From the writings of the Founding Fathers to headlines in the news today, religious liberty has long been a “vital and vulnerable” concept in the American experiment, according
to Richard W. Garnett.
A professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame known for his expertise on the First Amendment, Garnett spoke on “Challenges to Religious Freedom in America Today” at the University of Toledo on March 26.
Garnett, whose latest book, “Two There Are: Understanding the Separation of Church and State,” will be published by Cambridge University Press, said he believes that religious
freedom, including the freedom to reject religion, “is a human right grounded in dignity and essential for human flourishing.”
He said the nation’s Founding Fathers considered religious freedom to be “a crucial prerequisite for the success of this new political experiment.”
One of the most visible flashpoints on religious liberty today is the federal mandate by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which requires employers to provide
birth control and some abortifacient drugs to employees even if such provisions violate the religious tenets of employers such as Catholic hospitals and colleges.
The resolution of the HHS mandate is still being determined in courts and administrative actions, Garnett said, but similar church-state tensions date back to the American Revolution and span a broad range of issues today.
Religious freedom controversies in the news include whether schoolchildren should be required to say the words “under God” when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance; whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed in a courtroom, and if government meetings can open with prayer.
“Engaging questions like these require us to dig down a bit and to identify the foundations and the context of the freedom of religion,” Garnett said.
He cited an observation by President Bill Clinton that religious freedom is “literally our first freedom.”
“His point, to be clear, was not simply that religious liberty happens to come first in what we now have as the Bill of Rights; his point instead was that the freedom of religion was central to the founders’ vision for our new political community,” Garnett said. “To say this is not to say or claim that America is or was or should be a ‘Christian nation,’” he added.
“It’s just to observe that our Constitution was not designed to displace or defeat religion, or to displace faith with state worship. Its aim instead was to build a stable, enduring political community that would be stronger precisely because it recognized that religious freedom is foundational.”
The First Amendment’s legal structure allows the flourishing of what Pope Benedict XVI referred to with admiration as America’s “healthy secularity,” Garnett said, adding that it is
human nature to be both political and religious and “nothing in the text, history or structure of the Constitutions requires us to deny this.”
The religious freedom protections included in the Constitution were not “accidents” or “aberrations,” Garnett said, but designed to safeguard and support religion “so it can flourish” and “to protect everyone, believers and nonbelievers alike, against coercion on religious matters.”
He suggested there are three approaches toward religious liberty:
-“Freedom from religion,” which considers religion “as a social reality but regards it as somewhat of a danger to the common good.”
-“Freedom of religion,” emphasizing toleration and neutrality, and treating religion as “something that matters to many people and so the law should not single it out for special discrimination or hostility.”
-“Freedom for religion,” an approach Garnett said is most consistent with the vision of the Founding Fathers and American ideals.
“According to this approach, the search for religious truth is acknowledged as an important human activity. It’s willing to say that religion is special — so special that the government ought not to interfere with it or direct it.”
Describing religious liberty as “robust but incomplete,” Garnett urged Americans to be “proud but also vigilant.”
David Yonke is the editor and community manager of Toledo Faith & Values (ToledoFAVS.com), a website that provides nonsectarian news coverage of religion,
faith and spirituality in the Toledo area.
Speaker: Religious liberty ‘vital and vulnerable’
Troy Neff back on radio — sober, more open than ever
Four years after his life publicly imploded, Troy Neff has returned to radio as a financial talk show host.
Neff’s unraveling began Dec. 10, 2008, with a road rage incident that resulted in his stabbing.
The next day, Clear Channel yanked his WCWA show.
After the stabbing, Neff vowed to be back on the air in 2009; however, his life — professionally and personally — continued to tank.
On Dec. 17, 2008, Toledo Free Press dropped his financial planning column for plagiarism.
Shortly after, he was charged with assault for the road rage incident.
Then in the early morning of Jan. 19, 2009, after an angry night of drinking, Neff got arrested for OVI (operating a vehicle while intoxicated) en route to his home in Curtice after almost running a police cruiser off the road.
Every incident resulted in media scrutiny that put Neff and his business, Advance Retirement Solutions, in peril. Not in the headlines was the news that his marriage was falling apart, his relationship with his daughter suffering.
“The marriage problems were already happening, but certainly nothing helped, especially at the end with all the drinking,” he said.
Four years later, Neff’s return to radio isn’t marked by resolution in all areas of his life. His divorce isn’t final; his relationship with his college-aged daughter is still on the mend.
Troy Neff said he has not had a drink of alcohol sInce a January 2009 OVI. He has returned to local radio with ‘Rebel Financial Radio with Troy Neff. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr.
“I will always be working on that. The amends we make to certain people in our lives we make for the rest of our lives. I never abandoned her during that time, but between her mom and I, it was very difficult.”
Neff was engaged for a while, but it didn’t work out; he dates, but nothing overly serious. His biggest accomplishment since last being on air is his sobriety. He said he has not had a drink since his OVI.
“I have been four years sober now. I needed to get things in my past and have them far enough in my past,” the 44-year-old said.
This time Neff’s show is devoted to financial news, his specialty, and is not trying to be a combination of Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, he said.
While this difference is notable, Neff is as open as ever and just as willing to say exactly what he thinks. He is tanner, fitter and more inked, too.
Fittingly, his new Clear Channel show is called “Rebel Financial Radio with Troy Neff.” The 30-minute show on WSPD airs Saturday at 6 a.m. and re-airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Like last time, Neff owns his show and pays for the air time. He hopes to attract new clients.
“Part of me being successful, both good and bad, was having a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” said the Genoa High School graduate. “You weren’t supposed to be successful in the financial business getting there the way that I got there. Most of them went to college, and I don’t know if they like that I get to play in their stadium.”
‘This is a disease’
No one can accuse Neff of slacking. When he does something, he goes after it with every ounce of energy and passion he can muster. Even his fitness regimen (and three gym memberships) demonstrates this commitment. That’s why admitting he can’t drink responsibly is so hard.
“Being somebody like me who has had other success in business and such, you beat yourself up because people think that I don’t have the willpower. My willpower is as strong as anybody’s willpower. This is a disease.”
Neff started drinking as a teen, even to the point of blacking out. There were periods where he tried to get sober in his 20s and was fairly successful for a few years. When Neff lived in Michigan, he went to Alcoholics Anonymous for a bit. When he returned to Ohio, he made the mistake of not getting a new sponsor. He thought he could control his drinking. He can now say, “Not in any time in my life was I ever able to control it.”
Neff’s drink of choice was vodka. He would try many tricks to keep his drinking under control. If he only had a certain number of drinks, he would be fine, he thought. If he had a certain type of alcohol, he could manage it.
“I started whenever my day was done. If my day was done at 4, 8 or 9, it didn’t matter. I would be out most weekdays to midnight or 2 a.m. and then I would be up at 4:30 a.m. on the radio. That was my day, every day. I don’t know how I did it. I was burning at both ends and in the middle.”
