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Rathbun: Labor Day

By
Gary Rathbun
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My dad always found it ironic that we would celebrate Labor Day by not working. He, and eventually I, would always spend the day working with the thought that most of the competition is taking the day off so we have an opportunity to create more and work a little harder.

Coming off of Labor Day and starting the Democratic National Convention, I started thinking about what was instilled in me and how too many people today think that the wealth pie is limited in size. My labor is a resource of sorts, and I can deploy that any way I want to create more money and wealth. The more of my labor I utilize, the bigger the pie gets. If I work more hours that someone else I get paid more; the other person is not diminished at all, he or she just chose to use their resources differently.

Granted, there is more to life than money and wealth and if you choose to watch your kids play ball or play yourself that is fine with me. I choose to work and see if I could increase my wealth.

Now, I know that Labor Day was to give the working man an extra day off. I believe that the working man or woman has generally earned that day off. The trouble is that too many people feel that only the worker and not the businessperson is responsible for the increase in wealth. The bottom line is that the worker would not have a job without the business owner and the business owner would not be able to create his product without the workers.

The workers have a resource that the business owner needs and is willing to pay for. If the price is too high the business owner doesn’t hire and if the wage is too low the worker does not have to work there. Both sides have choices to make and all choices have consequences. When those choices are taken away, with minimum wage laws, layoff notices, hiring quotas, etc., then the free market forces are no longer unrestricted and everyone suffers.

Where a lot of the conflict comes from is workers who want low accountability and ever-more pay for ever-less work. The only group of employees that can thrive in such an environment is government workers. In today’s competitive world economy, governments are mostly exempt from competitive forces.

The competitive forces going forward will be small entrepreneurs, independent contractors, home-based businesses and some entrepreneurial-thinking employees in large corporations.

All this being said, the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population and is responsible for almost 25 percent of the global manufacturing. No other country comes close. We are producing at almost three times the rate of the 1950s and we are doing it with fewer people. Part of the reason for this is robotics and automation and part of it is the productivity of the American worker.

One of the only things that we can count on is that things will continue to change at a faster and faster pace. We as a country need to be free to produce things and use the resources available to their best and most profitable use. This includes labor.

Only capitalism will make this country solvent again. Only capitalism will decrease unemployment. Only capitalism will make the wealth pie larger.

I hope you enjoyed and celebrated Labor Day this year and I also hope that you realize that the American people are the best in the world. The most generous and caring people in the world and I believe that we can outwork anyone in the world as well.

 

Gary L. Rathbun is the president and CEO of Private Wealth Consultants, LTD. 

Jefferson Starship cruises to Valentine Theatre

By
Vicki Kroll
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Jefferson Starship was set to land at the Valentine Theatre in downtown Toledo. Photo courtesy Mission Control Management.

David Freiberg climbed aboard Jefferson Airplane in 1972. The bass player and singer was excited, but it turned out to be the band’s final flight.

“It was a wee bit nuts because you could tell that Paul [Kantner] and Grace [Slick] and Jorma [Kaukonen] and Jack [Casady] weren’t getting along; they just kind of looked like they were tolerating each other for the tour,” Freiberg said. “We were trying to hold it together, and it was fun.

“But then when the tour was over and here I was in Jefferson Airplane and nothing was happening, and I’d be getting my paycheck wondering: What’s going on? When are we going out to play? Are we going to make a record? Nothing ever happened.”

Kantner, a co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, decided to assemble a new crew. In 1974, Jefferson Starship launched.

“I was surprised that Marty [Balin] came back. I thought that was interesting because I was officially there to replace Marty because he was gone, that’s why I got hired on as a harmony singer mostly and a sometimes lead singer. But then Marty came back, so I decided I’d better concentrate on playing stuff,” Freiberg joked.

“And [Balin] wrote some great songs, and we lucked out a lot and had some really good stuff.”

Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship zipped along in the mid-1970s, thanks to “Miracles,” “With Your Love,” “Count on Me” and “Runaway.”

“Then Marty left and Grace left after 1978,” Freiberg recalled during a phone interview from his studio in Novato, Calif. “And I had written this song called ‘Jane,’ and we were looking for another singer to replace at least Marty and/or Grace. And it seemed like every singer that came in we had them sing ‘Jane’ and whoever sang ‘Jane’ best would probably get the gig.

