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Oregon woman wins casting championship

By
Don Lee
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Pamela Peters, casting champion, poses next to a display of fishing reels in the lobby of Bass Pro Shops in Perrysburg. Toledo Free Press photo by Don Lee

Fishing rod cocked backwards and ready to let fly, Pamela Peters’ mind is on a hundred different things.

Did the breeze play with the lure back there, twitch it this way instead of that? Have to account for that in the cast. Is the lure flying differently because today is more humid than yesterday? “Bump” the reel — that is, put on the brakes just a little, once, twice, maybe three times — to make the lure fly right. Ripples in the square of water that’s the target? That’s to be accounted for as well.

Do all of that and more, and do it enough times, and you’re a national champion, as Peters is.

For all that, says the Oregon woman, fishing’s just a hobby.

Technically, she’s right — her job in loss prevention puts food on the table and keeps the roof overhead in repair — but the art and science of fly fishing and bait casting is what switches the analytical part of her mind to the full “on” position and keeps it there.

That mindset has earned her multiple national and international titles and a handful of records, including some that are the best posted by any angler, man or woman.

It also means Peters “can go anywhere in the world and (know how to) fish any way I want,” she said.

It meant she could make good on a promise to a friend that she’d pull three salmon out of a river during one morning’s fishing, even though she threw the second and third back after realizing she’d have to carry the 35-pound fish a couple of miles back through the woods. She found someone at the fishing lodge to clean the fish, which provided a few meals over the next couple of days.

Peters enjoys fishing for steelhead because that fish puts up a good fight, and she likes catching lake perch “to fill up the freezer.”

Her interest in fishing started innocently enough, when she was a girl.

“I have three brothers and we had a cottage and that was the thing we did,” she said.

From the shore, then from a boat, then from a boat with a motor, “We went all over the place,” she said, laughing.

Her dad, William Peters, a dedicated caster himself, worked with his daughter on her technique and soon she was taking part in competitions, winning and finding new things to learn, often from the top competitors.

At an early competition, the men’s champion, Steve Rajeff, asked her why she wasn’t in the fly-casting events; she replied that she didn’t have a the proper type of rod for fly-casting.

“That evening … I was presented with my first fly rod. Fifteen years later, I shot a perfect score at national (competition) with that rod,” Peters said.

That gift was one of the first instances of a competitive kind of cooperation among casters, Peters said. The rod was made by the Loomis Co., for which Rajeff worked as a designer. Besides wanting to help, Peters said, there’s competitive value in being able to say someone succeeded with a tool you provided or a technique you taught.

It also furthers the sport and the industry, she said.

Pointing to a display case full of old reels inside the entrance to Bass Pro Shops in Rossford, Peters talked about how each improvement in design came about from a caster wanting to give himself or herself an edge.

“There’s a lot of history here,” she said, looking at the rows of reels, many worn with use but still gleaming like jewels inside the display case.

So far, Peters said the most technical thing she’s done is to take apart each new reel she’s bought and clean it, replacing the heavy oil used by the manufacturer with a lighter-weight oil such as WD-40, so the reel spins more freely.

She’s come full circle as a mentor and teacher, too, helping casters both competitive and casual study their forms and techniques, figuring out how to make sure the lure lands where they want it, with the greatest possible likelihood it will come back out of the water with a fish attached.

She and her father have even taken part in a study at the University of Toledo, attaching targets to their limbs and bodies so cameras could track and analyze their body motions to see what makes a cast a winning one.

The circle may become even more complete if one day she takes over from her dad — a retired millwright — designing and tying flies for herself and other anglers.

“But for now,” she said, eyeing the row of gleaming reels one more time before heading into the shop to see what’s new, “it’s just a hobby.”

Photographing the fall: Colorful advice for shutterbugs

By
Toledo Free Press
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Diffused light from a cloudy sky brings out the subtle colors in sassafras leaves as they turn color in the fall. Photo by Art Weber.

By Katie Gorman

Special to Toledo Free Press

Autumn has arrived, bringing with it some of the most gorgeous color nature has to offer. To capture the stunning sights, Metroparks resident photographer Art Weber offers tips and advice to those hoping to capture the season at its best.

The first rule of fall photography — or photography any time of year: It’s all about the light.

“Light can be filtered by fog and mist, a favorite hallmark of fall,” Weber said. “Start by checking out stream and river valleys where the chilly air of autumn nights blankets water still warm from summer, condensing the humid air into fog that can hang thick like a blanket or rise in magical wisps.”

Those magical wisps, he said, can become “downright spiritual” when the sun forces its way through the fog and mist in dramatic shafts of light. “Photographers even have a spiritual name for them — God rays,” he said.

If it is color you want, Weber, a Toledo Free Press contributor, offers some timely advice, as the first signs of the season are becoming obvious.

“If you wait for our last dominant trees to turn — the oaks, in the case of Metroparks off the river and in the western part of the county — you’ve missed the show.”

