’re the reason I’m the way I am. You destroyed my life,'” Campbell said.

In a drug-fueled rage, she threatened to kill her mother, her children and herself and was arrested.

“I just wanted the pain to stop. When you have a lifetime of brokenness and trauma and you’re medicating with drugs and alcohol and not speaking about it, not trying to heal from it, it destroys every bit of proper thinking,” Campbell said. “I just thought it would be easier if they were gone and she was gone and then me gone. It would stop my kids from suffering. That’s where my mind was.”

In jail, she started reading the Bible and decided to get sober. She later regained custody of her children and founded Rahab’s Heart, a local outreach ministry that helps adult women who are street prostitutes and drug addicts.

“God has really worked miracles in my life because I used to be a very ugly person,” Campbell said. “What a blessing it was for somebody to intervene and save my own five kids. I could definitely have lost any of my kids to the streets because of my own ignorance. If it wasn’t for [LCCS], my daughter would be a prostitute. My boys would be dead or drug dealers. My twin daughters would probably be dead. Because I was no kind of mother. I was planting the same seeds in them as were planted in me.

“I just really try to tell [parents] how important it is to move forward, to say, ‘OK, you made some bad choices. I did, too. This is what I did, but you don’t have to live in that today.”

SUBHEAD: Pebbles’ story

Growing up in Toledo, Spencer was something of a wild child — known for fighting in the streets. Her dad, with whom she was close, died when she was 16.

“I was basically a rebel.I wanted to do what I wanted to do,” she said. “I went out in the world to find family and ran into the wrong people.”

While raising her four children, her alcohol use “got out of hand.” She never got violent toward her kids, but picked fights with just about everyone else, she said.

“I used to go from zero to 45 in getting angry. I couldn’t understand how my son had so much anger, but I showed him that,” Spencer said. “I just made wrong decisions. I caused a lot of violence. My therapists say I was reaching out for a lot of attention.”

Spencer’s sister reported her to LCCS the first time, a neighbor a second time. She now calls both instances “a blessing and a wakeup call.”

“Being drunk, you couldn’t know everything that was going on. You couldn’t pay attention to how they feel and what they were going through,” Spencer said of her kids. “I was tired but didn’t know no other way to go. I was just so wrapped up in that mode, I didn’t know how to get out.”

At first, Spencer brushed off LCCS’ attempts to help, but eventually realized she needed to make a change.

“Looking in the mirror made me think, ‘Well hey, I’ve been doing it this way; let’s try another way. Let’s do something different. And follow through this time,'” she said.

Spencer and Campbell both said recovery is an ongoing process, but are confident in their forward progress.

“I don’t think relapse is a part of everybody’s story,” Campbell said. “I’ve been given a beautiful life from the beginning until now. That past has made me the strong woman I am today who can reach out to people and say, ‘Look, you don’t have to be there. I’m going to be the shadow walking with you until you’re ready to change.'”

LCCS is encouraging people wearing blue April 9 to post photos on the agency’s Facebook page, tweet photos to @LucasCoOHKids or email photos to [email protected]. For more information, visit lucaskids.net.

Higgins: Post-‘Network’ Politics

By
Tim Higgins
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In 1976, Peter Finch spoke to a generation as newscaster Howard Beale by telling us: “So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’”

Not many recall “Network” screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky’s cynical prescience regarding the degradation of television network news (cable news networks didn’t yet exist), or director Sidney Lumet’s portrayal of the general apathy and eager gullibility of the American viewing public. Few indeed remember anything of this film other than its iconic tagline.

The only thing that’s changed in the intervening years is the addition of cable channels dedicated, in theory, entirely to news yet with programs that have become in many ways far worse than Chayefsky anticipated, and perhaps more outrageous than Lumet was willing (or heroic enough) to portray.

We may not yet have astrology segments, but multiple (and mostly inaccurate) weather segments seem to serve well enough as a substitute. Revolutionary groups may not be on the air yet, but the proliferation of journalistic zealotry makes one often feel it is.

Not anticipated in 1976, however, was the proliferation of non-news stories (and reality shows) from Hollywood regarding those leading lives of unthinkable luxury and unthinking ignorance. While flouting moral precedent, society’s rules and the nation’s laws (with the permission of lenient courts), many find time (between rehab sessions) to support international tyranny under romantic notions of revolution.