“And Mickey Thomas definitely sang it best — although I sing it now,” the songwriter said and laughed.

With Thomas on board, Jefferson Starship landed on the charts with “Jane” in 1979 and “Find Your Way Back” in 1980.

“Right before ‘We Built This City,’ right before it changed to Starship, Paul [Kantner] and I both left,” Freiberg said. “Nobody in the band was writing the songs; they were being brought in and being completely produced, and it wasn’t what I did. So it was obvious that I had to leave.”

For two decades, Freiberg, who was an original member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, concentrated on computers and creating a studio.

Guitarist Kantner started Jefferson Starship — The Next Generation in 1992.

“In 2005, Paul asked me to come and sit in on a song or two at a local gig, and I did and it was fun,” Freiberg said. “He asked me to go on a tour, and I did, and I’ve been doing it ever since, so that’s like seven years now. And I’m having more fun than I ever did.”

Freiberg attributed the group’s long flight to good fortune: “The right person always seems to come along,” he said. “For our last studio album [2008’s ‘Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty’], that’s when our new singer came on, Cathy Richardson, who’s one of the greatest voices I’ve ever heard.”

Jefferson Starship — Kantner, Freiberg, Richardson, guitarist Mark Aguilar, keyboardist Chris Smith and drummer Donny Baldwin — will play at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Valentine Theatre. Tickets for the theater fundraiser, which starts at 6:30 p.m. and includes dinner, cocktails and the concert, are $150. To attend just the show, seats are $45 and $35.

“We play Jefferson Airplane songs, Jefferson Starship songs; we won’t play ‘We Built This City,’ ” Freiberg said and laughed. “That’s not us.”

Innovative ramp program helps elderly return home

By
Caitlin McGlade
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Allen Beaupre, pictured with his wife Shelian, was able to leave a nursing home thanks to a temporary ramp. Toledo Free Press photo by Caitlin McGlade

On May 23, Shelian Beaupre sat down to talk with her husband, Allen, over a cup of hot cocoa in his nursing home’s common room.

Allen knew he would be able to leave the nursing home soon, but Shelian quietly told him it was time to pack his belongings.

“He looked at me and said, ‘This is no joke is it?’” Shelian recalled.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she told him, “No.” He looked into his hot chocolate and said, “Let’s blow this Popsicle stand,” triggering cheers and applause from the nursing home residents around him.

Shelian beamed as she recounted that story from her living room in Bowling Green, months after she finally got her husband home. A triple bypass heart surgery had landed Allen in the nursing home for seven months. Desperate for him to be home before their anniversary, the pair ran into a number of obstacles.

One obstacle was the stairs he’d have to climb each day to enter or leave the house. Allen had trouble walking and would need a ramp installed in order to get around.

Medicaid will cover the cost to modify a home through PASSPORT, a waiver program that links homebound seniors to long-term care services. But seniors cannot participate in PASSPORT while they live in a nursing home and thus cannot receive a PASSPORT-covered ramp until they are discharged from their nursing facility.

This can sometimes create a trap for people who want to leave the nursing home, but cannot until their homes are modified, said Justin Moor, spokesperson for the Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio.

“It does not make sense and it’s something that needs to be addressed at the federal level,” Moor said.

In response, the Area Office on Aging started working with The Ability Center in 2011 to install temporary ramps at seniors’ homes before they leave the nursing home. That way, individuals can leave the nursing home and start the paperwork to get a Medicaid-covered permanent ramp installed.

With a $17,000 grant from the Northwest Ohio Area Office on Aging Foundation, the local program has brought eight seniors home from nursing facilities by installing the temporary ramps. The seniors use the ramps for at least a couple of months until their permanent ones, which cost about $2,300, are installed.

The average cost to Medicaid to live in a nursing home for one year is about $62,000. Living at home and using PASSPORT services costs about $20,000. About 70 percent of nursing home residents are on Medicaid.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging recently presented the Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio with a National Aging Achievement Award to recognize the innovative ramp program.

Marion Winnick has been staying at Heartland of Perrysburg for about nine months now, but the Area Office on Aging recently secured her a temporary ramp.

She’ll get to go home soon.

Winnick is wheelchair-bound and couldn’t move home until the ramp was installed. She said the Heartland staff do a fine job caring for her, but that she is ready to look after herself and — most importantly — start growing her own garden again.