As a businessman and a biker, he is still around alcohol all the time. He can manage the temptation these days and said with certainty he will never have another drink.
“I believe that everyone is allowed a certain amount of alcohol in their life and I reached my allotment early,” he said. “It is about the environment you put yourself into. Some people are not comfortable being around it.”
Neff said the OVI was his “Come to Jesus moment.” He had driven back from Pittsburgh that day angry because Clear Channel had pulled his press pass for the Steelers playoff game. He went to Moe’s Place in Rossford and drank alone.
“It happens when you are ready. Sometimes things have to get bad enough for you to want change. Most people in their lives put up with a certain amount of things they rather not put up with; they don’t make a change until it gets bad enough.”
‘Just don’t do it again’
While drinking was not directly related to his road rage, Neff said it affected his mindset.
“He was spiraling pretty bad,” said his former producer Jeremy Baumhower. “I knew he had issues. I would hear his road rage on the phone at 5 a.m.”
On Dec. 10, Neff’s rage peaked. He was returning to his financial office in Perrysburg Township after helping the girls’ soccer team at Lake High School with weight training. Neff slammed on his brakes and honked at a man who had pulled out in front of him.
The out-of-towner, Jeffrey Hardeman, allegedly flipped him off. Arguing ensued, and Neff got out of his vehicle. Hardeman shoved him, he said, and Neff picked him up, slammed him to the ground and punched him.
“As I was getting up, I realized I had been stabbed,” Neff said. “I thought I was in a fist fight. I wasn’t beating the guy to an inch of his life.”
The next day, Michael S. Miller, editor in chief of Toledo Free Press, filled in as the guest host on Neff’s show. On pain meds from the stabbing, Neff called in to talk about his wounds and then said, “Apparently people got a memo at WSPD from Brian Wilson not to mention the story, not to mention my name at all today. I’d just like to say that Brian Wilson can go screw himself.”
Neff also sent an email to Wilson telling him “to go f*** himself.” Clear Channel owns WSPD in addition to WCWA and subsequently, his show was canceled.
“My clients really stuck by me and that meant everything. I reached out to so many when this happened,” Neff said. “I am good at what I do; I mean good. It had nothing to do with their accounts. Many of them have privately had DUIs. My clients gave me sympathy because of how big the story got blown up.
“They are yelling in their cars, minus the getting out, and thinking, ‘That could be me.’
“The clients were like, ‘Just don’t do it again.’”
Joe Clement, a financial adviser with Neff’s firm, said the staff worried about him but never thought about leaving him.
“There was no way any of us were going to turn our backs on him,” Clement said. “We have all had our problems; you don’t want to bail on someone. It wouldn’t be fair to our clients.”
Rebel with a cause
Neff always knew he wanted to return to radio; it was just a matter of when. After getting sober and completing his probation for his assault charge, which was reduced to disorderly conduct, Neff started to feel ready. When Neff heard Wilson had parted ways with Clear Channel, he thought it might be time to return.
“We are excited to have Troy Neff back,” said Kellie Holeman-Szenderski, regional market manager of Clear Channel Media & Entertainment, in an email statement. “He approached us with his show idea and we thought it would be a good fit for our weekend programming. Since Troy’s return we have received positive feedback from our listeners.”
Baumhower, who contributes a media column to Toledo Free Press, said he thinks Neff deserves this second chance. His previous show, “The Troy Neff Show,” was four hours a day Monday through Friday, which Neff said was too much. Baumhower said 30 minutes a week might not be enough.
“He is really smart and entertaining,” Baumhower said. “He had a bad spell, that was it. … The drive to win has always separated Troy.”
Neff said his market is made up of the people who firms like Merrill Lynch don’t want because they have less than a million dollars to invest. Listeners won’t hear him use the term “wealth” either.
“Show me one guy from Jeep who calls his money ‘wealth,”’ Neff said. “We don’t call our money wealth in Genoa. If you are talking about wealth, it means you probably aren’t talking about me. You are talking about rich people and I ain’t rich people.”
This is one reason Neff feels comfortable dressing more like himself these days. He used to ride his bike into work and then change into a suit with French cuffs. A few times he didn’t have time to change and no one objected, not even the 65-year-old widows.
“This is who I am. I feel like my clients respond. They feel comfortable when they come in with work boots and jeans because they are pipe fitters and work at Marathon; they are just regular people.”
Despite his rebellious streak, Neff said he was one of the few financial planners who pulled clients out of the market before the 2008 crash. When it comes to money, Neff plays it safe.
“We aren’t in the market now, we are in the minority,” Neff said. “I think another severe crash is coming. We are investing money, but not into stocks. Even though the market has went up, we are still not going to chase it. I believe there is going to be another big decline.”
Neff is optimistic the economy will eventually recover.
“I was lucky enough to manage money in the ’90s, which was the best decade ever after the best decade ever, which was the ’80s,” he said. “The past 12 years have been nowhere close to the best decade ever.
“I know this: When things were really good, they weren’t always going to stay that way, and when things are really bad, I know they won’t stay that way,” he said.
But are listeners ready to hear from Neff again?
“People love a comeback,” Neff said, confidently. “It was me doing what I had to do. Initially, I wanted it to turn around immediately. You want your life back. It just doesn’t happen like that. I didn’t know how long it would be.”
Victims advocate Simpson remembered as compassionate
One word that comes up frequently when friends and family discuss Russ Simpson, a longtime advocate for crime victims who died March 12, is compassion.
“[Russ] had more compassion and sympathy for people than anybody you know,” said Russ’ wife Pat. “He was a strong, caring, giving man.”
Former Lucas County Sheriff and Russ’ longtime friend James Telb said, “He had some issues with the way victims were being treated, by law enforcement, by the court, by the prosecutor and by the social agencies, and he wanted to get some help and he wanted his voice heard. He wanted to bring compassion.
“The concern and the compassion is not going to go away that he instilled in the folks of the criminal justice system.”
Russ, 78, died after having a heart attack at his home. He was expected to undergo open-heart surgery March 14. He had recently received word that his son David Simpson, who was battling terminal cancer, was not doing well. David died March 18, the day of Russ’ funeral.
Two of Russ’ other children had been murdered in separate incidents. Stacy, 4, was strangled to death by a neighbor in 1969 and Scott, a 19-year-old security guard, was shot trying to stop a shoplifter in 1981.
“I think it just broke [Russ’] heart to lose another child and I don’t think he could take that,” Pat said.
The couple, who has four grandchildren, would have been married 55 years on March 29. They met at Libbey High School.
Starting POMC
Russ Simpson and his wife Pat founded a chapter of Parents of murdered children after losing two children to murder. Toledo Free Press file photo.
Russ and Pat started the local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) in 1983.
“Just helping other people get through their grief was really a big part of my father. I really believe that was his therapy,” said his daughter Linda Simpson.
Russ was instrumental in starting the Lucas County Victim/Witness Assistance program and was a facilitator for the Office of Victims Services with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. He also served as chair and state coordinator of the National Board of POMC, helping to start the founding of chapters in Indiana, Florida and Utah.
