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Local pros offer tips to kids at Shorties U film workshop

By
Jeff
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Wielding an array of tablets, smartphones and video cameras, 51 area students spent a morning learning some basic filmmaking skills from local experts.

The first session of Shorties U, a four-week workshop for fourth- through eighth-graders, was held Feb. 22 at Sylvania Northview High School. At the end of the day, the students were able to test some of their new skills at a surprise performance from “American Idol” contestant Keri Lynn Roche of Ann Arbor.

WTOL-11 reporter Ali Hoxie, center, talks to Shorties U students about putting together a news story. Toledo Free Press Photo By Sarah Ottney

WTOL-11 reporter Ali Hoxie, center, talks to Shorties U students about putting together a news story. Toledo Free Press Photo By Sarah Ottney

Shorties U is part of the second annual Tree City Film Festival, set for April 24-26 and organized by the Sylvania Community Arts Commission.

The idea behind the workshop is to introduce techniques that will help kids create their own three- to five-minute films to submit to the film fest’s Shorties film challenge, said Tree City Film Festival committee member Jeremy Baumhower, who is organizing the Shorties and Shorties U events. Baumhower is also a columnist for Toledo Free Press.

“Last year we did the Shorties film challenge and when it was all done, I thought it was kind of unfair to ask kids to produce something that they may have never had an education in, so we took that and we filled the need,” Baumhower said. “I wanted to create a four-week workshop where we can connect the kids with all kinds of people and ultimately inspire them to make a movie, but also just use their device in a little bit bigger fashion. Right now there are 50 kids who are super excited about something they were a part of and that’s the goal.”

Last year’s inaugural Shorties challenge drew about 20 submissions, said Jennifer Archer, executive director of the Sylvania Community Arts Commission.

“We had a good response, but we saw there just wasn’t a lot of depth to the content because of course they are kids, so we thought, ‘Why not give the kids an opportunity to take it a little bit further and learn some of the things that are going to help them make a movie with a little more oompf to it?’” Archer said. “Our hope is that most of the kids who participate in this workshop will make a movie as a result of  being involved in it and going through the learning process.”

But beyond teaching technical skills, Archer said she hopes Shorties U will help kids gain confidence and inspire their creativity.

“I want to give kids the opportunity to see that there are different ways they can be creative,” Archer said. “A kid who might be too shy to get up on stage and sing or dance in front of somebody, they can either be behind the camera and create and put their work out there or maybe they can be in front of the camera, but it’s a safe way to show yourself to the world.

“American Idol” contestant Keri Lynn Roche of Ann Arbor performed for the students at Shorties U. Toledo Free Press Photo by Sarah Ottney

“I’ve never been able to draw or paint; I’m just not that type of creative,” said Archer, whose mother was an art teacher and brother is an independent filmmaker. “There’s not a lot of opportunity for kids to have this kind of chance to see that there’s another side to it. It’s just a different way to express yourself. I want to give kids a different way to soar.”

Shorties U drew students from across the region, including Sylvania, Toledo, Perrysburg, Maumee and Michigan, Archer said.

The Feb. 22 presenters were Baumhower, Toledo Free Press design editor and film critic James A. Molnar, WTOL-11 reporter Ali Hoxie and MacCafe employee Julia Koralewski.

Baumhower led the students in creativity exercises to start brainstorming ideas for their films. Molnar had the students design posters for their favorite movies, thinking about art elements and taglines that would best draw in viewers. Hoxie covered how to decide what is most important when filming a news story. She gave groups of students a series of real-life news facts from the flooding incident that shut down the Anthony Wayne Trail earlier this month and had the students put the details in order of importance for a newscast. Koralewski, an art teacher at Sylvan Elementary School, covered basic tips and tricks for shooting videos, including lighting, composition, focus, perspective and planning shots. The students were given an assignment to shoot some photos and videos for practice editing them in the next session.

After the four sessions, organizers announced that there would be a surprise guest. “American Idol” season 13 contestant Keri Lynn Roche, an Ann Arbor native, sang for the kids as most of them filmed the performance.

“It’s awesome,” Roche said of Shorties U. “It’s really cool to cultivate creativity into kids at this age because it’s important. The most important part of my youth was music so just kind of implementing that and showing them how it can be more than just a song, that it can be therapeutic, it can be good brain food.”

Kiri Thibert, 11, a fifth-grader at Maplewood Elementary in Sylvania, said her favorite class was the tips and technique class.

“We talked about how to hold a camera, how to focus, the lighting and zoom,” Thibert said. “I learned not to have a person straight in the middle of the camera, but to have them at another angle.”

Riley Murphy, 10, a fifth-grader at Highland Elementary in Sylvania, said she had a lot of fun.

“I learned how to create ideas about the stuff I love,” said Murphy, who plans to submit a Shorties film that will be “a love story with a twist.”

Emily Birmingham, 10, said her class at Sylvan Elementary School submitted a film to last year’s Shorties challenge, but this year she plans to submit her own. The fifth-grader, whose favorite film genres are fantasy, horror and mystery, said she will direct and act in the film, that will be about “a ghost dog that comes back to haunt his previous owners because they mistreated him.” The best piece of advice she learned from Shorties U so far was that it’s best to film with a tripod.

Morgan Harrison, 13, a seventh-grader at Toledo School for the Arts, said he’s not sure if he will submit a Shorties film, but wanted to take the workshop because he loves to make videos with his friends.

Grace Fite, 10, a fourth-grader at Woodland Elementary in Perrysburg, said she loves making videos and her favorite part of the day was filming Roche singing.

“There’s always a filming device near me somewhere,” Fite said. “I just like it because it’s something I can do when I’m bored.”