Turnips, collard greens, kale, beans — you name it, Winnick has grown it — and being sequestered in a nursing home has left her reminiscing about her home cooking.

“I’m ready to run!” she said.

An encounter with President Obama

By
Dock David Treece
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Brian Malkowski and son Liam meet President Obama at Rick's City Diner in Toledo. Photo courtesy Brian Malkowski.

By Brian Malkowski

“He will have juice and I’ll have coffee,” I said to the waitress after my son and I sat down Labor Day at Rick’s City Diner. After our drinks came, I ordered a fruit dish for Liam and a Western omelet for myself. We had arrived around 10 a.m. with the restaurant about a quarter full and people coming and going as they would on any other day.

What I and the rest of the customers had thought was just another morning breakfast soon turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  At 10:15 a.m., a gentleman walked to the center of the room and asked for everybody’s attention. He said he was from the Secret Service and that in 15 to 30 minutes we should expect a special guest. He said if we wanted to leave we would have to do it at that moment. If we chose to stay we would be in for a great experience, but would have to remain in the restaurant until the special guest had left.

To be honest, I didn’t know if I would be able to stay because my soon-to-be 2-year-old son can only stay put for so long. I decided to stay and figured if Liam got restless, the Secret Service would just have to deal with it. For the next 15 minutes, everyone was searched and we sat in anticipation.

Around 10:45 a.m., about 30 vehicles surrounded the building. Among those vehicles were two presidential limos, one of which was carrying President Obama. No one inside the restaurant could believe what was happening as, seconds later, the president walked through the back door.

Obama made his way through the back of the restaurant and the news media poured in through the front. The chaos was nice because my son was interested in what was going on. Obama said, “Hello everybody, pretend like I’m not even here. When I am done with breakfast I will come around and meet with everyone,” and took a seat for breakfast.

After the president finished breakfast, he made his way down the aisle to meet and greet the customers. I knew I had only about five minutes before Liam was going to erupt, so I decided to sit him on my knee. The couple Obama was talking to before me was taking a while and Liam began to fuss so I let him stand, but that was a bad idea because seconds later he bumped his head on the table.

A moment of silence by a toddler who has just hurt himself means an eruption is about to happen, and it did — and that is how Liam met the President of the United States. Obama and I tried to calm him down, but it wasn’t happening. That’s when a member of the Secret Service jetted over with a box of presidential M&Ms. In the instant silence by Liam and applause by the customers, I had the opportunity to introduce my son to the president.

After shaking hands and introducing myself, I asked Liam (who was wearing a Tigers Jersey) to remind the president what had happened to his White Sox over the weekend. Obama laughed and then told the restaurant what I had said. He asked if I had any more kids and I said, “After this one, I am one and done.” The president said he had it pretty easy only having girls. “Boys, however, can be a little tougher to raise.” We shook hands again and he said, “You have a good-looking boy; take care.”

Obama then worked his way around the room and paid his bill. After that he was off to Scott High School to give a Labor Day speech.

I spent $14.84 in the restaurant, but the experience was priceless. Liam will be 2 on Oct. 1 and I hope someday he will appreciate the day he met the President of The United States.

Grugelfest brings jazz lovers to Downtown Toledo

By
Brigitta Burks
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Grugelfest is named after Ralph Grugel, bandleader and friend of "Ragtime Rick" Grafing, seen here at his piano. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

When people ask local jazz artist “Ragtime” Rick Grafing what Grugelfest is, he tells them “do a Grugel search and you’ll find it.”

Grugelfest is actually a traditional jazz festival taking place Sept. 14-16 at the Park Inn by Radisson. Grafing, the festival co-chair, said the name is a tribute to his friend Ralph Grugel, the trombonist and leader of the Eagle Jazz band, who died in 2005.

“Ralph Grugel was a huge fellow. He was very tall and wide, much bigger than I am, and he was a marvelous bandleader and master of ceremonies and also a good trombone player. But he was exceptional as a bandleader. He would get five or six guys together and they would play and even guys who were not necessarily top-notch players would rise to the occasion when they played with Ralph,” Grafing said.

The fest will feature five bands that specialize in New Orleans-style jazz, aka traditional jazz or Dixieland jazz, a term Grafing doesn’t like.