Start with the blackgum, a tree easy to overlook most of the year, but not as September rolls around.

“It dots the Metroparks woodlands here and there with its small, rich, red leaves,” Weber said. “Also look on the woodland edges, where sumac and sassafras can be spectacular, along with poison ivy and Virginia creeper.”

Fall offers more for the photographer than just colorful leaves. Weber suggests photographers also remember:

  • The full moon, or a scene lit by the full moon.
  • The Milky Way shot through the crisp fall air.
  • The last wildflowers of the meadow and prairie.
  • Migrating birds or mammals prepping for winter survival — squirrels, for example.
  • Insects and spiders, at their largest and most obvious this time of year.

“Fall is like a symphony of ebbs and flows, reaching several crescendos before a dramatic all-in finish, then gently fading and ending, finally, with the first floating flakes of snow,” Weber said.

A technique that’s particularly effective in fall, said Weber, is backlighting. “Placing a translucent fall leaf or spray of leaves between the sun and the camera can be stunning,” he said. “Imagine a red maple leaf with the sun behind it, setting the leaf virtually on fire. It’s so red, with the bonus of revealing all the veins and even cell structure of the leaf. It can be a truly memorable shot.”

Fall in the Metroparks

Oak Openings Preserve is Weber’s favorite Metropark to visit in autumn.

“It is, well, simply one of the most special places on Earth,” he said. “Flowers, leaves, dunes, tracks in the dunes, tiny plants etched in frost, ravines and streams. It’s all good. Secor Metropark is the last bastion for color; when all else is finished, almost every year Secor is still hanging on with the last yellows and golds of the season into the first week of November and sometimes beyond.”

But when asked what his favorite spot was to shoot in the fall, Weber replied, “The big black oak in the meadow at Wildwood Preserve. Catch it right and there’s not just the colors of the trees, but the wildflowers that grow in and just outside its shade.”

Autumn Adventure nature walks sponsored by Metroparks are an excellent way to see the best sights each park has to offer, according to Weber. Another favorite, he said, is the Canal Experience at Providence Metropark. “The blend of history — the mill and canal boat — with the river valley and fall colors is just great.”

Weber is director of nature photography at Metroparks of Toledo Area, and a member of the staff at the National Center for Nature Photography, located inside Secor Metropark. To learn more about Autumn Adventure or the photography center, visit MetroparksToledo.com.

Running back focuses on family for inspiration

By
Nate Pentecost
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David Fluellen carries the ball for the University of Toledo during a recent game. Photo by Vincent D. Scebbi/Courtesy The Independent Collegian

Family has always been a strong presence in David Fluellen Jr.’s life.

In fact, it was a family member who helped ignite the University of Toledo junior running back’s desire to use football as a conduit to better himself.

David Fluellen

As a kid, Fluellen watched his brother Jhamal, who is seven years his senior, earn First Team All-State honors at Lockport High School in New York.

When Fluellen was given his own chance to roam Lockport’s backfield, Jhamal was garnering All-Colonial Athletic Association and All-American accolades at the University of Maine.

“It was definitely an influence for me, to see how my brother was playing and how he could earn a Division I scholarship,” Fluellen said. “I knew that was something I wanted to do to help my family out. I knew that was something my parents would be proud of.”

Unsurprisingly, Fluellen turned to his family for guidance last season when he was struggling to cope with receiving limited touches behind senior running backs Adonis Thomas and Morgan Williams.

“In all honesty, it was a little bit frustrating, but I knew I had to wait my turn,” Fluellen explained. “I would talk to my parents and my dad always told me to keep my head on straight.”

David Sr. reminded his son that Barry Sanders, arguably the greatest running back in history, had to wait for his chance behind fellow Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas when the pair played together at Oklahoma State in the ’80s.

“After that, I just tried to go out there and take advantage of every opportunity,” Fluellen said. “Now that it’s my turn, I’m taking every rep like it’s my last.”

Fluellen has indeed stepped into the limelight this season and his numbers are indicative of the reckless abandon that stems from his father’s advice.

Through five games Fluellen has rung up 500 yards and six touchdowns on 90 carries (5.6 yards per carry). He ranks fourth in the Mid-American Conference with an average of 100 rushing yards per game, fifth with 7.2 points per game and seventh with 123 all purpose yards per game.

And it would seem Fluellen is only just hitting his stride.

On Sept. 29 at Western Michigan he turned in his best performance to date, ripping off a career-high 213 yards rushing on 21 carries (10.1 yards per carry) for three touchdowns. The output earned Fluellen the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week honors and National Performer of the Week Honorable Mention.

Of course, Fluellen gave credit to his offensive line, but he said watching film of Thomas’ 216-yard rushing performance against the Broncos last season was instrumental as well.

“I saw how patient he was, letting the offensive line develop holes,” Fluellen said. “I thought that a huge part of my success [last Saturday] was being more patient and letting the offensive line get off the block to help me get to the second level where the linebackers are.”