That’s why her mom, Liz Fite, enrolled her in Shorties U.

“She’s very creative and always filming something,” she said. “I thought it would be something she would be interested in.”

The next three Shorties U sessions will be held March 1, March 8 and March 15.

The Tree City Film Festival will include the Shorties on April 24; a screening of the Oscar-nominated shorts on April 25; and a screening of films created during the 50-hour film challenge on April 26.

The deadline to submit a three- to five-minute Shorties film is April 8. The challenge is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. There is no cost and filmmakers do not have to be enrolled in Shorties U to submit a film.

The 50-hour film challenge, to be held March 21-23, is open to high school, college and adult teams who must produce a film in 50 hours or less. Cost to participate is $25 for student teams or $35 for adult teams.

For more information, visit treecityfilmfestival.com.

Family’s fourfold ‘miracle’ rang in New Year’s 2010

By
Toledo Free Press
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The first baby born each year always generates a lot of attention, but New fYear’s Day 2010 brought four times the usual excitement as quadruplets were the first to arrive in Lucas County.

“They are a miracle. They are,” said mom Lauren Hablitzel-Lake of Michaela, James, Dakota and Isaiah Lake of Perrysburg, who will turn 4 on Jan. 1. “From being preemies, they have some developmental delays, but they don’t have any major medical issues. To have four healthy babies, they are the minority when it comes to quadruplets.”

The siblings, who started preschool this year, share the same birthday, but their parents said that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

“They are each their own individual and really have their own personalities, their own strengths, their own weaknesses,” Lauren said. “Within a week their personalities were completely different, right away, even as babies.”

Michaela is “all girl,” said dad Nick Lake. She loves princesses and the colors pink and purple.

“We thought she’d be a tomboy, but she’s a complete girlie girl,” Lauren said. “She’ll do everything [her brothers] do, but in her skirt.”

Dakota loves animals, planes, cars and Nerf guns. Isaiah likes trains and bells. James is into firetrucks and dragons.

In terms of personality, James is the take-charge leader while Dakota is more laid-back — and it’s been that way since they were babies, Lauren said.

“I just love watching them together, watching them play, watching them talk to each other,” she said. “They could talk to each other before they could talk to me. They had their own little language and they could understand each other.”

Four heartbeats

The couple, both now 29, said they were ecstatic to find out Lauren was pregnant with quadruplets.

“I thought something was wrong the whole time because the way the doctor acted [during the ultrasound],” Lauren said. “He stopped and pulled back and said, ‘I need her chart,’ and he’s flipping through papers.”

Instead, he pointed out four separate heartbeats.

“By that point, I was already crying because I thought something was wrong. So I was just relieved,” Lauren said. “[Nick] just laughed. Delirious laughter. The doctor kept looking at him like, ‘Are you OK?’ We’re like, ‘Yes! We’re great!’ Life is a blessing. It’s precious.”

The Lakes, who were Perrysburg High School sweethearts, moved back to their hometown shortly after the babies were born, having outgrown their one-bedroom home in McClure overnight.

“Both our families live in Perrysburg and that was always our ideal end location,” said Lauren, who left her job as a middle school math teacher to care for the kids, but plans to return to work once they start kindergarten. Nick is a structural engineer with DGL Consulting Engineers in Maumee.

The easiest part of having four kids the same age is that all are at the same developmental level and interested in similar activities, Lauren said. The hardest part is finding ways to give them individualized attention. Although the boys still let their mom dress them alike — which she said she plans to do until they protest — Michaela is already having none of that.

“When they were little, they always had coordinating outfits, but that ended real quick because she’s extremely independent and wants to do everything herself,” Lauren said. “She dresses herself every day.”

Excitement

Lauren was 30 weeks pregnant and had been on bed rest at ProMedica Toledo Hospital for six weeks when her water broke around 10:45 p.m. Dec. 31, 2009. The babies were delivered via cesarean section: James was first at 12:17 a.m., followed by Isaiah at 12:18 a.m., Michaela at 12:19 a.m. and Dakota at 12:20 a.m.

The couple’s one request was that all four be born in the same year, even though it meant missing the deadline for that year’s tax deductions.

“Basically, a difference of 18 to 20 minutes was thousands of dollars,” Nick said, laughing. “The money would have been nice, but it was fine.”

The couple said they found out pretty quickly they had the county’s first babies of the new year.

“People ask me all the time if I planned that. No, I did not,” Lauren said. “As soon as I delivered, they were like, ‘OK, let’s call whoever and see.’ I guess it’s a big deal for them. The nurses were so excited. And with it being quads, I think that just elevated everything.”

The couple said that, as news spread, they were showered with well-wishes and gifts, including a six-month-supply of diapers from a local church and baby clothes from other parents of multiples.

Nick said the distinction of having the first babies was “the cherry on top,” but he was mainly just relieved to be finished with the stress of Lauren’s high-risk pregnancy and moving on to the next phase.

The babies weighed between 2 and 4 pounds each at birth. Including Lauren’s bed rest and the time they spent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the Lakes stayed at the hospital for 114 days. Michaela and Isaiah went home Feb. 28. Dakota was released two weeks later and James three days after Dakota. Lauren said it was an amazing feeling when all four children were finally home.

“Relief. Just like — finally. The family’s together. We’re all home,” she said.

Questions

The family turns heads and fields questions everywhere they go, Lauren said, which can be frustrating at times, like when people take pictures of the kids without asking.