“Dixieland is a very bad term because it has lots of different meanings and most of them are wrong,” he said. “Today there’s an awful lot of guys that don’t really know how to play jazz but they dress up in white shirts and red vests and straw hats and they read charts and they call themselves Dixieland jazz bands and they’re terrible. That’s not what this festival is.”

The term Dixieland comes from the Original Dixieland Jass Band, the first group to record jazz in 1917. “Jass” comes from the traditional spelling of jazz.

“In the days when Louis Armstrong and King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton were playing this music, it was just called jazz. Later jazz evolved into bebop and then swing and took all these different directions,” Grafing said.

“Ragtime” Rick Grafing

Grafing is the leader of the band Chefs of Dixieland and piano player in the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band, which will play at Grugelfest.

“I loved the [New Orleans jazz]. To me, it’s very much like classical music. It’s beautiful and powerful,” said Ray Heitger, the leader and clarinet player for the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band. Heitger’s band played at Tony Packo’s from 1968-2001 and will mark its 45-year anniversary this winter.

Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band from Orlando, Fla., Buffalo Ridge Jazz Band from Cincinnati, the Easy Street Jazz Band from Ann Arbor and the Sunset Stomp Jazz Band from Indianapolis will also play Grugelfest. The festival features four sessions and each band will play twice each session (once in the hotel’s ballroom and once in the lounge).

At 10 a.m. Sept. 16, a Dixieland worship service will take place at the Bethel Lutheran Church, 1853 South Ave. The Sunset Stomp Jazz Band will play at the service.

“It’ll be a typical Sunday morning church service with the exception of the choir and organ won’t be providing the music, an eight-piece Dixieland jazz band will be providing the music,” Grafing said. After the service, there will be a chicken barbecue meal.

Ragtime pianist Bob Milne will play during the meal.

Grafing decided to start Grugelfest after the popular EARLYJAS Fall Festival in Strongsville, Ohio, folded last year due to lack of volunteers. Grafing was a longtime supporter of the festival that was a jazz staple for 20 years.

“We made the decision last year. We don’t have the volunteers to do the work that’s necessary to set it up. That’s just a function of the fact that our people are getting older and older,” said Jim Emert, EARLYJAS president.

“When I heard about it, I was like, ‘Man, you can’t stop that! You can’t end the festival! Oh, no!’” Grafing said, waving his arms. Luckily, the festival’s organizers gave Grafing a planning template and financial receipts to help him get started on his own festival.

“Essentially, what he’s doing is replacing the festival that we had but putting his own spin on it,” Emert said. “I’m hoping the festival will do as well for him as it did for us.”

“For me, that was one of the big pieces of the puzzle, that we get to keep the music going. Another piece of the puzzle was we get to bring some business into Downtown Toledo, which is something that’s important to me,” Grafing said. He owned a jazz venue, Ragtime Rick’s First Draught, for 22 years in the area.

Another part of the “puzzle” for Grafing is helping people. Grugelfest will benefit the Children’s Dyslexia Center-NWO.

The center has 14 trained tutors who teach children with dyslexia about spelling and reading. It moved from its location on Indian Wood Circle to Maumee Union Elementary School about a month ago.

The center uses the Orton-Gillingham method, a multisensory technique, said the center’s director, Diane McCreery.

“It works very well for these children. It’s basically the only way some of them can learn to read,” she said.

Between 15-20 percent of the population has dyslexia, McCreery said.

“With dyslexia, the language part of the brain does not work well. It’s not developed properly. So what we do is reteach the brain so that it uses the neuro pathways that it’s supposed to be using,” she said.

“[People with dyslexia] don’t see the letters backward or see the letters mixed up. They see it the way it is, but then their brain processes it differently. It goes in correctly, but it comes out incorrectly,” she said.

The center was started by the 32° Masons in 1998. Until 2005, the Masonic organization paid for everything. Now it contributes $50,000 per year and the center must come up with the other $60,000 of its budget.

Until recently, the Valley of Toledo, Scottish Rite provided a space for the center, but is no longer able to. In addition to the $60,000 for its operations, the center must now come up with rent money for its new location. Following Grugelfest, the center will have a walkathon 1 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Swan Creek Metropark to raise money.

“[The center is] up to their necks in issues and problems, things that they will solve, but it’s not automatic,” Grafing said.

“I’m just very impressed that these teachers take these kids … and they teach them how to read and change their lives forever for the better,” he said.