Talk radio, for all its supposed sins, at least attempts to devote an entire 30-minute segment (including commercials, news and traffic) to a subject as important as whether we should get into or out of a war, or whether the laws and regulations pouring out of the pens of pampered politicians make a difference.

With television, we’ve come to accept a schizophrenic form of news. Most days, it’s force-fed to us in two to four-minute segments (bipartisan commentary included). Eastern European politics or the science of hydraulic fracturing, we’re apparently only capable of digesting important national or world events in a Reader’s Digest condensed format, with segments only slightly longer (and often less intelligently written) than the commercials that separate them.

Occasionally however, the networks depart from their information shorthand to provide their viewers with nauseatingly repetitious offerings on what they don’t know on a story, supplemented by experts and pundits providing commentary so “inside baseball” that few if any can understand it.

As for their coverage of national politics, networks prefer an inflammatory sound bite to their job of covering the four W’s of the story (who, what, where and when). If they do get around to them, one can be certain of an Obi-Wan Kenobi interpretation of such facts “from a certain point of view.” And as for the fifth W (why), once more a panel of experts returns (fellow journalists and unemployed political minions) who can ignore questions in a bipartisan fashion, regurgitate party talking points ad nauseam and still find time to promote their current book.

Much of that unresolved “Network” anger still exists in this country, but remains largely unfocused. We’re angry with government for not doing the job it’s expected to do while doing far too many things it’s not needed for. We’re angry with politicians and political parties who’ve spent far too much time feathering their own nests instead of the nation’s work and have done so with our feathers. We’re angry with each other for the selective inattention we exhibit to the pain and suffering going on around us. Often however, we’re the most angry with a mainstream media that continues to assert special privilege as “The Fourth Estate,” ignoring their responsibilities and failing as badly as the American equivalents of the first three.

The right of a free press was included in the First Amendment for a reason by the founders, who understood that the republic would never survive without it. I wish Howard were still around, and this time “mad as hell” at those he worked with.

Pounds: Meeting Myles

By
Tom Pounds
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Tom Pounds with Myles Eckert and Dean Pickett

A few days after we published Jeremy Baumhower’s March 23 column “Magical, mighty Myles,” I was connected to Dean Pickett, the general manager at the Maumee Cracker Barrel. That was where Myles found $20 and “paid it forward” to Lt. Col. Frank Dailey, inspiring nationwide coverage for his generosity. Dean wanted a copy of Baumhower’s story so he could hang it above his fireplace at the Cracker Barrel.

So on March 28, Toledo Free Press senior sales representative Renee Bergmooser and I drove to Maumee for lunch and to deliver the copies. When we arrived, the young lady seating people asked if we were the “newspaper people.” I told her we were and she then said, “Myles and his family are here; would you like to sit near them?”

Of course we said yes and an amazing lunch ensued. We visited with Myles, Tiffany Eckert (Myles’ mom), Marlee Eckert (Myles’ older sister) and Lt. Col. Dailey’s family as well as Dean Pickett.

It was a great discussion as Myles showed off all the stuff he had after returning that morning from Dallas where he met with former President George W. Bush. There were baseballs, books and other memorabilia. I noticed Myles coloring with White House crayons and Tiffany said, “That is the only thing I am letting him play with out of all this stuff!”

We took pictures and had a grand time. But we also talked about the cover story Toledo Free Press published on Sgt. Andy Eckert, Myles’ father, after he died. It was June 8, 2005, in a story titled “Legacy.” The picture on the cover was of Sgt. Eckert. Inside were photos of his young daughter Marlee and a picture of Sgt. Eckert holding his newborn son Myles. The fact that a $20 bill could bring Tiffany Eckert and her family and the Toledo Free Press back together after these many years, this time with a joyful story, makes what we do so enjoyable.

Good things happen in this town all the time and we are very proud to bring them to you. We have tough times in this business and sometimes have to tell sad and scary stories. Meeting Myles reminded me that we can also play a role in spreading great, inspiring news.

‘Coming Home’ concert to benefit local veterans

By
Toledo Free Press
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After more than a year of work geared toward housing the chronically homeless, Veterans Matter in Toledo announced it has housed its 200th veteran nationwide, said founder Ken Leslie.

To raise money for the organization, a “Coming Home” benefit concert will take place April 6 from 2-7 p.m. at Forrester’s on the River in Toledo.

Ken Leslie, founder of 1Matters

Ken Leslie, founder of 1Matters

Veterans Matter has housed 65 veterans in Toledo, three in Michigan, nine in Indiana, nine in New England and 114 in Texas since its inception in February last year, Leslie said.