Ironically, the All-MAC tailback whom Fluellen studied tape of before the Western Michigan game was the same teammate who used to encourage him to hit the film room in order to gain a competitive edge.

“Adonis told me it wasn’t all about physical ability,” Fluellen said. “Everyone in Division I football has physical ability, that’s why they got a scholarship. You have to have the mental aspect and become a student of the game to take your game that much further.”

Fluellen got a chance to put that lesson in action last fall when Thomas went down with a broken arm in a 33-30 loss to Syracuse. Starting two of three games in Thomas’ absence, Fluellen compiled 208 yards on 32 rushes for an outstanding 6.5 yards per carry.

He attributes the success he is having this year as UT’s primary ball carrier, in part, to the experience he gained while starting last season.

“To know that I could go out there and contribute was a huge confidence builder for this year,” Fluellen said. “So there wasn’t any pressure coming into this season.

“Now what I try to do is take the knowledge of the game Adonis and Morgan Williams passed on to me, use it, and install it in the younger guys.”

After last weekend, the Rockets’ high-powered offense may need that edge more than ever.

Adding to an extensive list of injured Toledo defensive players, All-MAC performer T.J. Fatinikun was lost for the season to a torn Achilles tendon and fellow defensive end Christian Smith is out indefinitely after suffering his own lower leg injury.

For some, the plethora of injuries might be cause for concern.

Fluellen, however, has been enlightened by a particular bit of fatherly wisdom — the next player on the depth chart might just need the opportunity to shine.

“We have to have faith that the next guy who steps up at that position can make the plays,” Fluellen said.  “It’s like the same thing that happened with Adonis and I. The next guy just has to step up.”

Burnard: Looking at the future

By
Don Burnard
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The task at hand is to present a vision for the future of our nation based on the outcome of the 2012 election. This election is probably the strangest election season I’ve seen in my 60 years, and the stakes for the average middle-class American couldn’t be higher. The moneyed class has got the bit in its teeth, and with the help of the religious right, and in spite of the help of a crowd of self-styled constitutional experts and economists, they’re going for the whole enchilada, a corporate-led takeover of the governance of this country.

The aforementioned groups can be summed up as angry, white and mostly males. Unfortunately, they haven’t picked the best person for their candidate. Mitt Romney has turned out to be an arrogant apostate who doesn’t seem to connect with most people in the real world most of us live in.

Romney has tried, between faux pas, to come across as someone who has our best interests at heart and a secret plan to create jobs for everyone by basically returning to the same failed policies of the past. For 40 years or so, we’ve been told that if we give tax breaks to the rich and get rid of those pesky regulations that keep companies from reaching their full potential, jobs will come pouring into the workplace and everything will be hunky-dory. Well, we’ve basically tried that, and it still hasn’t worked! All it has done is crash the economy and taken away 40 percent of the middle class’s worth. But still, they keep doubling down on it, and why shouldn’t they?

In the past 50 years, Republicans have held the presidency for 28 years and the Democrats for 22 years. During the GOP terms, they created 24 million jobs, while the Democrats created 42 million. The stock market returns: GOP, 109 percent vs. Dems, 992 percent. Annualized stock market returns: GOP, 2.7 percent vs. Dems, 11 percent. GDP growth: GOP, 2.7 percent vs. 4.1 percent. And finally income growth: GOP, 0.6 percent vs. 2.2 percent. These figures come from the Dept. of Labor, Bloomberg and Politico.

Am I missing something here? In virtually every economic indicator, this country has done substantially better under Democratic governance than under Republican rule. How is it then, that even after the crash of the economy and the Great Recession, so many people are willing to clearly vote against their own best interests? Well, if they can gin up enough of a smoke screen to get the attention off their clearly failed policies, maybe they have a chance. That’s where issues like gay marriage, race baiting, so-called socialism and all those angry white guys come in. We’ll just channel the Founding Fathers in spite of what the true history is, and while we’re at it we’ll rewrite the Constitution, ignore even the most basic economic theories and blame everything on the profligate socialist black guy in our White House.

Let’s look at Obama’s so-called profligacy. In the President’s first real budget, spending was down 1.8 percent to $3.46 trillion. In 2011,  it rose 4.3 percent to $3.6 trillion and for 2012 is set to rise 0.7 percent to $3.63 trillion. The 2013 budget, his final for his first term, is scheduled to fall 1.3 percent to $3.58 trillion. These figures are hard to follow for the average layman so perhaps a little perspective is in order. Obama has been accused of running up the debt more than any other president in modern times. Let’s see how he stacks up against his predecessors in annualized growth in federal spending. We’ll start with Ronald Reagan:

  • Reagan ’82-85: 8.7 percent
  • Reagan ’86-89: 4.9 percent
  • Bush I ’90-93: 5.4 percent
  • Clinton ’94-97: 3.2 percent
  • Clinton ’98-01: 3.9 percent
  • W. Bush ’02-05: 7.3 percent
  • W. Bush ’06-09*: 8.1 percent
  • Obama ’10-13: 1.4 percent

*2009 budget was reassigned to Obama. It took effect four months before he took office.