“Questions I don’t mind, as long as it’s nice,” Lauren said. “But we need to put up a little sign on our wagon: ‘Please refrain from photography.’ I would never take a picture of someone else’s child. Why are you taking pictures of my kids? They are not a circus act. These are my children. Yes, there’s four of them and I know that’s a lot, but …”

The Lakes haven’t really talked to the kids about their “celebrity” status yet, but plan to when they are older.

“This will follow them now for life, which is kind of a nice little bonus,” Nick said. “It doesn’t define them by any means, but it’s neat.”

First New Year’s baby is highly anticipated event

By
Toledo Free Press
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New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day always generate an extra buzz of anticipation on local labor and delivery floors as patients, hospital staff and media alike wait to see which family and which hospital will deliver the first baby of the new year.

“We hope every year we have the first baby,” said Gloria Mayne, a registered nurse who’s worked in ProMedica Toledo Hospital’s nursery for 43 years. Her shift starts at 7 a.m. “The first thing we say [when we walk in] is, ‘Did we have the first baby?’ and they are like, ‘Yeah!’ or ‘Not this year.’ It’s a fun little competition.”

Other holidays, like Christmas, are special too, but nothing compares with the excitement of New Year’s, agreed Beth Garzony, a registered nurse who has worked with Mayne at Toledo Hospital for 26 years.

“We always like to get the title of first baby,” she said. “It’s a new beginning. New Year’s is just exciting. It’s just fun to be here.”

The buzz might be higher than normal on New Year’s, but procedures are the same as any other day, said Dr. Kent Bishop, an OB/GYN and medical director for ProMedica Toledo Hospital Women’s Services.

“It’s pretty much business as usual,” Bishop said. “But there’s a certain amount of excitement to deliver that first baby of the year or even if it’s just the first baby of our institution.”

The excitement means many staff members volunteer for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day shifts.

“That’s not usually a day that we struggle to get coverage,” Bishop said.

First in state

At least twice in recent years, Lucas County’s first baby was also the first born in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Andre Clark, born to Tonya Clark of Toledo at midnight at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, was Ohio’s first baby of 2007, beating 14 other
Lucas County babies born Jan. 1 for the local title and making him the first of nearly 150,000 babies born in the state that year. JaNiyla Fields, born to Shaniece Fields of Toledo at 12:01 a.m. at Toledo Hospital, tied for first in the state in 2011.

Quadruplets

A set of quadruplets born at Toledo Hospital in 2010 are among the most memorable first births among hospital staff, said Tracy Buder, a registered nurse and clinical director of ProMedica Toledo Hospital’s labor and delivery unit.

“The quads stick out in my mind,” Buder said. “I remember it being very exciting and that everyone thought it was pretty neat to have the first baby of the new year be quads. I believe there was a patient who was upset, that thought it was purposeful, but it absolutely was not. She had to be delivered for a necessity.”

Regardless of a family’s desire to have the first baby of the year, there is a strict set of criteria that must be met when deciding whether or when to induce labor, stressed Dr. Michael Hnat, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Toledo Hospital.

“There has to be a medical indication, not just because it’s the end of the year,” Hnat said.

“We don’t just induce people haphazardly,” Bishop added. “There are some pretty stringent criteria.”

A typical delivery includes a care provider — a physician or midwife — along with two nurses to assist, Bishop said.

“That would be the minimum for a low-risk, straightforward birth,” he said. “That number can be jacked up to about three times that in about 30 seconds if needed, so it has the ability to ramp up quickly.”

Bishop said there was once a set of twins at Toledo Hospital who were born in two different years — one on Dec. 31 and one on Jan. 1.

“They had different birthdays and different years. That was really cool,” Bishop said. “It’s been a few years, so it’s turning into folklore now, but it definitely happened.”

Busiest hospital

Toledo Hospital is home to the region’s busiest labor and delivery unit. The first baby of the new year has been born there five out of the past six years. The hospital delivered nearly half — more than 3,800 — of the county’s nearly 8,000 babies born in 2012 and is on track for similar numbers this year, Bishop said.

“It would make sense that we have a good chance to get [2014’s first birth] just because of the number of deliveries being done,” Bishop said.

Katelyn Shaner of Bowling Green was the first baby of the new year in 1990. She was born at 12:01 a.m. at Toledo Hospital.

“My parents would tell me about it all the time how the doctors said my mom could decide what year I was born in and how they watched the ball drop just as she had me,” Shaner wrote in an email. “I have the newspaper clippings in my baby book and it’s a running joke about how I was impatient to make my entrance and spoiled my older brother’s plans for the night.”

In Lucas County, there were 12 babies born Jan. 1, 2013, 17 born that day in 2012, 21 in 2011, 27 in 2010, nine in 2009 and 14 in 2008, according to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

Buder and Bishop said they have each delivered the first baby of the new year once.

“That was very exciting. It was cool to do that,” Buder said. “We didn’t really think we were going to be the first baby of the new year, but we ended up being so it was very cool. We always want to have the New Year’s baby.”

New Year’s Day isn’t the only coveted birth date, Bishop said. Some parents have personal reasons for hoping for a certain date, whether for family significance or because of a unique numerical sequence, such as 10/11/12, Bishop said.

Despite the extra attention heaped on the first baby each year, Hnat said every birth is special.

“Giving birth and having children here or anywhere is a magical time. It’s a birthday and it is a magical time for everybody,” Hnat said. “It’s business as usual on New Year’s Eve. It just happens to be a special time and it’s always a special time. We go on and take care of the patient and their needs, but we don’t really provide the magic to it. That’s their part.”