“It’s pretty exciting for us,” he said. “Two hundred veterans is a milestone for us and they were all done one at a time. … It’s a powerful thing. We take care of our own and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

More than $200,000 has been raised to date, Leslie said. What started as a local solution to a problem has grown to five regions and includes the support of Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, John Mellencamp and Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn.

Mitch Albom, a Detroit Free Press columnist and New York Times bestselling author, donated $15,000 in seed money to Veterans Matters’ Operation Michigan. Albom will serve as the organization’s Michigan co-chair. The goal in Michigan is to raise $75,000 and house 100 veterans, Leslie said.

“We view this more as a mission. … We’re not going to build a million-dollar fundraising organization,” Leslie said. “We have a target, then we move on to the next. … We’re reaching out to Detroit-area corporations.”

Kix Brooks will serve as Veterans Matter’s co-chair in Tennessee. The musician, along with other artists and celebrities, will voice public radio service announcements that will air nationwide from Armed Forces Day on  May 17 to Memorial Day, Leslie said.

Veterans Matter began when Leslie, with a worker from Veterans Affairs (VA), visited local homeless at their camps to help find them housing. He discovered two of his friends were living at the camp. They did not have enough money to put a deposit on VA-supported housing.

His partner with the VA said they weren’t the only ones. Leslie discovered that about 35 people were in the same situation locally. Within days, he came up with the idea for Veterans Matter and 11 days later found financial support through ProMedica. Later, Lucas County Veterans Services Commission would come on board.

“I just wanted to get a couple guys houses,” said Leslie, who also owns his own headhunting firm. “I didn’t imagine … 200 veterans later — it’s pretty amazing.

“We’re really blessed.”

The “Coming Home” benefit concert April 6 will showcase several musicians including The Good, The Bad & the Blues, The Joe Baker Band, The Reese Daily Band, The Grape Smugglers with special appearances by Ramona Collins, Candice Coleman, Pat Lewandowski and others.

Tickets are available at the door. To donate via text, send “vets” to 41444 and use a credit or debit card. For more information, go to www.veteransmatter.org or facebook.com/veteransmatter.

Local woman spearheading effort for Free Laundromat Day

By
Danielle Stanton
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As a branch of her extreme coupon “ministry,” Joni Meyer-Crothers is calling on Toledoans to step up in their giving by “adopting” a laundromat from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 27 for Free Laundromat Day.

Meyer-Crothers, a local who has made national headlines with her book and blog on extreme couponing, is asking businesses, churches and families to pay for wash and dry cycles, detergent, fabric softener and other supplies for those in need at participating laundromats.

The community service event was born out of Meyer-Crothers’ Bible-based beliefs about giving rather than receiving and helping one’s neighbor.

“So many people take for granted doing their laundry, but the working poor are struggling. … How do they get their clothes washed?” Meyer-Crothers said. “There’s no strings attached. That’s what the Bible tells us to do: Help someone else out because who knows when we will be in that position.”

In February, Meyer-Crothers held the inaugural adopt-a-laundromat at All-Wash Laundromat on Broadway Street. This time, she wants to adopt out most of Toledo’s laundromats at the same time.

“We thought we could do it for the whole city,” she said. “How cool would that be to have all the laundromats for three hours?”

As of press time, $1,200 has been raised, which is enough to adopt two out of 15 participating laundromats. She wants to raise $9,400 more for the 13 remaining laundromats, for a total of $10,600. That translates into 2,040 loads of laundry washed and dried.

The laundromats cost between $441 and $953 to “adopt” for three hours, based on Meyer-Crothers’ calculations.

Organizations and individuals who don’t want to adopt an entire laundromat can donate as little as a dollar by going to her website www.freetastesgood.com. On the website, you can also check out a video posted from February’s event.

Meyer-Crothers is also seeking donations of laundry detergent, fabric softener, bleach and dryer sheets.

The event will also need to staff volunteers who will “mingle” with those who are benefiting, Meyers-Crothers said.

“It’s a fellowship thing to get to know the people,” she said. “We want to serve the people.”

Tiffany Geer of Deshler gave a donation to Free Laundromat Day because she said she knows firsthand the struggles of not being able to afford laundry.

“When the depression hit, my husband was in construction. We went from a good income to not a good income at all,” Geer said. “There were two things that were hard to come by: laundry detergent and toilet paper.”