These figures come from the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office and Haver Analytics, and were published by Rick Ungar on Forbes.com in his column “Token Lefty” (I can relate). He pointed out that Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower. Another right-wing myth bites the dust.

So if you want to look at the future, look at the past through cold hard facts, not through the rose-colored glasses the right uses to sell its lies and innuendoes.

Muslims thankful for support after arson at mosque

By
David Yonke
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Crime scene tape closes off part of the parking lot at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo while an arson fire is investigated there. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

Toledo-area Muslims are reeling from an arson fire at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, but are grateful for an outpouring of support from the local interfaith community.

“All the support we get is very welcome because if you are going through a tragedy and you have a friend who is holding your hand it means a lot,” said Dr. S. Zaheer Hasan, a spokesman for the United Muslim Association of Toledo.

Perrysburg Township police said Oct. 2 that a suspect has been arrested and is in custody in Fort Wayne, Ind., for the Sept. 30 arson blaze at the highly visible mosque just south of Toledo. Surveillance footage from the Islamic Center, located at the junction of I-475 and I-75, showed a “person of interest” — a white middle-aged male wearing a camouflage sweatshirt and hat — at the mosque’s entrance shortly before the blaze, which was reported about 5 p.m.

Suspect in custody

Det. Sgt. James Gross said Perrysburg Township police and the Ohio State Fire Marshal have identified the individual in custody and are continuing an investigation with help from the FBI and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Gross did not name the individual but the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette reported that Randy T. Linn, 52, of Saint Joe, Ind., was arrested at his workplace on Tuesday and was being held at the Allen County Jail until an extradition hearing. He faces charges in Ohio of aggravated burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of arson.

Mahjabeen Islam, president of the Islamic Center, said the suspect poured gasoline in the center of the main floor where men worship at the mosque. Women pray on the same main floor, but in an area separated by a low divider.

“It was set in the men’s prayer area and the sprinklers turned out the fire. There is a lot of water damage from the sprinklers,” Islam said. “The Islamic Center is uninhabitable for easily three months.”

She said the Islamic Center is making plans for an interfaith prayer session on the mosque’s grounds at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 5, the time Muslims normally hold Juma prayers, their main service of the week.

“All the faith communities are invited to come and join us in solidarity,” Islam said.

Outpouring of support

The mosque has received many phone calls and emails of support from non-Muslims in the Toledo area, Islam said. The outpouring reminded her of when Toledo Christian radio station YES FM organized a prayer rally at the mosque a week after 9/11. In the wake of 9/11, someone had fired a bullet from the road through one of the mosque’s stained-glass windows.

More than 1,500 people of all faiths turned out on Sept. 18, 2001, holding hands as they encircled the Middle Eastern-style mosque and prayed for the safety of those who worship within.

Rev. Steve Anthony, executive director of Toledo Area Ministries, said he and his organization that represents 125 Christian churches and faith-based agencies are outraged by the arson attack and will do what they can to help local Muslims.

“Any attack on a house of worship, no matter what faith, is deplorable and should be condemned,” Anthony said. “And there’s no room for that in a pluralistic society. We should respect each other’s houses of worship.

“I want to be a part of whatever [local Muslims] are doing to support them,” he said.

Islam said there is no information yet on a possible motive for the blaze.

“It’s difficult to draw a conclusion as to whether it’s connected to world events, or a simple case of Islamophobia, or if this is someone who is a pyromaniac,” she said. “Unless we find him and talk to him we don’t know.”

But the damage to her house of worship is heart-rending, she said.

“It’s so painful to see. It goes to my heart to see the prayer area where there is now a crater, a black crater.”

She said the fire reached high enough to shatter lightbulbs on a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

“You can smell the gasoline. The main damage is in the prayer area but the rest of the Islamic Center has water damage,” Islam said.

There were no services or organized activities taking place at the mosque at the time of the fire, Islam added.

Islam said mosque officials are discussing what they will do until the center is repaired. Insurance officials inspected the building.

Members of the Islamic Center will likely worship under a tent on the mosque grounds as long as the weather permits, according to Islam.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has reported community opposition to 53 mosques and Islamic centers across the United States in the past several years, including one in southwestern Ohio.

Rathbun: On the sidelines, not out of the game

By
Gary Rathbun
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Those of you who read my columns consistently or listen to my radio show know that I feel the market is being held up by fumes and we need to be very cautious. Due to being extra cautious, I sometimes have quite a bit of money in cash. Currently, we have between 33 and 58 percent in cash in most of our accounts due to this market uncertainty.