Lucas County’s first babies 1990-2013

  • 2013: Eli John (Parents: Britney Spoldt and Dan Poulin of Toledo), ProMedica Flower Hospital, 1:28 a.m.
  • 2012: Axella (Parents: Amanda O’Leary and Nick Bueter of Toledo), ProMedica Toledo Hospital, 12:32 a.m.
  • 2011: JaNiyla Marie (Parents: Shaniece Fields of Toledo), Toledo Hospital, 12:01 a.m.
  • 2010: James Houston (Parents: Nick Lake and Lauren Hablitzel-Lake of McClure), Toledo Hospital, 12:17 a.m. Followed by siblings Isaiah Parker at 12:18 a.m., Michaela Ann at 12:19 a.m. and Dakota Perry at 12:20 a.m.
  • 2009: Ryleigh Addison (Parents: Dawanna Hintz and Adam Owens), Toledo Hospital, 4:37 a.m.
  • 2008: Jewel (Parents: Donna and Tim Aldrich of Genoa), Toledo Hospital, 12:16 a.m.
  • 2007: Andre (Parents: Tonya Clark of Toledo), Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, midnight.
  • 2006: Romeo (Parents: Karen and Jimmie Jordan of Sylvania), Mercy St. Anne Hospital, 12:58 a.m.
  • 2005: Joshua (Parents: Steven and Laurel Bruhl of Maumee), St. Anne Hospital, 6:18 a.m.
  • 2004: Caden Keith (Parents: Samantha Wilber and Jeff Feller), Mercy St. Charles Hospital, 3:51 a.m.
  • 2003: Christopher David (Parents: David and Susan Oleksiak of Oregon), Flower Hospital, 4:05 a.m.
  • 2002: Eric Thomas (Parents: Jim and Kelly Joldrichsen of Oregon), Flower Hospital, 12:05 a.m.
  • 2001: Tavion (Parents: Tiffani Williams of Toledo), St. Vincent Medical Center, 4:09 a.m.
  • 2000: Nathanial Myles (Parents: Leslie Graves and Maynard Belcher Jr. of Toledo), Toledo Hospital, 12:07 a.m.
  • 1999: Kersten Elise (Parents: Wendy Lewis and Roger Sallows), St. Luke’s Hospital, 12:01 a.m.
  • 1998: Cordell Jarrod “C.J.” (Parents: Jerry and Karin Austin of Perrysburg), St. Luke’s Hospital, midnight.
  • 1997: Janell Renea (Parents: Lisa Williams and Joel Wright of Toledo), Riverside Hospital, midnight.
  • 1996: Allen Michael (Parents: Tracy Wolfenbarger), Toledo Hospital, 12:03 a.m.
  • 1995: Not reported.
  • 1994: Jacob (Parents: Jennifer Avalos), Mercy Hospital, 12:50 a.m.
  • 1993: Philip Thomas (Parents: Jacquelyn Scanlon and Thomas Baron of Toledo), Flower Hospital, 12:01 a.m.
  • 1992: Derek Kristopher (Parents: Darin and Misty Householder), St. Vincent Medical Center, 12:03 a.m.
  • 1991: Carol (Parents: Carol Long of Toledo), Riverside Hospital, 12:30 a.m.
  • 1990: Katelyn Elizabeth (Parents: Larry and Nancy Shaner of Bowling Green), Toledo Hospital, 12:01 a.m.

— Source: Media reports

Treeces seek input on airport plan via website

By
Jeff
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The local investors interested in privatizing the operation of the area’s two airports recently launched a website where they intend to lay out their plans for public review and solicit input before a formal proposal is made to Toledo City Council.

The website, www.toledoairports.com, launched Nov. 26. Titled “A Vision for Toledo Airports,” it also contains a summary of their qualifications and experience, frequently asked questions and a contact form.

“At our newly created website, the public will be able to see documents — including our full business plan — as we release them,” said Dock David Treece, who is working on the proposal with his father, Dock Treece, and brother, Ben Treece.

“The release of our documents will be staged out over a period of several weeks to allow the public to study each of them separately. Our primary goal in posting documents like our business plan online is to provide as much transparency as possible. We also want a platform for receiving and addressing questions as they arise.”

The first document, a marketability study, is set to be posted Dec. 6, Dock David said.

Put together with the help of consultant Michael Hodges of Airport Business Solutions, the study “details all the opportunities and strengths of both Toledo Express Airport and Toledo Executive Airport that we aren’t currently taking advantage of,” Dock David said, describing Hodges as a world-renowned expert in aviation operations and airport privatization.

Dock, a Tennessee native who has lived in Toledo since the mid-1970s, is president of Treece Investment Advisory Corp. and his sons are both partners in the family-owned and operated Toledo firm.

The Treeces are also Toledo Free Press contributors. Dock’s wife, Cynthia Treece, is also listed as an investor on the website.

The Treeces would operate the airports as two new entities: Toledo Airport Operations Company and Toledo Airport Facilities Company. They have been researching the feasibility of their idea for the past three years, but started to get more serious this spring, Dock David said.

Both airports are owned by the City of Toledo and have been operated by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority since 1973. Under its current lease, the Port is set to operate the airports through February 2023.

“I hope people will take the opportunity to visit the website, study the document and provide feedback,” Dock David said. “We want every-
body in Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan — particularly Lucas and Wood counties — to have the ability to see exactly what we want to do and who is involved before we start going through City Council.”

Among the documents the Treeces plan to post in the coming weeks are their full business plan and a 10-year financial forecast, Dock David said.

“This is not something we have done on a whim,” he said. “We want to be as transparent as possible. We don’t want people to hear selected portions. We want them to have access to everything.”

Mother, ex-boyfriend take plea deals for toddler’s death

By
Jeff
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Except for the sniffling of family members, two packed courtrooms were largely silent Dec. 3 as new details emerged about 18-month-old Elaina Steinfurth’s last hours and life sentences were handed down to both her mother and her mother’s ex-boyfriend for her death.