Geer said she loves being able to give back to others and works closely with Meyer-Crothers on helping to feed the homeless.

“I’ve seen a mother washing clothes out of a sink and you don’t forget very often ­— it sticks with you,” she said. “I hope this helps people be inspired to give back.”

At February’s Free Laundromat Day, 111 loads of laundry were washed and dried at the participating laundromat, Meyer-Crothers said. She said the day was “the neatest thing ever” and that she was able to help a lot of people.

“One guy was laid off and getting back to work on Monday and he had no idea how to get his laundry done,” she said.

Meyer-Crothers is an “extreme couponer” frequently featured in the national media, including TLC’s “Extreme Couponing,” “The Today Show,” “Rachael Ray,” FOX News and AOL’s You’ve Got.

She and her husband, Jamie Crothers, have seven children. She started couponing to save money on groceries after Jamie was laid off from his automotive job in 2007. A friend showed her how to use coupons, and within two weeks she had purchased $3,000 worth of food for just $100. At the time, she thought, “This isn’t couponing, this is ministry.”

The couple started an open pantry in their garage with a commercial freezer filled with meats, frozen vegetables and frozen dinners and a refrigerator filled with milk, butter, eggs, cheese and juice. People can go into the garage any time, day or night, and take what they need. Couponing has allowed Meyer-Crothers to help hundreds of people.

“All we ask is that when they’re in a better position, they pass the blessing on to others,” Meyer-Crothers has said.

Home Care by Black Stone acquires local agency

By
Duane Ramsey
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Home Care by Black Stone has acquired Health Services Connection of Toledo, the second local home care agency obtained by the company in less than 90 days. Black Stone acquired Nursing Resources of Toledo in March.

Health Services Connection (HSC), founded by Kathy Crabtree in 1994, has 30 employees and serves mostly PASSPORT dual-eligible consumers covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. HSC will become part of Nursing Resources of Black Stone, according to the news release announcing the acquisition.

“Health Services Connection’s focus on care quality and patient welfare is very consistent with Black Stone’s philosophy and values. We’re pleased to have them join our growing organization. As we continue to grow as a quality home care solutions, provider, the HSC caregivers will play an important role in our success and growth,” David Tramontana, CEO of Home Care by Black Stone, stated in the release.

When Black Stone expressed an interest in acquiring HSC, Crabtree said it created a perfect exit scenario for her.

“I was delighted when Black Stone approached me because their business philosophy is very compatible with mine, so I knew I would be leaving my staff and patients in very good hands,” Crabtree stated in the release.

“My business success was the result of my sincere belief that if you take care of your staff, your nurse aides and the patients, treat them with compassion, dignity, and respect, then your business will take of itself,” she explained in the release.

Crabtree received her master’s degree in nursing in December from Lourdes University where she taught nursing as an adjunct instructor. She is teaching nursing this summer at Linfield College in Portland, Oregon.

Crabtree and her husband, who is retired, are traveling in a motor home and plan to return to Northwest Ohio where they are selling their home. They plan to spend the fall in Ohio and travel to warmer climates in the winter, she said.

Ironically, Crabtree said she was instrumental in starting the home nursing service at Nursing Resources when it was just a staffing firm. She worked there until she started her own business, HSC, in 1994 before Darren Horrigan joined Nursing Resources.

Horrigan, now vice president of Northwest Ohio for Nursing Resources by Black Stone, explained that “one of the main reasons we pursued the HSC acquisition is because they serve predominantly dual-eligible PASSPORT patients – frail seniors who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid.”

“As the largest provider of PASSPORT home care, Black Stone serves a significant number of these dual-eligible patients as well, and is well positioned to help seniors age in place. It is a very nice fit for everyone – Black Stone, the HSC employees, and the patients,” Horrigan stated in the release.

The acquisition further advances Black Stone’s ability to meet the demands of MyCare Ohio, the state’s new integrated care program currently being implemented and targeted to be fully operational by 2015, according to Horrigan.

The program targets the dual-eligible population because these group of typically frail, low-income consumers make up less than 15 percent of the state’s Medicaid enrollment, yet account for about 40 percent of the total spending. The high cost of caring for this group is largely due to the fragmented, uncoordinated care delivery system currently in place.

The goals of MyCare Ohio is to reduce health care costs, increase provider accountability, and improve overall care results by creating a system based on  integrated, person-centered care. In Northwest Ohio, MyCare Ohio was launched June 1 and covers nearly 10,000 consumers in the four-county region.