The tutors, who will work with 25 students this school year, go through 45 hours of training that would normally cost $6,000-$7,000. They do not receive payment for the first 100 hours and are compensated with $20 per hour after that. There is currently a waiting list of about 20 children for the program.

Tickets to Grugelfest are available at ticketmaster.com. An all-sessions ticket is $120. Individual sessions cost $40. The sessions are 6 p.m. Sept. 14, 11 a.m. Sept. 15, 6 p.m. Sept. 15 and 11:30 a.m. Sept. 16. Patron tickets are $150 and include reserved seating, Sept. 15 breakfast and other perks. There is additional stage space for piano players and small groups. The Park Inn by Radisson is at 101 N. Summit St. For more information, visit grugelfest.com. Contact McCreery at [email protected].

New website to educate, discuss, raise religious awareness

By
Caitlin McGlade
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A former Blade editor has helped launch a website to get Toledo talking about religion.

ToledoFAVS.com mixes columns and news articles written by religious leaders and followers alike about subjects relating to all forms of religion. David Yonke, who was a religion editor for 12 years, approached the Religion News Service about a year ago about getting the site up and running.

Toledo is the fourth city to see a local “faith and values” site administered by the Religion News Service. Religion News LLC, which is based out of the Missouri School of Journalism, acquired the Religion News Service about a year ago. Seeing that the company was not sustaining itself, Religion News LLC turned the news service into a nonprofit and sought to open sites in local markets to drive up advertising opportunities, said Debra Mason, the publisher.

The local sites are also a way to fill the gap left by many daily metro newspapers closing out their religion sections, Mason said.

“We see part of our role as educational and helping to foster a civil discourse about religion and part of our role as telling good stories that many daily newspapers have abandoned and are not telling anymore,” Mason said.

David Yonke

Yonke said he aims to improve religious literacy and acceptance in the area.

“A lot of people are fearful or naive about religions and defensive,” Yonke said. “If they are educated and informed and learn about what other people believe, it will build a better sense of community and understanding. Religion can be a wonderful driving force in people’s lives and it can be abused — the more we can break down the stereotypes, the better.”

Yonke has 11 official contributors and his goal is to get 50-70 writers to update the site with at least three stories a day. Yonke is seeking contributors from all faiths — from Wiccans to pagans and druids to Catholics, mainline protestants, Muslims and Jewish people, he said.

Yonke emphasized that the site will not just be “Theology 101,” but will host a multitude of stories analyzing anything from current events to television shows.

Mason said FAV sites might offer a venue for reporters interested in faith topics to learn their craft and exercise their skills.

“We need to have a place where people can learn how to do it — it takes years to learn how to do religion reporting,” said Mason, who is also on faculty at the Missouri School of Journalism. “We have students coming out of journalism schools who are interested in writing about religion but we don’t have anywhere to send them to do that.”

ToledoFAVS.com and Toledo Free Press have formed a media partnership in which Toledo Free Press will publish articles by Yonke on faith and values and ToledoFAVS will promote Toledo Free Press online. The agreement expands the media partners’ reach in Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan while giving readers greater and more diverse options for local news and features.

SPJ honors Toledo Free Press as Best Weekly Newspaper in Ohio for 4th consecutive year

By
Dock David Treece
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Editor-in-chief Michael S. Miller and Publisher Tom Pounds.

Toledo Free Press took home six 2012 Ohio Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) awards — including “Best Weekly Newspaper” for the fourth year in a row.

“SPJ is the top authority for maintaining journalistic standards, so to be consistently recognized by them is a tremendous accolade and, we feel, a great honor for the City of Toledo,” said Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller.

Miller also won first place in Ohio for Best Defense of First Amendment for his “Was it something I said?” The Oct. 30 “Lighting the Fuse” column discussed a lawsuit filed against him and TFP by Block Communications, The Blade’s parent company.

The Blade claims Miller’s criticism of its work violates an alleged clause in a non-compete agreement Publisher Tom Pounds reportedly signed eight years ago.

“According to the suit, I am an ‘instrument and agent’ of Tom’s and I am personally liable for ‘damages’ under the agreement Tom signed nearly eight years ago,” Miller wrote. “Let’s call this what it is: an arrogant ‘Hail Mary’ attempt to silence my criticism of The Blade and grossly impair my First Amendment rights, while perpetrating as much damage as possible on my employer and business.”