According to prosecutors, Angela Steinfurth became frustrated when Elaina wouldn’t stop crying. She grabbed the toddler by a limb and threw her across a bedroom, where she hit the wall, bed and floor. The next morning, both panicking over the extent of her injuries, Steven W. King covered Elaina’s nose and mouth with his hand until she stopped breathing, then hid her body in the garage.

On Dec. 3, Steinfurth and King pleaded guilty to all charges related to the toddler’s death and signed plea deals.

King, 24, was sentenced to 25 years to life: 20 years to life for aggravated murder, two years for obstruction of justice, two years for tampering with evidence and one year for abuse of a corpse.

Steinfurth, 26, was sentenced to 18 years to life: 15 years to life for murder and three years for obstruction of justice. She signed an Alford plea to avoid other charges, meaning she did not admit to the crimes, but acknowledged there was sufficient evidence for conviction.

‘Deal with the devil’

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said she hopes the convictions — which close a case that has drawn national attention since the girl was reported missing on June 2 — allow family and community members to begin healing.

“You may ask us, ‘Why did we make a deal with the devil here today?’” Bates said during a press conference following the sentencings. “[Everyone involved with the case] did a great deal of soul-searching about making any kind of concession to the killer of a little child.

“[Experts] looked at those bones and gave us some answers, but the answers that they gave us did not answer all of the questions. … There are things we would never have known if we had not made an agreement.

“I believe it was justice,” Bates said. “I believe it was right and true and honorable.”

Angela Steinfurth keeps her head on the desk Dec. 3 as prosecutors describe what they believe happened to her 18-month-old daughter Elaina. Steinfurth was convicted of murder and obstruction of justice in the child’s death. Toledo Free Press Photo by Sarah Ottney

Jeff Lingo, chief of the criminal division for the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, agreed, noting that the families wanted closure and approved the plea deals.

“Our job is to seek justice. We felt we did that in this case,” Lingo said. “No one got a slap on the hand.”

Steinfurth declined to make any statement in court, but broke down in tears several times. She kept her head on the desk as Assistant Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Ian English gave an account of what prosecutors allege happened to Elaina.

English said Steinfurth threw the toddler on the evening of June 1 and that King was present when this happened. Elaina was discovered the next morning to have a black eye, swollen nose, bloody lump on the head and difficulty breathing. An autopsy later showed she also had five broken bones, including arms and legs.

King stated in court that he found Elaina unconscious on the morning of June 2 and tried to do CPR on her, but blood started coming out of her mouth and nose.

“I panicked,” King said. “I thought she was dying. I covered her mouth and nose with my hand and held it there until she stopped breathing.”

Afterward, he stated that he wrapped her body in a bag and hid the body in the garage.

Prosecutors also said that between when Steinfurth threw Elaina and King smothered her, the two had sex.

Toledo Police Capt. Wes Bombrys, who is in charge of investigative services, said there were many people at the King house that night, but investigators believe no one else was aware of or involved in the crime.

Statement from father

Elaina’s father, Angela’s estranged husband, Terry Steinfurth Jr., read a statement in both courtrooms, his voice breaking several times.

“She was a playful little girl who was full of energy,” Steinfurth Jr. said of his daughter. “She loved to swing and to chase her older sister Kylee around the house. She was also a very loving baby who loved to be held and cuddled.”

Steinfurth Jr. said his daughter was “strong and determined” and that’s what gave him the strength to keep pursuing justice for her during the past six months.

“She was a fighter,” he said. “Due to being born with problems with her feet, doctors said it would take her longer than normal to be able to learn to walk, but with months of physical therapy she was walking by her first birthday.”

Steinfurth Jr. called the actions of Steinfurth and King “selfish and senseless.”

“The loss of Elaina has left the entire family with a gaping hole in their heart,” he said, adding that his other daughter, 4-year-old Kylee, was affected most and doesn’t understand why her sister is no longer there.

“The question that leaves me completely baffled is how anyone can harm an innocent 18-month-old baby girl in any way,” he said. “Yet I know I will never get the answers to that question because as a loving father I can never comprehend any answer or excuse given. There is no justification for harming an innocent child.”

At one point during Steinfurth Jr.’s remarks, Judge Ruth Ann Franks interrupted him to make sure King was listening.

“Are you listening, Mr. King?” she said. “I want you to listen.”

Franks later told King she believes he should never be released from prison.

“Mr. King, you are a coward,” Franks said. “You had the opportunity to seek medical treatment, intervention, that possibly could have saved that little baby girl’s life and you put your own well-being first, your own fears of what would happen to you, and with cold calculation smothered that little girl. You took the last breath from her and then what did you do? It shows even more about the core of Steven King. … You take the body of that little baby girl and you dispose of it by putting it in a box and storing it in a garage like it’s a piece of trash. It speaks volumes as to how you value life itself, except for your own.”

Judge Gary Cook admonished Steinfurth for her “selfishness and disregard for life,” also noting that she could have chosen to get medical attention for her child’s injuries and faced far less serious charges.

“The description of what occurred in that room and the acts that followed immediately thereafter are extremely disturbing, not only to the folks in this room, but the entire community as well as across our entire country,” Cook said.

Obstruction of justice

Elaina was reported missing June 2 when her father came to pick her up at an East Toledo home belonging to King’s mother. King was living at the Federal Street house and Steinfurth and her two daughters had stayed there June 1. An argument ensued when Steinfurth refused to hand over Elaina, according to several witnesses. Almost an hour after the start of the argument, Steinfurth went in to get Elaina but came out “crying and screaming” that Elaina was gone, according to Terry Steinfurth Sr., Elaina’s grandfather. The family began searching the area for Elaina. They called the police when she could not be found.