I often find myself in the conversation that the cash account doesn’t earn any interest to speak of and shouldn’t we get that where it could earn more. My answer is always the same: Just because we are on the sideline doesn’t mean we are out of the game.

Using a football analogy is new for me but let me explain my reasoning. If you are an NFL team you have an offense and a defense. Both cannot be on the field at the same time. When you are playing defense your offense is on the sidelines doing virtually nothing. Does this mean that your offense is not worth its money when it is not out on the field? Of course not! Your offense is there waiting to go in when needed and it will perform at that time.

If your defense has done its job, you will have better field position for the offense and a much better chance of scoring.

This strategy will protect your end zone from the other team and ultimately win the game.

Let’s leave the analogy for now and see where we are in real life. By keeping our cash on the sidelines instead of in the market 100 percent of the time we are protecting our capital from decline. It may earn nothing but it will not lose anything either. Cash sitting on the sidelines will gain if the market goes down. If you don’t lose it you gain it. Better field position is your cash getting back into the market after it has declined.

This is the opposite of what is commonly called the “buy and hold” strategy. Buy and hold is the equivalent of having your offense on the field the entire game. Sure they get pushed clear back to the goal line by the other team but, hey, they can fight back the way they always do. This idea does not work in football and it doesn’t work in investing either.

When the market is going against you, as with the opposing team, you want your offense on the sideline and your defense on the field. You want to minimize the loss of yardage and money. In 2008, when the market went down 40 percent, where would you have rather been, on the sidelines or riding the ride down and not recovering until 2012?

This is not market timing. This is playing defense or offense as indicated by the market trend.

Offensive strategies include carefully using options, e.g., calls and puts, as well as stop limits and limit orders. Additionally, equity collars, private options and several combinations of option contracts will allow you to be on defense or offense when needed.

Convincing people to invest in something and hold on to that investment, regardless of what the market does, is the equivalent of hoping for a neutral outcome in the football game.

There is a lot of research that says that a buy and hold strategy consistently outperforms market timing, and I agree, but playing defense when appropriate or offense when appropriate is neither buy and hold or market timing. Cornell University recently did a study looking at the past 100 years that validates the strategy of defense/offense hedging and proving it greatly outperforms both previous schools of thought.

Give it some thought and your own study, then decide.

 

Gary L. Rathbun is the president and CEO of Private Wealth Consultants, LTD. He can be reached at (419) 842-0334 or email him at [email protected].

Szyperski: Sebastian the Great

By
Shannon Szyperski
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One August morning more than 10 years ago I woke up to find our two cats nestled up against my belly, one on each side. Considering they had never done such a thing before, I had a strong feeling that they knew something I didn’t. The two feline friends we had come to love almost like children seemed to be subtly letting me know that our first child of the non-furry variety was less than nine months away. They were right.

Having our cats be the ones to unveil our parenthood was quite fitting, for it was Sasha and Sebastian who first introduced us to the world of household chaos and sibling conflict. Sasha, our black shorthair, embodied everything we imagined our future family life to be — a calm, warm and loving slice of heaven on Earth. Sebastian, our orange longhair, then came along as the living expression of everything our future family life actually would be — an unpredictable journey of sneak attacks and random yelping.

Sebastian, the adorable kitten we adopted to ward off the loneliness we assumed Sasha was experiencing during our long work days, instead terrorized her relentlessly from day one. The fast friend we had imagined for Sasha quickly became a fast fiend and we couldn’t help but wonder if we had made a big mistake.

Sebastian’s reign of terror during the early years even spilled over onto us. Many, many a night we would wake up with the cutest, most playful little orange kitten clamped forcefully down upon at least one of our unsuspecting toes. The brutal middle-of-the-night, sorry-I-mistook-your-feet-for-mice-again wake-up calls were actually good practice for the curious, who-needs-sleep children we were destined to have soon after.

Throughout the years, we came to know all of Sebastian’s idiosyncrasies. His obsessive-compulsive nature constantly manifested itself in new and interesting ways, from avoiding his food dish unless not a speck of white was showing at the bottom to licking his fur cleaner than we kept anything else in our entire house. He could wildly jump higher than our shoulders during playtime and then lovingly curl up in our lap when he sensed that we needed him most. Whether good or bad, we learned to accept him for what he was and came to realize that his presence in our family was always a perfect gift and never a mistake.

I can’t believe he’s gone.

As the thought occasionally crossed my mind that Sasha may not have too many years left in her, I never considered that our younger, full-of-life Sebastian might go first. Even when he began to slow down and look a little thinner, I just didn’t think of it as a prelude to an ending. I wasn’t ready to lose him.

In less than a week, Sebastian went from his normal self, welcoming guests at the front door, to huddled under a table with a frail frame and a face I barely recognized.  When our vet confirmed that things didn’t look good, we took our three children in to be with him as a family one last time. Mike and I then went back alone the next day to accept the inevitable. As we tearfully held him on his last day, I couldn’t help but recall holding him as a new kitten at his very first vet appointment, never imagining a day 12 years later when we would sit and be with him as he took his very last breaths.