Miller said he is grateful for SPJ’s recognition and support.

“It strengthens our resolve in this unasked-for fight to be honored by an organization that understands the importance of the First Amendment,” Miller said. “SPJ contributed its maximum amount to my legal defense fund last year and I hope this recognition stands as a further testament of its staunch defense of free speech.”

Because of its 100,000 circulation in 2011, TFP competed in writing categories against the state’s daily newspapers.

Miller also received first place in Ohio for Best Media Criticism for the column “Monkey Business.” Miller deconstructed a Jan. 8, 2011 Blade story, “WSPD host compares TPS students, monkeys; Wilson denies racism.”

The Blade article on WSPD’s program director and afternoon host Brian Wilson read, “A radio talk show host’s reference to ‘little monkeys’ while talking about students at Toledo Public Schools on Friday generated outrage that the language was insensitive to African-American students, and all students.”

The Blade writer had played an edited version of a radio clip for public officials who called for Wilson to be disciplined. Miller obtained the full version of the clip and wrote that version played for sources by The Blade “did not include the setup, in which Wilson criticized the concept of teaching through repetition without teaching independent thinking, nor did it include this crucial next sentence: ‘Similarly with children, just because you can teach them the answers to what are the capitals of the 50 states in America, that’s a fun exercise but it doesn’t teach them how to think, doesn’t teach them how to be objective, doesn’t teach them to be entrepreneurs and individuals and things along that order.’”

Miller then had the full clip played for the public officials The Blade had spoken to and most retracted their original stances.

“It’s great to see there still is an appreciation for professional, ethical journalism and the quality people who practice it. Michael Miller threw the weight of Toledo Free Press behind the only effort by any media to get the whole story behind the muckraking of The Blade, expose it for the racist fraud it was and publish it in capital letters, forcing The Blade to admit they lied,” Wilson said. “That my own employer had no interest in making any effort to defend the sanctity of the First Amendment, much less one of its own properties and employees, again speaks volumes for the ethics and principles that serve as an actual operating platform for Toledo Free Press.

“Congratulations and thanks to Miller, Tom Pounds and the professional journalists at TFP. You do Toledo and the journalism profession proud.”

SPJ also awarded TFP second place for Children’s Issues Reporting for stories on Feed Lucas County Children, a nonprofit that has prepared more than a million meals for hungry children.

“Staff Writer Patrick Timmis did more than report the series, he lived it, spending time in the field with the affected familes,” Miller said.

Vicki L. Kroll, also the director of internal communications for the University of Toledo, received second place for Best Rock and Roll Feature Writing. Kroll has worked at TFP since its inception and typically writes one feature per week.

“[Writing for TFP] has just been great because I get to talk to musicians from all genres, from Sarah McLachlan to David Sanborn, from Miranda Lambert to Darlene Love,” Kroll said.

Kroll graduated from the University of Toledo in 1988 and has worked at the university since then. She said her dream job would be a full-time rock ’n’ roll feature writer.

“It’s just nice to receive some recognition because it is a lot of work and it’s fun work, but it’s still work on top of my day job,” she said.

Jeff McGinnis, TFP Star’s pop culture editor, received second place for Best Arts Reporting. McGinnis has worked for TFP Star since 2009.

“I love conversation and I love talking to people,” he said. “There isn’t a thing about this job that I don’t love.”

“I have always maintained that Vicki and Jeff are two of Toledo’s best and most insightful writers,” Miller said. “Now, we can say that on a statewide level.”

The Blade received eight awards, including second place for Best Web Site and first place for Tony Cook’s “Scavenging for Hope” in Best Explanatory Journalism.

Greek-American Fest set for Sept. 7-9

By
Brigitta Burks
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Toledoans have the chance to share the local Greek community’s dances, faith, music — and most importantly food — at the 42nd annual Greek-American Festival on Sept. 7-9.

“It’s a fun time. It’s an opportunity where we open our doors to the great people of Toledo and welcome them as our guests and share our culture, our faith with them,” said the Rev. Aristotle Damaskos, dean of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

The food and pastries are the most popular offerings at the festival, said George Sarantou, the festival’s publicity chairman and Toledo city councilman. The festival was started in 1970 after two restaurateurs observed successful Greek festivals in other cities.

“[The festival] has gotten bigger and better. There are more food offerings than ever, more pastries,” Sarantou said.