Misleading statements from Steinfurth and King caused investigators to focus on searching in and around the Maumee River at first.

On June 6, two diapers were discovered on the riverbank, which investigators believe Steinfurth planted. After asking law enforcement to search a specific location and being told it had already been searched, Steinfurth went to the site herself, returning about 20 minutes later to report she’d found diapers of the type worn by Elaina, English said. Going to look, the officers specifically remembered a nearby dead fish from their original search and realized the diapers could not have been there before.

On Sept. 5, acting on information from King, investigators discovered the toddler’s badly decomposed remains in a box in the rafters of the Federal Street home’s detached garage. DNA tests proved the remains were Elaina’s. The cause of death was found to be “non-accidental trauma” and her death was declared a homicide on Nov. 6.

Officials said the garage was searched June 2, but the search was focused on a missing child at that time and the rafters were not thoroughly searched.

Lingo said he was satisfied with the explanation of events given by the defendants.

“I believe that’s as close as to the truth as we’re going to get,” he said.

Since it’s not clear who actually caused Elaina’s death, it was the opinion of the prosecutor’s office that neither case met the circumstances required to seek the death penalty, Lingo said.

“If you were present in both court rooms, both Angela and Steven both inflicted serious injuries on this child,” Lingo said. “The question is, ‘Was she already dying at the time Steven King did what he did?’ We can never answer that question. And the Supreme Court of Ohio has been pretty clear that you need to be able to establish those kinds of facts before you go forward with the death penalty.”

Family members briefly met with prosecutors and law enforcement after the sentencings before leaving the courthouse to hold a vigil. They declined to speak with media.

Student charged with making terroristic threats after Scott standoff

By
Jeff
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0

Scott High School went into lockdown Dec. 2 after a student brought a pellet gun to school, but no shots were fired and no one was hurt.

Toledo Police were called to the scene around 9:30 a.m. When they arrived eight minutes later, Toledo Public School security officers already had the student contained in a first-floor hallway, said TPD spokesman Lt. Mark King.

Negotiators talked to him and a SWAT team stood by.

“He became agitated, but wasn’t really responsive or saying much,” King said.

At one point, he pulled the gun out of his bag, prompting police to fire a bean bag round at his chest. He was removed from the building by SWAT team members around 10:45 a.m., King said. The student, 14-year-old freshman Louis Stroude, was charged with making terroristic threats and illegal conveyance of a dangerous ordinance.

Students remained in their classrooms although two nearby classrooms were cleared for safety, King said.

Parents were asked not to come to the school, but many gathered outside along with community members to wait for news and pick up their children. Students were released to their parents around noon.

School will resume as usual Dec. 3, but with extra counselors and extra security, said TPS spokeswoman Patty Mazur.

Mazur and TPS Chief Academic Officer Jim Gault said students and teachers executed the lockdown perfectly.

“Teachers did exactly what they are trained to do,” Gault said. “Their primary responsibility is safety. They put the kids in a lockdown procedure and allowed TPD to do their job.”

Coincidentally the school had already planned to practice the lockdown procedure later that day, Mazur said.

“Students and staff followed the procedures beautifully,” Mazur said. “That’s the best thing in this situation you can hope for, that everyone stays safe. Because of everybody following directions and taking quick action, they did just that.”

King said TPD followed normal protocol for a standoff situation: Securing the perimeter, sending in negotiators to converse with the suspect and having a SWAT team on standby.

Scott’s school day starts at 8 a.m. All students enter through one entrance, Mazur said.

None of the TPS high schools have permanent metal detectors, but two portable walk-through units and several hand-held wands are installed “periodically and unannounced” for a school day as well as at sporting events, she said. Each TPS high school has one TPD officer stationed at the school as well as several campus protection officers who are TPS employees, Mazur said.

Just after 10:35 a.m., TPD Sgt. TJ Hanus updated parents outside the school, saying the situation was under control.

“It’s a controlled situation right now. We’ve got our guys on him,” Hanus said. “We have him contained. He’s totally surrounded. We’re working on clearing out the kids from the immediate classrooms.”

Eighteen-year-old Jazmine Walker said she was working on an assignment in a third-floor computer lab when the voice of Principal Treva Jeffries came over the PA system.

“She said, ‘This is a lockdown and it’s not a drill,’” Walker said. “So we all got under the desks and we stayed there for an hour or so until they told us to get back up. She sounded pretty scared. I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know where he was and I had no way of knowing anything from the outside world.”

Walker’s parents, Carl Herkimer and Dawn Swindle, were among those who came to the school. Swindle said her daughter texted her while the school was on lockdown. Herkimer found out via Facebook.

“She was just like, ‘Mom, we’re on lockdown,’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean?’ I mean you just don’t send a text like that without more,” Swindle said. “I’m going like, ‘OK where you at? What’s going on?’ [Herkimer] called me five minutes after that, saying, ‘I don’t want to alarm you but …’”

“I was scared to death,” Herkimer said. “I saw it on Facebook. It freaked me out. Then the calls started rolling in.”

Eighteen-year-old senior Rekedra Daniel said she was in math class on the third floor when the announcement came.

“You go away from the door, toward the closets and kind of up under whatever you can get up under,” Daniel said.

Daniel said she was scared when she heard a big boom she thought was a gunshot.

“Then when I seen the SWAT team, that scared me even more because I realized the situation was more serious,” Daniel said.