In addition to his work for victims’ rights, Russ drove for Greyhound Lines for more 20 years, before retiring in 1990. He also helped out at the Eleanor Kahle Senior Center.
Lynn Carder, executive director of Lucas County Victim/Witness Assistance, said Russ often went to schools to speak for the Victims’ Forum Program: Reaching Youth to Prevent Violence.
“Kids just absolutely hung on every word when he would speak,” she said.
Russ also worked with the Victim Offender Dialogue program, which gives victims a chance to speak to perpetrators.
Carder said that Russ was helping a victim’s family get information they needed when he died.
“In recent years, he was becoming more of an activist. He was looking at things from a legislative standpoint,” Carder said. “He had seen families be put out of the court systems, and the justice system doesn’t always work the way you want.”
‘Very intense’
After becoming sheriff in 1985, Telb said, he and Russ became reacquainted. The two had grown up near each other and both attended Libbey although Russ was a little older than Telb.
“He was very intense. I knew him for 50 years, and he wasn’t always that intense. He was kind of a happy-go-lucky guy as a young guy, growing up,” Telb recalled.
“When I became sheriff we kind of merged a little back into our old friendships,” he said. “We talked about what programs he was involved in and if there was anything the Sheriff’s Office could do to help out and we bonded real quickly and the rest is kind of history.
“He convinced us we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do in regards to our approach to victims,” Telb said. “The way we approached victims was changed forever.”
Telb said Russ was a frequent presence in the courthouse, making sure he was there for victims.
One of those victims was Gabe Burgete, who now leads the local POMC chapter. Burgete’s son General Hurst was shot and killed in 2006.
“[Russ] knew how to talk to me. He knew how to let me get my anger out and he talked to me as he knew what he was doing and he comforted me and my son’s mother,” Burgete said, adding that David would also sit with him in court.
Russ encouraged Burgete to become chapter leader and coached him along the way.
“He explained everything to me and he was always there for me, whether it was good or bad. He knew how to listen to people; he knew how to comfort people.”
Leslie Robinson, whose son Dionious Robinson died after being shot in 2005, said he also plans to continue Russ’ work. Robinson joined POMC about a year after his son’s death.
“I was very angry, very angry. I didn’t feel that I had justice. I didn’t have justice. And there was this race issue that I had and I felt black-on-black crime was treated differently and Russ was one of the first ones to say, ‘You’re absolutely right,’” Robinson said.
The two men became so close they called each other “Brother” and Robinson was a pallbearer at Russ’ funeral. Robinson now runs his own advocacy group called Equal Justice for All.
‘A long road’
“[Victims’ rights] still has a long road but it’s a road that’s now moving forward because of [Russ]. I know I’m still moving forward because of him,” Robinson said.
Linda remembers a different side of Russ — she remembers a father.
Russ loved to travel, bowl and fish, she said. He was also an avid cardplayer.
“Till the day he died, he sat there at the kitchen table and played solitaire,” she said.
“Even though he was a Greyhound bus driver on the road, he was still involved. With my brother when he played basketball, he still went to all his games and when I played CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) softball as a kid, he would come to my games.”
She added, “The best times that I would remember is when he would come home at midnight and we would sit there at the kitchen table and play gin rummy.”
The local POMC chapter is having a motorcycle run on April 21 at Toledo Speedway to kick off National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Registration is 9-11:45 a.m. and the bikes leave on their 65-mile journey at noon. There will also be food and raffle prizes. Tickets are $20 per rider, $10 per passenger, $5 for ages 6-14 and those younger than 6 get in for free. For more information, call (419) 309-7759.
Miller: The fighter
“This one’s a fighter”
— “The Fighter,” Gym Class Heroes
We know what we are supposed to do when life hands us lemons. But how do you respond when life treats you like the lemon, squeezing the blood from your heart and the joy from your soul?
Russell “Skip” Simpson died March 12 at age 78, two days before a scheduled open-heart surgery. At his viewing March 17 at Newcomer Funeral Home, a long line of mourners passively watched video screens that ran still images of Russ’ life. The video repeated with the silent efficiency of a soldier guarding a tomb, each new loop opening with the sentiment, “It is said most people leave this world with their stories still inside them.”
But Russ’ story, one of loss and grief turned to action and hope, was shared with the world, and the world is a stronger place for it.
On May 1, 1969, Russ and his wife Pat lost their 4-year-old daughter, Stacy, to a strangulation murder. On Aug. 31, 1981, they lost their son Scott, 19, who was shot three times while working as a security guard at the Swayne Field Kroger. Russ grieved, and despaired. Then he took action, forming a local support group that has helped hundreds of bereaved parents deal with unspeakable loss and heartbreak.
Russ was a fighter.
To me, he was the fighter.
Stacy
Russ was an imposing, strong presence, but the burden of years of sharing grief and pain showed in his tired eyes. He spent decades driving a bus, and that experience must have given him a sense of control that he tried to impose on other areas of his life. Life, of course, resisted his efforts.
I first met him in September 2006, when he was re-establishing the group he helped form locally, Parents of Murdered Children (POMC). That a need exists for such a group is horrific. That Russ carried that burden for so many people is heroic.
Here are my original interview notes with Russ; he told his story slowly and evenly, with the emotionless intensity of a sun fighting through an eclipse:
Russ Simpson: “Stacy and Linda were twins, born in 1964. Stacy was just 4, so it’s hard to talk about what she did, but Stacy ran our household. To her, there was no such thing as a stranger. We’d stop at a traffic light, she’d start talking to people in the car next to us. Same at the grocery store; she talked to everyone. She had an outgoing personality.
“We lived on a dead end in the South End. On May 1, 1969, I was out of town on a charter (Simpson drove a bus for Greyhound for 27 years). My wife’s mom called and said she was coming over to take the kids for ice cream, so my wife went out on the front porch to tell the kids to stay close, their grandma was coming. This was around 7 at night. There were 17 kids on our block, so they were outside playing all the time; everyone knew everybody.
“Within 15 minutes, when my wife’s mom showed up, Stacy was gone. The neighbors started looking, the police came right away. They found her two doors down in a neighbor’s garage. She was on her tricycle, slumped over the handlebars. She had been strangled with a small piece of a dress.
“When they found Stacy, she was still warm, but back then we did not have EMS, so they took her in a paddy wagon. My wife was a registered nurse. If she had been allowed to see Stacy, maybe she could have saved her life. That’s one of the questions we’ll never have answered.
“They tracked me down and had me call my dispatcher in Detroit. He said, ‘Russ, you have to call home right away,’ and I knew it was bad because I could tell he was crying, he was all choked up.
“I called home and my mother-in-law answered the phone. She said, ‘Russ, get home as soon as you can. Stacy’s been killed.’
“She was killed by an 18-year-old neighbor boy, Terry Lee Place. He had never been in trouble. He used to baby-sit some of the kids in the neighborhood. He spent three months in a psychiatric prison where they determined he knew right from wrong, that he knew what he was doing.