The week before his end, my 3-year-old had walked up to me out of the blue without explanation and said, “Sebastian’s gonna die.” Assuming she had picked something up from a random TV show, I reacted somewhat angrily and quickly explained that we don’t say things like that. He wasn’t sick, we didn’t consider him old and she really wasn’t all that involved with him, so I couldn’t imagine why she would ever utter such a thing.

I didn’t reflect upon her declaration until the day after Sebastian was gone. Could she have known it was time for him to leave our world just as Sebastian had known it was time for her brother to enter it? Whatever the exact meaning, I can’t help but think at moments like this that there is some sort of framework and purpose to it all. When I stare at his still-fur-covered chair, hardly able to handle no longer seeing him in it, I find solace in the fact that he may be out there somewhere prancing around with the ease of a kitten and playfully terrorizing parts of the universe we have yet to reveal.

Shannon and her husband, Michael, are raising three children in Sylvania.

Two Chick-fil-A’s set to open in region this fall

By
Toledo Free Press
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Mike Herrick, local owner and operator of Chick-Fil-A franchises, poses at the Perrysburg location. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

On Aug. 1, hundreds of Chick-fil-A customers formed lines around the food court at the Westfield Franklin Park Mall in support of the chicken chain. Two months later, two new locations are preparing to open in the Toledo area.

“Because of the receptivity of the Toledo community, [Chick-fil-A] felt like we needed to grow by 200 percent in a very short amount of time in order to service the demand for our product,” said Jonathan Winn, who will operate the 4260 Sylvania Ave. location, just outside the mall.

The other new location will be at 10315 Fremont Pike, Perrysburg. Owner/operator Mike Herrick, who used to run the Chick-fil-A in the mall food court, is transitioning to the Perrysburg location. Chick-fil-A business interns will run the mall location, formerly the only Chick-fil-A in town, until Nov. 1 when a new owner comes in.

Each location is more than 4,000 square feet and includes a play area and double drive-thru lanes. About 200 employees are being hired at the two new restaurants, which will be closed on Sundays as is chain policy.

Herrick’s franchise is slated for a Nov. 1 debut and Winn’s location is set to open Nov. 29.

Winn and his family moved to the area about two and a half months ago after operating a Canton Chick-fil-A for three years.

“Our plan for coming to Toledo is to be here the rest of our lives, to be able to retire here,” Winn said. “That’s why we moved up to be here, just to be part of the fabric of the community in a big way.”

Before signing on with Chick-fil-A, Winn was a college and young adult pastor.

“One of my students said, ‘Man, you are just like one of the owners of a Chick-fil-A restaurant that we know. You should think about doing this.’ And so I researched it, hung out with a couple owners … got to know the business a little bit and decided this was something I wanted to give my life to and give my career to long term.”

Herrick had been with the mall Chick-fil-A for 21 years. Although there will be some changes, such as going from 900 square feet to more than 4,000 and from about 40 employees to 90, Herrick is confident.

“The basic idea of service is still the same. You’re still going to take care of customers the same, but the whole service model changes,” he said.

Despite his history in the area, Herrick still had to apply for the owner/operator position along with about 260 other applicants. Although Chick-fil-A owns the property and equipment, the franchise owners, like Winn and Herrick, own the business license and employs the workers.

Herrick said he was excited about the new locations and that Chick-fil-A was also looking into opening an Airport Highway location in the future.

“I’ve been the only game in town. I haven’t had any friends. Now I’ve got friends,” Herrick said and laughed.

That wasn’t always the case — Woodville and North Towne Square malls had locations that closed in the ’90s. Westfield Franklin Park Mall’s location opened in 1984 and Herrick came onboard in 1991.

The controversy

Herrick was at the helm of the mall location during Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on Aug. 1. Controversy sparked after the chain’s president Dan Cathy offered his thoughts on same-sex marriage on “The Ken Coleman Show.”

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,” Cathy said.

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied community along with mayors of major cities like Boston, Chicago and San Francisco lambasted Chick-fil-A in turn. To support the chain, former Arkansas governor and FoxNews personality Mike Huckabee rallied for an appreciation day. In response, customers formed lines with hours-long waits at Chick-fil-A’s nationwide.

Herrick declined to share specific figures from the day, but did say it was record setting and extremely busy.

“It was like surfboarding on a tsunami. You’re just holding on for dear life, hoping to get to the other side,” he said. The mall location stayed open until 10:30 p.m. to finish serving customers and Herrick had to travel to Columbus the next day to replenish supplies.

Winn emphasized that Chick-fil-A didn’t market the day, but that it was a grassroots effort.

“We’re thankful for whatever stage God gives us in order to serve our food and be an impact in the community. And that was just somewhat of a bigger stage,” he said.