Black Stone was established in 1996 and is based in Cincinnati. It is a leading provider of home-based, non-medical assisted care, skilled nursing and therapy care in Southwest and Central Ohio.

For more information, visit www.blackstonehc.com.

Retirement Guys: Make life’s changes less taxing

By
Toledo Free Press
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Spring is officially here. After the winter that the majority of Americans just went through, it couldn’t come soon enough. Although it may look more like winter than spring outside, the meteorologists are confident that a change in the weather is coming.

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The mounds of snow are melting and we are slowly but surely seeing the grass that has been dormant for several months. Before we know it, there will be daffodils and pansies blooming all around us. As for me, Nolan, I really enjoy spring. It signals the start of the boating and golf season.

With spring comes an urge for change. It gives us the urge to step outside, take the dog for a walk and have some fun.

This time of year, a lot of people are thinking about change. Perhaps it’s time for a career change. It could be time to start a business or take a new position at another company. It could be time for a move to a new state. Perhaps someone may be getting ready to move to Toledo to enjoy our affordable housing and live closer to family. It could be a local resident ready to downsize and move to a lake house or somewhere warmer. If you are considering any of these changes, take some time to review our pointers on proper tax planning. These pointers listed below may help make those changes less taxing.

Home sales gain exclusion

I must admit, after going through the record cold and snowfall this past winter, hitting the beach to enjoy the sounds of the ocean sounds pretty appealing. Maybe you have the itch to move somewhere warmer. Retirement can also be a time that families consider downsizing their homes and try to figure out where to spend their retirement years.

Selling a home that has appreciated in value can be a way to realize those dreams. An individual can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of their home. A married couple does not have to pay federal income tax on up to $500,000. A few requirements to avoid this tax are (1) the owner must have owned the property for at least two of the past five years and (2) it must be their primary residence. If you are considering this option, talk with your accountant to learn more.

Moving expenses deduction

Maybe you aren’t at retirement age just yet, but could use a change of scenery. If that’s the case, and the move is job-related, the moving expenses might be tax deductable.  I would advise someone moving due to a job change to keep a log of all expenses. Once the move is complete, the list can be reviewed by a tax preparer to see if anything can be used as a deduction. In general, expenses such as packing and shipping costs, storage fees for up to 30 days and travel expenses are typically deductible. To retrieve a complete list of deductions, please visit IRS Publication 521 at www.IRS.gov.

Self-employed retirement

The Retirement Guys recently interviewed Carolee Duckworth and Marie Langworthy, who are the authors of “Shifting Gears To Your Life and Work After Retirement.” An interesting fact found in their book is that over the past decade those aged 55 to 64 have the highest rate of entrepreneurship. The time might be now for those ready for a change in life and looking to start their own business.

We’d like to encourage you to embrace your new adventures in retirement, whatever they may be. It’s also important to remember to save for the future as well. A great way to do this, which may possibly provide you a tax benefit, is to set up a self-employed retirement plan. Depending upon what type of retirement account, an investor may contribute and deduct up to $57,500.

For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 p.m. on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysnetwork.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC. NEXT Financial Group, Inc. does not provide tax or legal advice. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537. (419) 842-0550.

PigPen Theatre Co. to sing stories in Ann Arbor

By
Vicki Kroll
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PigPen Theatre

The story’s the thing for PigPen Theatre Co.

Just ask how the seven artists came up with that nom de porcine.

“One of the guys is from Austin, Texas,” Ryan Melia began. “So it was rural and there was a lot of farmland. And he actually had a pigpen where he would do plays with all of his pigs. And he outgrew that, and the pigs outgrew that as well.

“And he went to college and he met six people whose characteristics matched each of the pigs. So he decided, ‘You know, guys, I think I have this thing that you would really fit into, it’s called PigPen Theatre Co.’ And we all for some reason agreed. We all took to it, and now we’re here.

“That’s the story today,” Melia said and laughed during a call as the indie folk-rockers motored toward Charlotte, N.C., for a show.

Part of that prologue is true.

“We all met when we were freshmen at Carnegie Mellon; we were all acting majors,” he said.

It was 2008, and the guys put together a play for an annual festival at the university.

Since then, the troupe has produced original works that combine theater, music and film both off-Broadway and at regional playhouses around the country. PigPen Theatre Co. is the first group to win the New York City Fringe Festival’s top honor two years in a row.