“They sentenced him to 25-40 years in prison. He was released and now lives in Texas. He has kids of his own.
“My oldest boy David is still having trouble; he blames himself for her death because at 10 years old he was the big brother and he did not keep an eye on her.
“We found out Place was released in the newspaper article about our son Scott’s murder.”
Scott
Russ Simpson: “Scott was the All-American boy. He loved life. He loved basketball and did just enough in school to get the grades to play basketball. He did not like school, but he had friends all over the school, all over the neighborhood. He was an amateur sleight of hand artist, pulling handkerchiefs out of nowhere, making coins appear from kids’ ears.
“He was killed on Aug. 31, 1981, just before his birthday. He was a security guard for the Kroger Co. at Swayne Field. He stopped a shoplifter, and they tussled, rolled outside.
“Scott pinned the shoplifter to the ground and was waiting for help from inside the store when an acquaintance of the shoplifter, who was not involved in the robbery, came around the corner, behind Scott, grabbed ahold of him and shot him point blank three times in the back of the head.
“The shoplifter had taken $5.85 from the store. It was a senseless, needless killing. The murderer, Eddie Lee Robinson, had been on parole less than six months for aggravated assault when he killed Scott.
Russ Simpson (illustration by Don Lee)
“Again, I was on the road, and when I got to Cleveland, a supervisor told me to call my dispatcher in Detroit. That rang a bell. It was the same dispatcher I talked to when Stacy was killed. He was crying when he told me to call my wife at the emergency room.
“I called her, and she said, ‘Scott’s been shot, three times. He’s alive, but he won’t be by the time you get home.’
“Two hours later, when I got home, he had already passed away.
“I just had a hearing in July when Robinson was up for parole. It was denied. The next time he comes up for parole, 2016, I’ll be too old to deal with it. Or 6 feet under.
“Back in 1969, when Stacy was killed, there were no support groups. When Scott was murdered, I located the national POMC group and started a chapter here. Having a child murdered carries a stigma. People think it’s contagious; we lost a lot of friends.
“When Stacy was murdered, I drank very heavily; I did not go back to work for five weeks. But no amount of drink filled the hole in my heart. My wife has become a workaholic. She can’t sit still. That’s how she deals with it.
“I went to Scott’s grave one day and made a promise that every day, I would make at least one person laugh or smile or feel good, because that person I make smile this afternoon may not be alive tomorrow. Making that promise is how I survived.”
Legacy
After years of “heavy drinking,” Russ said he sought out other parents of murdered children and founded the Toledo chapter of POMC in 1983. His continuing efforts to educate people on the aftereffects of murder include participation in the Ohio Victim Offender Dialogue program, in which crime victims speak with the criminals who changed their lives, and visits to prisons, where he tells his story to roomfuls of murderers. Russ was always busy: planning vigils, community days, senior activities, lobbying for legislation. I stayed in contact with Russ, helping him publicize his efforts, sponsoring events, serving as a rather poor pancake cook at one of his fundraisers.
In April 2008, I sat at his family’s table when he and his Libbey classmate, then-Lucas County Sheriff James Telb, received honors at the Pizza-Coleman “Stand Up for Victims” luncheon.
“I really don’t want to be here,” Russ said at the podium. “For me, to start on the road that ended here today with all the wonderful words, the proclamations … it wasn’t worth it.”
Simpson found the grace to remind the audience that along with the victims and their families, the families of the criminal also suffer from the fallout.
“Sanity prevails,” Russ said that day. He said it twice. But in my head, a small scrap of dress used as a noose on a 4-year-old and three lead slugs taunted my belief in a rational and loving order.
Goodbye, Part I
At Newcomer, I spoke briefly with Russ’ daughter Linda, who was greeting people with the numb shock you often see on the faces of people dealing with death. Her brother, David, Russ and Pat’s surviving son, was recently placed in hospice, and a number of people at the funeral home speculated that Russ died before he had to face the loss of another child.
I do not believe that. Russ would have known his wife and daughter would need him, and Russ was a fighter. I believe he would have tried to dredge the Maumee River with his bare hands if that would have kept him alive to support his family. David died March 18, the day of Russ’ funeral.
I waited in the long line for my turn to see Pat and to say goodbye to Russ, watching the video of still images from Russ’ life. I had never seen him young, fit and trim in his military uniform. I had never seen him play with his young children, as he did in the photos on the screen. In those photos, he laughed and held his children, just as I do. Just, perhaps, as you do. Knowing what happened to those children drained the joy from the photos, and I again marveled at Russ’ strength and fighting spirit.
It saddened me to realize I was seeing something else that I had rarely seen.
Russ smiling.
The rock
At the casket, I hugged Pat and listened solemnly as she recounted the last hour of her nearly 55 years with Russ. A meal, a hug, an “I love you.” A call for help. An ambulance.
We stood at Russ’ side, and as she spoke, Pat touched his hand. To the world, he was a grief-stricken father who turned darkness into light for hundreds of people. To Pat, he was, in her words, “the rock.”
In his silk-lined coffin, dressed for the next plane of existence, Russ, silent, looked almost at peace, at long last.
Almost.
I assume he is with Stacy and Scott. I hope he is holding them for the first time in decades and I hope they are seeing the smile captured in their photos with him. I pray he is at peace.
I pray his fight is over.
But somehow I doubt that. If there is an injustice wherever Russ is, he will fight it.
Goodbye, Part II
“If you lose a child in an auto accident or to a disease, there’s a funeral and then a chance to try and move on,” Russ once told me. “There’s no two-year wait for a trial, no trip through the legal system, no 15-year appeals, no parole board session, no worrying about the son of a bitch getting out of prison and doing this again.
“The difference is, our story never ends.”
The names of the murdered children will change. The names of the mourning parents will change. But Russ was correct — the story never ends. And while there is no happy ending for such stories, and little comfort, there is light, in the spirit, works and legacy of Russell “Skip” Simpson, who was struck, and struck again, but who stood and fought. And fought. And fought.
“Give ’em hell, turn their heads
Gonna live life till we’re dead.
Give me scars, give me pain
Then they’ll say to me, say to me, say to me
There goes the fighter, there goes the fighter
Here comes the fighter
That’s what they’ll say to me, say to me, say to me,
This one’s a fighter”
Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at [email protected].
Rocker to sing solo, Live songs at casino on March 30
Ed Kowalczyk, former frontman of the alternative band Live, was a South by Southwest virgin.
“Very excited to be at my first SXSW! It’s been such a blast so far,” he wrote from Austin, Texas, in an email interview with Toledo Free Press. “Couldn’t imagine a more perfect way to introduce I Alone Acoustic. Such an eclectic and international gathering here in Austin; it’s going to be great.”
The singer-songwriter played songs from Live and his solo career at the annual event.
“I love my acoustic shows mostly for the intimacy and the rawness of the environment and production,” he wrote. “It takes a lot more to pull off a 90-minute set with just a mic and an acoustic guitar than with a band, so it’s very gratifying when it happens!
“Toledo will be my full band though; we’re gonna rock!”