Winn added, “Dan was speaking his personal views on the biblical definition of marriage and that was not representative of the 1,000-plus owners that we have as a chain or the company.”

1,600 locations

The company has more than 1,600 locations across the country and has reached $4.1 billion in sales. Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in 1946 and the first Chick-fil-A debuted in 1967.

Winn estimated that 80-90 new locations open every year. Both owners said they didn’t think boycotters had slowed down sales.

“It was the highest August we’ve ever had. We were up double digits in sales. September, we’re up more than normal so it has continued. Some of it is publicity,” Herrick said.

Herrick said of the boycott, “People don’t run to boycott Ben & Jerry’s or Starbucks because they support issues that maybe I object to. I love Starbucks and I’ll spend my money there.”

He added of same-sex marriage, “From my political views, it really clashes with my spiritual views because I’m a libertarian.”

“From a libertarian point of view, I don’t care. Just so long as your rights don’t infringe on my rights and just as long as you don’t cost me any money to enforce your rights or you don’t hurt or hit anybody.”

Gay and bisexual individuals work at the area Chick-fil-A, he added.

Winn said everyone should feel comfortable eating at Chick-fil-A.

“Chick-fil-A has had a policy now for the last 60 years since Truett opened his first restaurant in 1946, that we’re going to do our best to serve every customer irregardless of religious affiliation, age, gender, sexual orientation, and that’s really been our philosophy and our standard. So that’s going to continue to be what our policy is here in the greater Toledo area, to serve the diverse culture of Toledo residents,” Winn said.

Not comfortable

Sherry Tripepi, executive director of same-sex marriage advocacy group Equality Toledo, said she wouldn’t be comfortable at a Chick-fil-A.

“I want to spend my money and support those organizations that stand for equality for all people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and it doesn’t appear that Chick-fil-A does. So, no, I would not visit one of their franchises,” she said.

Winn and Herrick said they do not consider sexual orientation when hiring employees.

“We’re going to take a look at people-oriented applicants that have a driven passion to treat everybody with honor and dignity and respect, to go the extra mile in meeting the needs of the customer, to really seek leverage making emotional connections with customers,” Winn said.

“You’re gonna see 16-year-old men pulling out chairs for moms with their kids. You’re gonna see college-aged young ladies helping moms carry their babies out to the table for them and getting them all situated,” he added.

Both restaurants will have a “First 100” event the day/night before the openings. The first 100 customers, who will need to camp out overnight, will receive 52 coupons for free meals. Activities will be planned throughout the day and meals will be served.

“It’s just gonna be party time,” Herrick said, adding that he’s met people who have been to 32 “First 100s” and a couple who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at one.

“I mean that’s dedication. You can’t tell me it’s for the free Chick-fil-A for a year. It’s more than that. It’s almost like a cult following,” he said.

To learn more, visit www.face book.com/PerrysburgPlazaChickFilA and www.facebook.com/Chick FilAToledo.

Baumhower: The extinction of the ‘Happily Ever Afters’

By
Toledo Free Press
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0

My heart was recently broken when I learned that another of my “couple” friends are in the process of getting a divorce. Our children go to school and play sports together, their kids are a part of my extended family, my “Jackies.” My kids broke the news to me, as the announcement filled their school’s hallways, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt as if my divorce was happening again.

Are “Happily Ever Afters” going extinct in the suburbs?

It’s been more than two years since my divorce was finalized. I fought for the last year to save my marriage, when I should have been working on it the previous 10. I am an excellent father, but I was a horrible husband. My battle to stop the divorce was ultimately for our three children. I could just see their future lives and I wanted to save them from it. Why fill their lives with heartache, when daddy simply needed to manage his ADD better?

My ex-wife and I had somehow fallen out of love. I was too blind to see it, she was too resentful to forget it. The busyness of a suburban schedule somehow hid the ongoing true feelings that were filling our SUV as we drove to baseball, soccer or dance. Our not-so-obvious previous attempts at fixing a failing marriage with children, both planned and unplanned, confused our hearts with the love of our babies, but not each other.

The words “single parent” carry a certain stigma, a cliché, something that may be completely outdated. “Single parent” used to clearly mean … the father was not present, there was no man in the house, often indicating some type of a mother’s financial struggle. Somewhere in the evolution of technology and relationships, the words “single parent” began to be used as a description by divorcées with joint custody of their children. One failed marriage with children creates two single parents because half of the time we are, in fact, a single parent.

An epidemic is happening in the suburbs, and no one seems to be noticing. Couples with slightly grown children (age 5 and older) seem to be fleeing from each other with nothing but self-interest at heart. Facebook and technology have made it so easy to see how green the grass really is, that people are forgetting about the roots they have planted.