“We really just did [our 2012 debut disc, ‘Bremen’] because people who knew us already were asking for the music from our plays, and we had no way of giving it to them,” Melia said. “The fact that it garnered a little bit of traction with people that had never seen our plays, that’s been the biggest reward.”

The band’s 2013 EP, “The Way I’m Running,” is filled with more gorgeous harmonies, banjo-picking, acoustic guitars and accordion.

What’s more, the renaissance men have served up scene-stealing online covers of Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” The Looking Glass’ “Brandy,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

“That was a Kickstarter reward if people gave a certain amount of money for [‘Bremen’], they could request a cover and we had to do it,” said Melia, who sings and plays guitar, banjo and fiddle. “Sometimes we pull them out and do them in concert.”

PigPen Theatre Co. — Melia, Alex Falberg, Arya Shahi, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Dan Weschler and Matt Nuernberger — will play at 8 p.m. April 11 at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

“Even though when we do a concert there’s no real theatrics It’s a pretty straightforward concert setting. I think that we all still go back to the idea of a story and a journey and a fully fleshed-out story basically coming through with each song,” Melia said.

“If people can come away with an idea that they listened to something that wasn’t just the same the whole time, that dynamically a journey happened, I’d say that’s probably the most important thing to us in everything we do.”

Review: ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ starts summer season early

By
Toledo Free Press
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0

The First Avenger is back in theaters and this time he faces the Winter Soldier.

Director Fury is also back, along with Black Widow, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is in trouble.

.

.

Sound like code?

There is a farrago of people, places and things in the superhero Marvel universe in which audiences can easily lose themselves. It’s easy to begin saying, “Who is that again? What happened?”

The latest movie in the expansive franchise, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” continues the saga and focuses on the First Avenger himself — Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans).

“The Winter Soldier” finds Cap, as he’s called in the movie, in the midst of a slight identity crisis. The end of the first movie found him waking up from a deep sleep in present day. He’s made a list of things to do, which includes certain music, topics and films.

But does he still want to fight and be a soldier?

Official poster.

“For the longest time, I just wanted to do what’s right,” he says. “Now, I just don’t know what that is.”

S.H.I.E.L.D., the organization charged with protecting Earth from enemies at home and away, doesn’t seem like the place he’d like to be.

Its director Nick Fury (played as always with a cool swagger by Samuel L. Jackson) also seems to share the sentiment. Something isn’t quite right.

One thing is for sure: Don’t mess with the Winter Solider. Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), learned this truth on her numerous encounters with him. Captain America will also learn this lesson.

Required viewing for this sequel includes the 2011 predecessor “Captain America: The First Avenger,” along with 2012’s “The Avengers.” The other Marvel movies don’t quite figure into the storyline here, even though Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye and the Hulk should theoretically be around the corner to pinch-hit with battling whatever enemy comes their way. (Audiences have to wait for a reunion until next summer when “Avengers: Age of Ultron” comes out May 1.)

Comic books fans will love the mid-credits scene, which teases future Marvel projects (no spoilers here).

Ohioans, look for an appearance of the fountain and shopping center at Tower City in downtown Cleveland.

Overall, “The Winter Soldier” builds on the impressive oeuvre in the Marvel movie collection. While it’s missing some of the heart of the first Captain America outing, there are twists and turns in this early summer blockbuster to keep audiences entertained and thrilled.

/ 5

Official trailer:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, gunplay and action throughout.

Toledo Free Press Design Editor and Film Editor James A. Molnar blogs about all things Oscar at TheGoldKnight.com. Watch James discuss movies every Friday on WTOL-11′s “Your Day.” Listen to James discuss movies on “Eye on Your Weekend” on 1370 WSPD every Friday at 6 p.m.

Team raises money for Owens baseball player who lost parents

By
Brandi Barhite
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Teams sometimes seem like family. Other times, they are family. Owens Community College baseball player Michael Finch is realizing the latter after losing both of his parents in less than two months.

Michael Finch, a baseball player at Owens Community College, with his parents Chales and Wanda Finch at his high school graduation. Wanda died Jan. 17 of cancer. Charles died March 6 of unknown causes. Photo Courtesy Finch Family

Michael Finch, a baseball player at Owens Community College, with his parents Chales and Wanda Finch at his high school graduation. Wanda died Jan. 17 of cancer. Charles died March 6 of unknown causes. Photo Courtesy Finch Family

His mother, Wanda, was diagnosed with lung and bone cancers while he was home in Norwalk during winter break. She started chemo the week he returned to school with doctors saying it was treatable, depending on how the chemo went.