Eighteen-year-old senior Roy Lindsey was also on the third floor, in his senior comp class. He said he and his classmates moved into the corner of the classroom. Some hid under desks.

“I wasn’t technically scared, but I was worried,” Lindsey said. “I texted my parents. My mom called me to make sure I was OK. She was pretty scared.”

Gerri Mitchell of Toledo, whose grandson Dominique Mitchell is a 16-year-old sophomore at Scott, was on her way to an appointment, but came to the school after getting a tearful phone call from her daughter, Dominique’s mother.

“She was crying. She was so upset,” Mitchell said. “I told her I’d be here.”

Mitchell said she knows Stroude’s grandfather, who told her the boy was bullied at school.

“I just wish and hope the young man gets help,” Mitchell said. “I just feel sorry for him and his family, what they’ve got to go through now since this made news. It’s a sad situation that has occurred. Just really sad. But nobody got hurt and everybody’s OK.

“You hear this on the news, but whoever thinks it’s going to happen to your school?” Mitchell said. “This shows to tell you it can happen anywhere.”

Miller: Government workers keyed up over piano relocation

By
Michael Miller
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One Government Center may be rife with discord, from a dysfunctional county board of elections and an argumentative City Council to a divisive mayoral race, but at least 300 people who work there are united on one front: They want their
piano man right where he is.

The Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which manages the stateowned building, recently placed a sign in the
lobby notifying workers of its intentions to move the piano that sits in the southeast corner of the lobby to a 13th floor cafeteria on Oct. 15.

The piano, covered in a wild blend of painted instruments and faces, was a gift from the Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Society. Kay Elliott of the society said it was one of more than a dozen pianos collected, refurbished and painted by local artists and placed around the city. The piano at One Government Center was painted by musician John Rockwood.

For two years, Don Diller, a city income tax auditor, has played the piano every chance he gets — during his morning break, his lunchtime, his afternoon break and after work as he waits to catch his TARTA bus home. He specializes in such old-fashioned classics as “Laura,” “Ebb Tide” and “The Sound of Music.” Diller’s choice of music — elegant, easygoing, tasteful — echoes his appearance and the gentle way he carries himself.

“I played one day and when I went to play it the next day, it was locked,” he said. “I wondered why, because it was a gift to the public. It turned out some kids were pounding on the keys so
they locked it. Some people have a key to the city; I have a key to the city’s piano.”

Diller caressed a silver key that would be comfortable in the hands of a secretive hero in a black-and-white movie. He said many people stop to listen while he plays.

“I play about 15 minutes as people either sit and relax or just smile as they walk by,” he said.

Several officials expressed gratitude for Diller’s music. Lucas County Administrator Peter Ujvagi said Diller’s piano playing
“soothes the savage beasts around here.” A member of Mayor Mike Bell’s administration said when City Council meetings bog
down, it is calming to step outside council chambers to listen to Diller play.

They aren’t alone in their admiration for Diller’s impact. A petition in the building’s newsstand, asking to keep the piano in the
lobby, has been signed by nearly 300 people.

The petition was started by an employee of the Lucas County Board of Elections, who said she had been forbidden to give an interview on the topic.

One official said he heard DAS wants to move the piano because it “doesn’t fit the decor.”

Anthony J. Matney, northern Ohio group facilities manager, Office of Properties and Facilities for DAS, said he was not aware of any complaints or public concerns about the piano.

“My understanding is we are moving the piano to the cafeteria so more patrons can enjoy the music during their lunchtime,” Matney said.

Diller said he does not want the piano moved to the 13th floor cafeteria for a number of reasons.

“There is a TV playing in the cafeteria, and I was taught by my mom and dad to not play the piano while a TV is playing,” he said.

“The general public can use the cafeteria, but few people know that and playing up there would be playing for employees, who may not want the music while they are trying to enjoy their lunchtime. If the TV is playing there, I won’t play.”

Diller said he learned about the piano’s potential relocation from a guard who saw the sign, and no one has asked him for input about the move. He said he appreciates the petition and the kind attention he has received.

“It’s humbling and I am honored,” he said.

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken said he was going to speak to DAS and ask for the piano to stay where it is, with a possible resolution expected by the commissioners next week.

“We are a major tenant in this building and that piano is going to stay where it is,” Gerken said. “It was given for public use and they will need to unchain us from it and bring in the National Guard to disrupt [Diller’s] contributions.”

Toledo City Councilwoman Paula Hicks Hudson was also reportedly looking into the situation with an eye on keeping the piano where it is.

One elected official had a more whimsical take on Diller’s role in the building’s culture.

“With the stress and budget cuts and state of things, when I hear the piano playing, I think of the band on the Titanic,” the official said. “It’s a center of grace and calm on a sinking ship.”

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at mmiller@toledofreepress.


Pounds: Appeal filed

By
Tom Pounds
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On Oct. 3, Toledo Free Press attorneys filed an appeal to the 6th District Court of Appeals. We are seeking to have the appellate court reverse some of the rulings made by the trial court in a judgment entry that was issued Sept. 6 in the ongoing lawsuit aimed at us by Block Communications Inc. (BCI), parent of The Blade.

The legal process can be messy, but our legal position is clear.

We have discussed on these pages the belief that we are being targeted to be put our of business with a suit that attacks our First Amendment rights and now seeks to erode the rights of LLC investors in Ohio.

As part of the discovery phase of the case, the parties are entitled to seek certain information from each other. Typically, the scope of discovery is broad, but certain information or documents can be withheld if they fall into specific categories protected by law or the courts.

BCI has sought, during the discovery process, to obtain from Toledo Free Press certain information that we assert is privileged or protected from discovery. BCI has asked that we disclose the identities of our owners, information which is not available to the public and that we have kept confidential.