Any child of the 1970s or 1980s can agree that there was maybe one kid in your entire grade with divorced parents. Now many times there are only one or two children in a classroom with a single family home. Can you imagine how teachers have to manage the new co-parenting schedules, the pick-ups, drop-offs, the communicating with two houses? The school’s copy machine used to be filled with copied tests or upcoming lessons, now it’s filled with copied parental communications and waivers.

If you are one of those parents currently dreaming of finalizing your divorce, or just filing for it, allow me the privilege of describing to you what life is like once you’re a “Suburb Single Parent.”

In most cases today the children’s visitation schedule is almost equally split, meaning you will miss up to half of your children’s lives. They become dual citizens of multiple homes, our new-age lil’ nomads, living out of the transition bag filled with previously worn clothes, bills, iPods and Nintendo 3DSs. Often when you do have a shared schedule, your time with your children is booked so full with sports to grandparent visits, you just end up driving your minivan or SUV the entire time. And let me not forget to describe the constant feeling of “competing” with your ex’s time spent, the whole “Mommy took us to see a movie,” and “What special things are we going to do this weekend, Daddy?”

Your kids’ lives become a seven-day-a-week promotional tour with appearances at the mall, grandma’s and the local soccer field. The chaos rarely stops.

Then the chaos quickly turns to silence and, for myself, the “you” time is often the hardest. The once deafening constant commotion becomes your catch-up time for cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and of course dating.

A common cause of divorces today is the desire to date someone new, find your heart or fall in love again. Imagine trying to sort out and sift through the douchery or potential psychos, to date them in your down kid-free time, all while trying to protect your most loved ones. It is nearly impossible. When simultaneous “kid-free” weekends are a plus to your new relationship, then we as a society are doomed.

My advice for those considering trying the greener grass is to not. If there is even 1 percent of you that believes you still love or could possibly fall back in love with your current spouse, than it should become your mission to explore every avenue on how to make your marriage work.

Your children deserve the effort. Our babies will never know the strength of love in a single-family home if we continue to quit the marriage the second we’re bored, or when our high school crush “pokes” us on Facebook.

The only lessons these quick divorces are teaching our children are how to properly organize a social calendar and how not to offend mom or dad.

They have been told they were made with love, but mommy and daddy no longer love each other. As if love somehow has an expiration date.

If you do not want to repeat the same mistakes I’ve made, simply learn how to love someone other than yourself. Use Facebook as a medium to show how much you love each other and this will ultimately discourage the random “pokings” from past lives. Instead of texting each other all day while working, have a no communication order, like they did before the cellphone.

Grandma and grandpa have been married for 50 years because grandpa didn’t drive grandma crazy all day with texts. This communication freeze will allow you to have an actual conversation at the dinner table.

My last words of advice are: Do not cheat. Physical or emotional affairs only screw your children. Although the orgasm or attention fills a recently created void, it simultaneously put an even bigger void on your children’s perception of love. And no matter how many times you tell them you love them, your actions have told them more.

I am sorry, Kelli.

Barhite: Scholar says Muslims likely scared, but will rebound from mosque fire

By
Brandi Barhite
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BGSU scholar Marne Austin believes the fire intentionally set at the Perrysburg mosque will only further cement the Muslim community’s resolve to practice their faith.

“The community is resilient and they are some of the most intelligent people I have met,” she said.

Austin is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the School of Media and Communication who is focusing on the topic of Muslim identity in an anti-Islamic environment. We became friends while I was getting my master’s; I began to admire her when I saw her passion for interviewing Muslim women as part of her doctoral research.

“What saddens me most about it is the fact that it happened in an otherwise peaceful community,” Austin said. “The Muslim population has been here for decades. They are well-regarded and contributing members of society.”

Austin said the mosque is left open to the public because local Muslims want to be transparent and welcoming. The accused arsonist from Indiana violated that ideal by going into the mosque Sept. 30 and setting fire to the prayer area.

“This is a particular community that shows great integration, and the women I have interviewed don’t report any outright anti-Muslim sentiment,” Austin said. “It is sad because if there is one place where things are good for them, it could be here.

“Unfortunately, it shows that the best of places are subject to hate.”

While Austin said it is too early to label this a hate crime, she said any violence is a hate crime.

“It doesn’t have to be toward a certain group or religion. The fact that someone had to plan it and do it, it is hate.”

Austin has been encouraging Facebook friends to change their profile photo to the mosque. She is glad the arson is getting front-page attention, but wishes more Muslims would be asked — or willing — to be interviewed. If more people hear the Muslim perspective, they will realize this is impacting their friends, co-workers and neighbors, she said.

The Muslim women she has seen on Facebook are questioning why this is happening, while also asking for prayers.

“It would be a lie to say they won’t be impacted or won’t be scared. If this happened to a school or synagogue, people would be impacted, but I think they will be resilient and keep going,” she said. “They are going to pray outside the mosque; they are going to pray in their homes.”

And most notably, “Their first thought will be to pray for the man who caused the fire, not vengeance,” Austin said.

 

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