Kowalczyk will play a free show at 9 p.m. March 30 in the Hollywood Casino Toledo H Lounge.
“I play lots of songs from my work in Live, including all the ‘hits’ — ‘Lightning Crashes,’ ‘I Alone,’ ‘The Dolphin’s Cry,’ etc.”
That set list may include cuts from his 2012 EP “The Garden.”
Ed Kowalczyk will play a concert at Hollywood Casino Toledo on March 30. Photo courtesy Hardin Entertainment.
The title track packs a powerful chorus: “Take my hand like you did on the night you disappeared/ I found you sleeping in the garden I had sown/ For your love, for your love, I would die 10,000 times/ Just to take that pain and turn it into light/ Just to take that pain and turn it into love.”
“The basic lyrical idea behind ‘The Garden’ is that it’s always easier to find and follow the road traveled, and harder to find and follow the one that is less traveled but leads to greater reward,” Kowalczyk wrote.
“I didn’t intend it consciously, but a lot of fans have said it recalls Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I like that interpretation.”
The spirited musician gained a reputation by penning dynamic, mystical songs for Live. The group’s 1994 disc, “Throwing Copper,” launched the quartet thanks to “I Alone,” “All Over You,” “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes.”
In 2009, the band went on hiatus, Kowalczyk recorded a solo disc titled “Alive” and the three other Live members formed The Gracious Few with a couple of friends from Candlebox. The break became permanent — until 2011 when the three Live members reformed with a new lead singer.
Kowalczyk is working on a new disc and wrote that he hopes it will be out this fall.
“I may include at least one track [from ‘The Garden’] on the LP, but in any event, there will be 10 brand new tracks,” he wrote.
“A good song is one that touches the soul. Period. Most people don’t even know they have a soul, or they do and just forget like we all do sometimes,” Kowalczyk wrote. “Then a great song comes along and blows open their heart and mind and points to a deeper reality.”
Smash Toledo aims to showcase local food
Josh Wagy eats out — a lot.
The self-described foodie has worked his way through the menus at several Toledo-area restaurants and now wants to share his knowledge by offering the “inside track” on local eats.
On March 24, the 33-year-old South Toledoan will officially launch Smash Toledo, a website where he plans to post videos highlighting one local eatery per month. The first video will feature Barry Bagels.
“Smash is going to go behind the scenes of Toledo’s staple dishes, its new and upcoming dishes, chefs and people doing really cool stuff in the city,” Wagy said. “The best way I can describe it is it will be simple and functional, like a Yelp or an Urbanspoon, where you’ll be able to search restaurants, cuisines, areas.”
The site will focus on the positives, Wagy said.
“I don’t want Smash to turn into Yelp — and I’m not throwing them under the bus; I use them all the time — but when people are upset they definitely leave more reviews than people who had a good time. Comments are often about the server having a bad day; they have nothing to do with the food or the history of that place,” Wagy said.
“I’m all about being critical of a place; I think that is necessary. But all places can have a bad day and Smash is going to be way more of a lighthearted thing, a way to say ‘This is why you want to go to these places and support these people and what they’re doing.’
“Every time you go somewhere and ask them what they do best and they say, ‘Everything,’ it drives me crazy. It’s not true,” Wagy said. “Chefs are better at certain things and restaurants are better at certain things. Yes, everything might be good, but there are a couple things that are ridiculous.”
Try something new
Wagy said he hopes the project will inspire people to try something new.
“There might be a restaurant a mile down the road from them they never tried,” Wagy said. “It’s a comfort food thing, a comfort zone thing. Someone might have made you go eat somewhere and you loved it so you always go back there and you won’t try the place next to it because you know this place is good. That’s where the video comes into play. The power of video is amazing. We want to show people what they are missing out on.”
Wagy said the hardest part will be choosing which restaurants to feature.
“Barry Bagels, Packo’s, Mancy’s Steakhouse — there’s a bunch of places like that. Toledo staples that aren’t going anywhere and they’ll always be doing something fantastic,” Wagy said. “Then you have a bunch of new places doing stuff no one else is doing, so there’s going to have to be a mix of both. I’m not sure how we’re going to choose to be honest with you. We’ll get to everyone eventually, hopefully.”
Wagy said he chose Barry Bagels to kick off the project because the eatery is a Toledo staple.
Smash Toledo founder Josh Wagy with dishes from Mancy’s Bluewater Grille, Bangkok Kitchen, Tony Packo’s, Deet’s BBQ, Mi Hacienda, Burger Bar 419,
The Beirut, Barry Bagels, Caper’s Restaurant & Bar, Grumpy’s and Balance Grille. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr.
“That’s the No. 1 thing I’m asked for when I go out of town: ‘I need a dozen salt bagels,’ or ‘I need a dozen everything bagels. Don’t show up here unless you have bagels,’” Wagy said, laughing. “When I’m not in Toledo for a long period of time, you do crave it.”
Mark Greenblatt, president of Barry Bagels, and his father, owner Barry Greenblatt, said they were honored to be chosen.
“The fact he asked us first, I really appreciate it. It just goes to show how much he enjoys eating at our establishment,” Mark said. “I saw the video and he did a great job. [Smash Toledo] is great.
“It’s great for my industry and it’s great for Toledo to get the word out about how many wonderful independent restaurants there are in the city of Toledo — and there are a bunch. It’s really cool and we’re quite happy he’s doing it,” Mark said.
Wagy was born in South Carolina, grew up in New Orleans and moved to Toledo with his family when he was in fifth grade. He graduated from Bowsher High School and the University of Toledo.
By day, Wagy is an industrial engineer at Fuse Tech Inc., which provides ceramic welding repair on glass furnaces. He also has a background in Web and graphic design. His wife, Emily, manages her family’s South Toledo restaurant, Caper’s Restaurant & Bar.
Wagy said he can’t pinpoint exactly what draws him to food, but he loves eating and the experience of dining out. He also likes to support local businesses and try new things.
“I’ve lived in Toledo for a long time and people will ask, ‘Have you tried this place?’ and I’m like, ‘I haven’t even heard of that place,’” Wagy said. “It’s amazing. That’s the point of all this.”
Wagy’s father, Bill Wagy, was a television sportscaster in Toledo for years and his grandfather was a newscaster in Washington, D.C.
“I grew up in news studios,” Wagy said. “I always kind of wanted to do video, but never really got around to it. But with me having such a huge passion for food, bringing them together just seemed like the right thing to do.”
Generating buzz
Wagy started thinking about Smash Toledo about a year ago. He came across the name while browsing available URLs.
“I just loved the way it sounded,” Wagy said.
Next, Wagy and his friend Jim Korte, a former Sylvania resident now living in Cincinnati, tweaked the logo for months before they were satisfied.
“He’s helped out so much. He’s unbelievable,” Wagy said. “We’ve always gone back and forth like that.”
The project has already generated a lot of buzz, including partnership offers and inquiries about expanding to other cities. Wagy said he has a lot of ideas about the future, but for now he’s focused on launching a quality product in Toledo.