That week, Finch talked to his 56-year-old mom and learned that “chemo kicked her butt.” In a few days, she was in the hospital. Then his sister, Ellen, called to say, “Mom isn’t doing good.”

Finch rushed home. By Jan. 17, “She was done, she wasn’t my mom; she passed that night.”

“If I didn’t think it was curable, I wouldn’t have gone back to school so soon. It was a shocker that it happened so quickly,” he said.

His team rallied around the pitcher and outfielder.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without them,” Finch said. “The whole team came to the showing. I appreciated it. They were there for me every step of the way and welcomed me back. They had my back. It was a relief to have people in my life like that.”

One week later, the 19-year-old was back at Owens. His dad, Charles, insisted that he continue to play and get an education.

On March 6, while at spring training in Panama City, Fla., he talked to his father, who was proud that Finch would be pitching in the game that night.

Later that day, his 17-year-old sister, Ellen, called to say she had found their dad dead in the kitchen. He was lying on his back with his head through the wall. The 62-year-old had diabetes-related health problems, but his cause of death is unknown.

“I never expected to hear that,” Finch said of the news he got on the beach.

rsz_finch_michael

Michael Finch. Photo Courtesy Owens Community College

He fell to his knees. Both of his parents were gone in less than two months. It was just he and his sister now —and his team.

Head coach Devin Taylor said getting the news about Finch’s dad was horrific. It was game day for the players. The team was supposed to play at 9 a.m., but rain pushed the game to 5 p.m. When Finch called him, the players were hanging out on the beach and the coaches were at lunch. He said, “Coach, my dad is dead.”

The whole team hurried back to the condo. Finch still wanted to play the game that night.

“We got everyone together after we got back to the condo. I talked to Michael one-on-one about getting him a flight back to Ohio or we would rent a car and drive him.”

But he wanted to play because he knew that would be his dad’s wish.

“That is a hard decision to make as a coach. I thought about it for a while. I called the rest of the team into the condo and told everyone what Michael wanted to do. Everyone wanted to play.”

Although the team lost 9-8, the coming weeks would be the true judge of the team’s worth.

“This is his family. That is part of my philosophy,” Taylor said. “Being a family within a team, relying on each other through the ups and downs. This team has done a good job of supporting Michael and his situation.”

Kelly Skender of Illinois decided to start raising money for Finch and his sister, who is living with an uncle. Skender’s son, Alec, is Finch’s teammate.

“I was trying to think about how to help them with their situation. The most thing I could think of was trying to get money.”

The goal is to raise $50,000, which Skender knows is high, but “you have to shoot high and keep rolling with it.”

Finch plans to pay off his parents’ house with family savings. He had the option to sell the house, but wanted to keep it. He wants to live there during summer break and, hopefully, spend time with his sister.

“I have to set an example for her. I can’t just be weak,” he said.

Taylor said he is trying to share Finch’s story because with the money Finch wants to send his sister to college.

“I think once people hear their story, they will want to help this young man and sister,” Taylor said.

Finch isn’t on scholarship at Owens; he is a walk-on.

“Michael is from a smaller area and last year was my first year here at Owens,” Taylor said. “Our recruiting process with him was late. Ability-wise, he is probably a scholarship, but he chose to play here anyway.”

Taylor said Finch is a natural athlete who has great composure. He has a passion for the game with an equally strong arm.

“His personality really drew me to him. He was a great young man. He was smart and had a desire to pursue an education.”

Alyssa Lassey, a basketball player at Owens, put Finch’s name on her tennis shoes after hearing about his dad’s death.

Lassey said nearly every Owens athlete is helping with the fundraiser.  Even alum are spreading the word and donating.

“I think it is good that Michael is here; he is still playing baseball and still around everyone. He can be with us and keep his mind off of it.”

Taylor said baseball is played to escape reality. This has helped Finch whose reality is harder than most.

“We are his family now,” Taylor said.

To donate to Michael Finch and his sister, Ellen, go to http://www.gofundme.com/7fhyrc

The Owens Community College baseball team has rallied around freshman teammate Michael Finch after both his parents died within two months. Photo Courtesy Owens Community College

The Owens Community College baseball team has rallied around freshman teammate Michael Finch after both his parents died within two months. Photo Courtesy Owens Community College

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