BCI has also sought to obtain certain proprietary and business information from us, including our business plans. Since BCI is the owner of our largest direct competitor, the disclosure of this information would be extremely damaging to our business. As a result, we did not give that information to BCI.

BCI asked the trial court under Judge Gary Cook to order us to
provide that information. On Sept. 6, the court ordered us to turn
over the business information and the identities of our owners.

We believe the trial court was in error in ordering the disclosure of this information. With regards to the issue of the disclosure of the members’ names, the trial court acknowledged that this is an area of law that lacks much in the way of precedential guidance.

We believe this sets a dangerous precedent that will have a detrimental effect on businesses statewide. We believe that the identities of our members and our business plans are protected by Ohio’s trade secret rules and that the court should not force the disclosure to a direct competitor.

The case essentially freezes until the appeals court renders an opinion on the issues being appealed, which are only a small part of the larger case. Once the court of appeals has rendered its decision, the matter returns to the trial court and the case resumes. The appellate process could take several months, a scenario that further allows this suit to drain our resources and jeopardize our operations.

As people continue to ask how they can help, we ask again that you channel your feelings into positive action. Help us by supporting the nonprofit organizations and the charity events we sponsor. Help us by recognizing and thanking the businesses that support Toledo Free Press, through advertising or by allowing us to distribute at their location. Let the advertisers know you read Toledo Free Press and understand how important their patronage is, just as they understand how important your patronage is to them.

We are in this fight for the long haul; thank you for your support.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at [email protected].

‘Gravity’ is a cinematic masterpiece

By
Toledo Free Press
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“Life in space is impossible.”

This reminder greets audiences at the beginning of Alfonso Cuarón’s sci-fi thriller “Gravity,” out now nationwide.

The space odyssey is 90 minutes of perfection, set 600 kilometers
above the Earth, with an almost documentary realism. Cinematographer Emmanuel

Lubezki and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber create a beautiful masterpiece that soars off the big screen. This is especially true in IMAX 3-D, where this reviewer screened the movie. With such an immersive experience, the audience is part of the action, which is terrifying at times.

Sandra Bullock stars as Ryan Stone, a NASA medical engineer on her first shuttle mission to help upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. She is accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski, played by a smooth-talking George Clooney, who is 75 minutes short of an alltime spacewalk record. This is his last scheduled trip into space.

They make quite a pair, even with opposite personalities. Stone likes the silence in space, which she says she could get used to. Kowalski enjoys playing country music while jabbering away and telling tales of missions past.

As Stone works on the Hubble, the pair learns from Mission Control that debris is heading their way from a satellite and they are to abort their mission.

The story, by Cuarón and his son Jónas, takes off from there as the two astronauts are set adrift in space with a destroyed shuttle.

The detail of the action sequences is spectacular and visual touches throughout add to the film’s poetic nature, including a shot of Bullock’s character floating in the International Space Station or when orbs of tears float from her eyes.

What Bullock does with her character is nothing short of phenomenal and Oscar-worthy.

British guitarist Adrian Legg to play Oct. 7 in Ann Arbor

By
Vicki Kroll
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It all began for Adrian Legg in Liverpool — at the airport.

“I met a bloke who said, ‘Do you want to join a band?’ And I said yeah, because I thought it would be a nice, sociable thing to do and meet girls,” the guitarist recalled.

“And it was. It worked very well. I met my wife, and we have lots of grandchildren. So as an aid to procreation, the guitar was fantastic.”

Quips fly almost as quickly as his fingers on those strings. The witty Britmclearly has fun writing or playing music.

That’s obvious with songs titled “Chicken Licken’s Last Ride” and
“Nefertiti — What a Sweetie!”

“Pieces are a combination of two things: some kind of emotional
idea and some kind of technical basis. So there’s this creature that has to get somewhere and it needs a bicycle.

“If it can’t have a bicycle, then it can’t go anywhere. If there’s a bicycle and no creature, there’s no reason to ride the bicycle,” Legg said.

He pedaled on during a call from Mount Laurel, N.J., where he stayed before starting an 18-city U.S. tour.

“Those two things come together at a point where suddenly the song is a song. It’s not just an experiment of exploring; it becomes a song and it has an identity. And when its identity emerges, then it all comes together for me: The fiddling about is around some central character,” he said.

“And if I’m lucky with the title, I get somewhere near the character.”

Oddly enough, the plucky player got a career break when he reached an impasse.

“I started playing the acoustic and I found it conflicted with the electric, so I had a problem between the two of them. Eventually, I went into the instrument industry. I kind of gave up; I couldn’t see where to go with any of it.”

“And in the instrument industry, I found out how to make a guitar that would sit between the two, that would have the flexibility of the electric but some of the harmonic richness of the acoustic. At that point, I found what I wanted to do because the instrument
would now do it.”

The songwriter is comfortable breezing through a jazzy jam, picking through a country number, revving up for rock, being folky or going classical.

That diversity and his mad skill led to gigs with extraordinary guitar peers Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson. Legg has been voted Guitarist of the Decade by Guitarist magazine and Best Acoustic Fingerstylist four years in a row by Guitar Player readers.

“There’s no difference to me between Elizabeth Cotten and Lonnie
Mack; they both came to me with the same kind of feeling: It’s the American guitar. I think that might have been difficult for people [in the United States].”

“They thought of me as being very eclectic, but I don’t think I am. It’s just what the American guitar looks like from 3,000 or 4,000 miles away,” he said.

Legg is touring in support of his 2012 best-of disc and will play at 8 p.m. Oct. 7 at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $17.50.

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