“It’s been unbelievable. It’s been really actually overwhelming. It’s been amazing that everyone’s been so supportive,” Wagy said. “Right now, I just want to not screw up. I just want to keep going. It’s funny because I’ve started other projects and Smash just feels like it’s the right time, right place kind of thing. I definitely think that’s why it’s going to be successful.”
Dozens of local restaurateurs have already come out in support of the project, many of them featured on a launch video posted at smashtoledo.com.
Sandy Spang, owner of Plate 21 in South Toledo, said she applauds Smash Toledo’s new take on an old concept.
“It’s a new format, but what Josh is trying to do is almost old-fashioned, like the old food critics that used to be out there and who were really powerful because they knew food and wrote really informed, meaningful reviews,” Spang said. “As much help as Yelp is — I use it myself — everybody knows it can be kind of capricious.
“Josh is the real deal. His enthusiasm is infectious. He’s got a passion for it. That’s what I think is going to make Smash different — that knowledge, that passion. Josh is going to find the little treasures, the unknowns, the unsung. I think that’s fantastic. He’ll raise the level for everyone. I’m all about making Toledo the best it can be and I think Smash can help do that.”
Dennis Chung, owner of KotoBuki in Sylvania, agreed.
“I thought it was an awesome idea and it seems to be going really well,” Chung said. “Toledo is very food-oriented and Josh is very passionate about food. It’s kind of a fresh new take on dining. It’s something easier to digest, especially for the current generation who probably don’t get their news from print as much.”
Moussa Salloukh and Tony House, co-owners of Burger Bar 419, said Wagy has been a regular customer since the eatery opened in 2011 and they are both excited about Smash Toledo.
“This is something Toledo needs to keep everybody in touch with the local food scene,” Salloukh said. “He promotes a lot of local restaurants out there doing cool stuff, so I think it’s going to be a great vessel. He’s doing great things with this. It’s going to be big.”
For more information, visit smashtoledo.com or follow @smashtoledo on Instagram and Twitter.
State praises TPS’ use of federal funds
Although he suggested that “it’s a little premature to talk about the successes right away,” Jim Gault, Toledo Public Schools (TPS) chief academic officer, was pleased with the district’s Title I review.
“We went from worst to first,” Gault said.
Betsey Murry, director of TPS’s Title I Education Center, was equally pleased with the review she received from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) after it conducted a two-day on-site review of 13 schools randomly selected by ODE during the last week of January.
Murry described ODE’s review as “pretty intense” as the team of six ODE investigators analyzed TPS’ performance and compliance with the federal guidelines the district must follow to qualify for the approximately $22 million it receives annually.
“As [Gault] indicated, the celebration is that they said this is one of the best visits they’ve seen from three years ago to now,” Murry said. “They told us that the growth they saw in our programming was overwhelming.
“I pulled up the report that they sent us in 2010, and there were quite a few recommendations and findings. And I saw that all of our program directors had done a nice job, particularly in [addressing the issues behind the] recommendations and findings and in turning the programs around.”
Murry said TPS “got really hit hard” three years ago on tutor qualifications, the tracking of federally funded equipment, technical assistance, beta alignment and the correlating of data.
Despite the numerous findings in the 2010 review, Murry said TPS was “never completely out of compliance. We just needed to make stronger programs, serving the kids in a little better capacity, using federal dollars to really align our resources with the needs of our district.
“They were very excited to see the growth in those three years. And what they couldn’t say enough about was, in the 13 schools they visited, how evident the use of data was” in designing curriculum to address students’ needs.
“They also said, ‘Trust me. We do enough of these visits. We can tell you when somebody’s putting on a dog-and-pony show and this was so evident of the hard work that is taking place in the buildings.” And they said, ‘We cannot wait to take this back to the government and other ODE personnel.’ Again and again, they recognized the hard work our schools and teachers are doing.
“We were very happy to hear that because we know what a focus the district has had in using data, and we were excited to hear that was very evident to them.”
Murry said TPS received three findings from ODE.
Finding No. 1 — Qualified Tutors
The state requires that students receive tutoring services from instructors with HQT (Highly Qualified Teacher) certification.
Murry said since TPS had “partnered with an outside agency, they’re doing tutoring with our students. Those tutors have to meet the same HQT qualifications as our teachers. We had been using SES (Supplemental Educational Services) qualifications, which were the minimal requirements on the paraprofessional license. With SES going away, we need to now move to HQT. And we’ve started that for next year.”
Finding No. 2 — Comparability
The second finding dealt with comparability, Murry said.
“We have to show that we’re comparable with our dollars for each of our teams,” she said. “And that has since been turned in. It was completed Feb. 20. They were here Jan. 30-31. I kind of argued how that got to be a finding, how they put that in the report.”
Finding No. 3 — Contract arrangements
The third finding focused on how TPS provides nonpublic equitable services, Murry said.
“We actually provide more services than the students even generate,” she said. The finding analyzed how TPS provides tutoring services to its out-of-district nonpublic students.
“We have a contract with the ECS (Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West), and they provide the tutoring. [The ODE reviewers] didn’t like how the contract was set up.
“It’s not that we’re not providing equitable services. I tried to argue that shouldn’t be a finding, however, everything has been corrected and we’ve shown documentation.”
‘Done so much better’
Gayle Schaber, director of special projects and compensatory programs, said the ODE review of the Title III program found that TPS has “done so much better” identifying English Language Learner (ELL) students and supplementing those students’ education with English as a Second Language (ESL) services.
She was particularly pleased when she received the report that Abdinur Mohamud with ODE’s Lau Center said at the review’s exit meeting that “our identification process and community outreach to could be a model across the state.
“The reason for that is all the detail that we put into making sure that we identify all of our students.Our secretaries are in-serviced every year in August just to remind them of the steps when a new student comes into the district. And if anything new has been added, we get information out to all of our principals so they understand how these students are identified. And then we’ve made that commitment with that community outreach.”
To continue to serve its growing ELL population, Schaber said TPS has added two ESL teachers in the past 16 months.
“Every student gets ESL [instruction] twice a week so they don’t have a real gap [in services],” Schaber said. “They have reinforcement twice a week that takes place in their home schools. They no longer have to travel for services.”
To foster clear communication, Schaber said she has all TPS documents “translated into all of the languages of the students that we serve,” including Arabic, Mandarin, French, German, Polish, Spanish, Russian and Turkish.
Schaber said about 70 percent of ELL students come from a Spanish-speaking background.
Community meeting April 24
Additionally, in response to parents saying they didn’t understand how ESL worked, Schaber held the inaugural ESL Community Meeting for the families of all K-12 TPS students in March 2012.
“The basic idea is just to have parents understand how ESL classes work and the benefit they can be to their students,” Schaber said. “And it gives them a chance to ask questions. They are also able to meet me and the ESL teachers face to face. For many people, it’s the first time that they’ve had an opportunity to meet us. We want to be open to them and have them know that this service is available for their children.”
Schaber said the meeting was so successful that TPS will host a second meeting April 24 at Walbridge Elementary School, starting at 6 p.m.
In planning for the next year, Murry said she intends to revise some of TPS’s parental involvement policies and increase homeless awareness by providing more information to building administrators about services the Title I Education Center provides.
“Overall, they were just very pleased,” Murry said. “They couldn’t say enough about the district and the growth in our federal programs. And it’s the work of every department in this district. It’s not just one office. It involves a lot of correlating. That’s 41 buildings working hard to show evidence of the knowledge they’re receiving to serve our students better.”
Title programs
The five Title programs in the district are:
- Title I, Part A — “Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies.” This grant provides funds to schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.
- Title II, Part A — “Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Non-Regulatory Guidance.”
- Title II, Part D — “Enhancing Education Through Technology Act of 2001.” This grant provided funds to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary schools and secondary schools. This grant provided funds to local and state agencies to ensure that all teachers are qualified and effective.
- Title III — “Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students. This grant provides funds to ensure that English Language Learners, including immigrant children, become English proficient and master the content in the core academic subjects.
- Title VII — “Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native Education.”
As a part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, TPS receives funds through the “McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Grant Awards” to ensure students living in unstable home environments receive a free and appropriate public education.
Torres: My rape, my reality and the Steubenville rape case
At 9 years old, I was abducted and raped by a man claiming to be a police officer who told me he needed my “help” finding an old lady’s dog. Just 500 yards away from my family’s apartment, this man forced me into the filthy basement of a nearby tenement and stole my virginity. By the grace of God, he chose to release me afterward but not without threatening my life if I ever told anyone what he’d done. In a dazed state, I went home and immediately took a bath at 5 o’clock in the afternoon — with the adults present in my home who didn’t seem to notice my odd behavior or that I seemed different. As time went on, none of the adults in my life seemed to notice I was in a traumatized state.
It was when I became a parent that I realized I felt as angry toward the grown-ups in my life who’d let me down by not protecting me as I felt for my attacker. It is unspoken human code that has us all believing it’s the adult’s responsibility to protect the child.
In the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case, not a single adult has been held lawfully accountable — not the parents who should have been supervising teen parties where alcohol was present, not the parents of the victim who were clearly not monitoring their daughter’s intake, not the parents of the high school football stars who seemingly held such a low disregard for women and not even the high school principal, the football coaches, the teachers or the other adults who felt it wasn’t their place to speak up.
While the lives of the 16-year-old victim and her two male underage attackers are irreparably shattered following the dramatic court case and verdict in Steubenville, what have we really taught our children? That while there are appropriate laws on the books about good touch and bad touch, apparently it’s OK as an underage minor to drink yourself into oblivion — despite the efforts of your friends who tried to stop you — and that whatever dangerous choices you made that night won’t be scrutinized to the same standard?
I agree with the strictest definition that “rape is rape and no means no.” But, I also believe a better court decision could have been handed down, including a requirement that the female involved attend an alcohol treatment facility. Otherwise, we’ve missed a crucial teachable moment that could save more lives.
Let this be a cautionary tale for communities and school systems everywhere that should proactively review the Steubenville scenario to help them stave off such future incidents. Let us learn from this tragedy by taking a long hard look at the mixed messages we’re giving our children, especially in affluent communities like the one I live in. As an outspoken parent — disinvited from my local school system’s community forum because I was too direct — I’ve witnessed the very destructive behavior of complacent adults who allow their children (and their children’s underage friends without checking first with the other parents) to abuse alcohol and other substances within their homes because, they say, “it’s safer.”
My community is no different from Steubenville and thus, if we continue to shirk our adult responsibilities of adequately monitoring our children it’s just a matter of time before a more heinous infraction occurs. Frankly, every city, town and neighborhood is just one incident away from disastrous consequences when these random acts of violence occur and forever sully the name of the place you call home. Within an instant, the actions of unsupervised children can wreak havoc with your property values, your safety and your peace of mind. We adults must be honest with ourselves and admit that we need to find a way to be better role models for our children.
When I was raped, I was not drunk and unconscious and so I remember every gritty detail, resulting in the grave disappointment in and irreparable detachment I subsequently felt from the adults in my life who didn’t protect me. I wonder how the Steubenville victim is processing her experience. Who does she blame? Is she angry at her parents who didn’t protect her? Is she angry at herself?
Ultimately, rape is rape — a violent and criminal act with which another person violates your body, your mind and your soul against your will and without your consent. Grossly under-reported, women often don’t report the crime because of the fear, shame and self-loathing that holds them hostage. For so many years, I spent my life on high alert, distracted because I was always checking over my shoulder to see if my rapist was in the vicinity.
It was some 35 years later, after intensive counseling, that I was finally able to summon the will to face my fears. It is an indescribable relief to now be able to share my story publicly, with the confidence that continual healing is my reward.
I am now also a member of the nation’s Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (R.A.I.N.N.) speakers’ bureau and encourage you to visit its website at www.rainn.org or call 1 800 656-HOPE (4673) for more information on how you can help.
While we can’t always prevent random acts of violence, as adults we must do a better job of protecting our children.
Bell: City intends to acquire 16 TPS properties
After months of discussion with Toledo Public Schools (TPS) personnel, Mayor Mike Bell has formally expressed the City of Toledo’s “intent to acquire” 16 properties TPS no longer uses.
In a letter to Superintendent Jerome Pecko dated March 6, Bell asked Pecko to provide the list of 16 former school sites to the Board of Education (BOE) “so that we can continue our discussion to finalize the property acquisitions.” Bell’s inquiry included the qualification that the purchase of any TPS property will require passage of an ordinance by Toledo City Council.
The properties the city is interested in purchasing are:
- Beverly Elementary; 4022 Rugby Drive, 43614
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary; 1415 Lawrence Ave., 43607
- East Side Central Elementary; 815 Navarre Ave., 43605
- East Toledo Junior High; 355 Dearborn Ave., 43605
- Heffner Elementary; 255 Heffner St., 43605
- Jones Junior High; 1320 Broadway St., 43609
- Lagrange Elementary; 1001 N. Erie St., 43604
- Leverette Junior High; 1111 E. Manhattan Blvd., 43608
- The former Libbey High; 1250 Western Ave., 43609
- Longfellow Elementary; 4112 Jackman Road, 43612
- Nathan Hale Elementary; 1700 Shenandoah Road, 43607
- Nelson Grace Park; 1001 N. Detroit Ave., 43607
- Newbury Elementary; 1040 Newbury St., 43609
- Robinson Junior High; 1075 Horace St., 43606
- Sherman Elementary; 731 Sherman St., 43608
- Warren Elementary; 2015 Warren St., 43620
A difference of $832,800
The difference between selling 14 of the 16 properties at the value as assessed by the Lucas County Auditor (LCA) and current market value is $832,800. TPS would generate $1,539,800 if it sells the properties at the LCA’s assessed value and $707,000 at market value.
TPS’ business office does not have dollar values attached to Leverette Junior High and Sherman Elementary. The city’s “intent to acquire” letter also attaches a “subject to previous land swap agreement” condition to the acquisition of three properties — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Longfellow Elementary and Sherman Elementary. Bell also encouraged the BOE to “continue discussion” with ProMedica regarding the sale of McKinley Elementary School, 1901 West Central Ave. The LCA values that property at $108,100.
Renovation projects
James Gant, TPS chief business manager, reported to TPS’ Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Building Committee on March 20 that the contract for the renovation project at Arlington Elementary will not allow the cost to exceed $1.5 million.
Also by contract, the Waite High School science lab renovation is not to exceed $850,000. The original presentation listed the price at $400,000, which Gant said was “an incorrect number from the very beginning. It was always going to cost $850,000. It was just an error in number input.”
Both renovation projects are scheduled to be finished before the beginning of the next school year, Gant said. Gant said an October 2012 change in Ohio school district building law allowed TPS to adopt a “Design/Build” process instead of the previous “Bid/Build” process.
Under the “Bid/Build” process, TPS was required to advertise for bids, establish a deadline for proposals, review proposals and then bring a recommendation from those proposals to the BOE for a vote. Bids were usually submitted by at least three different businesses — architectural firms, construction companies and construction management firms. Gant said that process usually took 90 days to complete. Under that process, TPS would not be able to start construction on either of the two renovation projects until June.
Under the “Design/Build” process, Gant said a team comprised of an architectural firm, construction company and construction management firm submit one bid.
‘Greater control’
“We can now enter agreement with that team, and there are guarantee processes built in where we won’t experience change orders that could result in an increase in the cost of a building project,” Gant said. “This ‘Design/Build’ process gives us greater control of our dollars.”
Gant said that once a project’s bid is finalized, the district will most likely not allow any changes to be made to construction plans.
“Under the ‘Design/Build’ process, it’s more costly to make changes once the project starts,” Gant said. “And we won’t be able to meet deadlines if we make changes. Time becomes a key issue.”
Contractor Matt Richards agreed.
“Time is of the essence right now,” Richards said. “We need to get everything done as quickly as possible to meet the timeframe and have them open at the start of next school year. And the process for city approval is already in the works.”
Gant said getting city approval prior to the award of the bid is a huge advantage of the “Design/Build” process because it cuts significant time off the process.
“Companies bidding for the work do the groundwork with the city for planning ahead of time in case they get the bid,” Gant said.
Walk-in resolution
Gant closed the OSFC Building Committee meeting by informing BOE member Lisa Sobecki that he had invited a representative from Mosser Construction, Inc. because a claim has been filed on the construction of the Waite renovation project.
“We received a claim at 4:38 p.m. today,” Gant said. “I was unable to review it and make a recommendation for this 5 p.m. meeting.”
Sobecki told Gant to review the claim review with legal counsel and make a recommendation. If Gant decided that recommendation needed BOE approval, Sobecki told Gant he had her approval to bring a walk-in resolution to the general business meeting, March 26.
Other business
- Gant also reported an increase of almost $100,000 in the Total Capital budget from last month.
“That’s because we made improvements at the Boys and Girls Clubs at a few of our schools that they are paying us back for,” Gant said.
The BOE will hold three meetings in the next two weeks.
- The regular monthly business meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. March 26.
- A special meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. March 27 at which board members will review interim superintendent applications in executive session. Treasurer Matthew Cleland said that after BOE members finish their executive session discussions, they will return to “regular, open session, discuss the interim superintendent position and possibly select an individual to serve as interim superintendent.”
The application deadline is 4:30 p.m. March 22.
- A special meeting is scheduled for April 3 to review the performance audit from Evergreen Solutions, LLC.
Burnard: Tale of two budgets
This week, two budgets were introduced in Congress. The Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced its “Back to Work” budget, and Republican economic mouthpiece Paul Ryan introduced his “Path to Prosperity” budget — for the third year in a row — to address the “huge deficit” problem the GOP has buffaloed much of the media into thinking is the premier problem America faces.
In actuality, many real economists — that is, people whose jobs are studying economics for their entire working lives as opposed to sucking the public teat for their entire working lives — think this is pure bunk. Personally, I’m more inclined to give credence to those who have won Nobel Prizes in the field. Much of this is the standard Republican ploy of creating a huge scare tactic to try to push through the agenda they have been trying to foist on the American public for the past 30 years, even though it has been proven wrong and, as recently as last year, overwhelmingly rejected by voters.
Their rigid adherence to failed dogma rather than even attempting to address the real underlying problems facing the country is unbelievable. To the Ryan group, there might as well have not been an election. They refuse to acknowledge that their approach is flawed. To them, there is no problem that can’t be fixed by a tax cut for the wealthy. They’ve completely perverted the term “entitlement” to try to make it seem like a dirty word. 
Merriam-Webster says an entitlement is “a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract.” Notice the word “right.” These are programs that we have the right to, in most cases because we have paid for those rights throughout our working lives. In the case of Social Security, we’ve paid in more than most of us will ever use, and it doesn’t add a dime to the deficit! If there is to be a future shortfall, it could be easily addressed by raising the cap from $110,000 to $250,000 and voilá!, solvent until 2075! But we couldn’t possibly burden the upper crust with such a thing.
The Medicare/Medicaid problem could be addressed in any number of ways. The obvious fix would be a single-payer health care program like most of the developed world has, but we couldn’t put all those private insurance CEOs in a bind. The Ryan budget did claim it would “balance the budget” in 10 years, which is about the only new claim from the previous iterations. Alas, he leaves out the pertinent details on exactly how that would happen. Of his cuts, 68 percent would directly affect the middle class, elderly and poor. His plan would voucherize Medicare within 10 years, thus destroying the most efficient program in government and health care history, which would directly impact the elderly. Other domestic services slated for the chopping block include education, research and development, infant nutrition, workplace safety, border patrol, food and drug safety, Head Start, etc., to a degree not seen before. Other mandatory programs being slashed include Pell Grants, food stamps, school lunches, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit and supplementary support for the aged and disabled poor.
In other words, it falls mainly on those who can least afford it. The rich, meanwhile, would benefit from the reduction of tax rates from 6 percdent to 2 percent, and the reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25 percent. Coupled with the fact that they got 121 percent of income growth during the Great Recession, and corporate profits are at an all-time high, it doesn’t seem to make sense to give them these new bonuses at the expense of the rest of us. More smoke and mirrors.
Finally, this week Speaker of the House, John Boehner actually admitted in an interview with Martha Raddatz, “We do not have an immediate debt crisis. But we all know that we have one looming. And we have one looming because we have entitlement programs that are not sustainable in their current form. They’re gonna go bankrupt. Washington has a responsibility — to our seniors and near seniors — that we firm these programs up so that they’re there for the long term. Because if we don’t do it, not only will they not get benefits, we will have a debt crisis right around the corner. We have time to solve our problems, but we need to do it now.”
Next up — do we really have a debt crisis? Stay tuned.
Email columnist Don Burnard at [email protected].