Three $10 dinner platters will be available at the food tent and other items like rice pudding, chicken oregano and shish kabobs will be offered a la carte during the festival. Gyros and saganaki, flaming cheese, will be offered at the fast food tent. Pastries like baklava and macaroons will be available in the community center and beer and wine are offered at the taverna.

While he enjoys the lamb shanks, Damaskos said, “There are a lot of foods I like. I’m a spiritual leader, but they call me the spiritual eater.”

“Greek people by their nature are very welcoming. When you go to a Greek home, you cannot leave a Greek home unless you’ve been eating something that’s been offered to you,” Sarantou said.

Sarantou

Festival-goers can learn how to make Greek food themselves courtesy of cooking demonstrations. Becky Skiadas will demonstrate how to prepare saganaki at 7 p.m. Sept. 7. Presbytera Ann Hadgigeorge will prepare tiropitas (cheese pie) at 6 p.m Sept. 8 and Roula Manton will demonstrate karithopita (walnut cake) at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 9. George Kamilaris will prepare pastichio (Greek lasagna) at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 9.

The popular cookbook compiled by Holy Trinity parishioners “Olives, Feta, Phyllo & More” will also be available at the festival. The cookbook contains more than 500 Greek and American recipes and information on why the parishioner chose to contribute that recipe.

“[The cookbook has] obviously chocolate-chip cookies as well as baklava,” Sarantou said.

“It has really been received well,” Damaskos said. “I use it all the time when I cook. My wife does, too.”

The Hellenic Dance Company will also perform at the festival. The dancers have been practicing all summer and will wear Greek costumes.

“People love to see those very colorful, imported Greek costumes,” Sarantou said. “They just do a fabulous show.”

The shows, featuring different age and skill levels, are 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sept. 7, 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Sept. 8 and 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sept. 9.

The Detroit-based band Levendes will perform during the festival as will the Cleveland-based Olympus. When the bands aren’t playing, a CD will keep the music going, Sarantou said.

There will also be chances to learn about Greek culture at the festival. At 8 p.m. Sept. 7 in the community center, Dawn Anagnos will present “Greek Language 101” and at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 8, she will present “Greek Culture Olympics.” At 1:30 p.m. Sept. 9, Seminarian David Mynihan will showcase ““My Big Fat Greek Orthodox Baptism.”

Damaskos will run tours of Holy Trinity at 6 p.m. Sept. 7, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 and 3 p.m. Sept. 9. Self-guided tours are available from noon to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 and 8 and noon-7 p.m. Sept. 9. The cathedral was built in 1919.

Sarantou said he expects 20,000-25,000 people to attend the festival.

“Everyone really enjoys sharing Greek culture,” Sarantou said. “There’s not a large Greek community in Toledo, but it’s a very strong Greek community.”

Adult admission is free 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 7 and $4 the rest of Sept. 7 and Sept. 8. Admission for adults is $1 Sept. 9. Children younger than 12 get in free with a guardian. Funds from the festival help with Holy Trinity’s ministry and outreach. Festival entrances are at Walnut and Superior streets and at Summit and Walnut streets. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sept. 7, noon to midnight Sept. 8 and noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 9.

SBA administrator celebrates success of YZ Enterprises

By
Duane Ramsey
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Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, tours the Maumee manufacturing facility of YZ Enterprises with company president Yuval Zaliouk. The facility makes Almondina cookies. Toledo Free Press photos by Joseph Herr

Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, came to the Toledo area Aug. 23 to help the Zaliouk family celebrate plans to expand their business, and their company, YZ Enterprises, with the help of an SBA loan through Huntington Bank.

“Great companies are built by great people. We’re here to celebrate a great company and the entrepreneurs who built it,” Mills said at a press conference held at YZ Enterprises in Maumee.

“We’re helping small businesses to what they do best. We’re working with entrepreneurs to help them grow. Our job in government is to put the wind at their back,” Mills said.

Mills recognized the Zaliouk family for planning to expand its business and marketing of its Almondina brand cookies. YZ Enterprises plans to expand its 18,000-square-foot facility, where production has maxed out at 100,000 cookies daily. The additional production line will double that production.

Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, tours the Maumee manufacturing facility of YZ Enterprises with company president Yuval Zaliouk.

“We’re proud to join a long line of businesses that have benefited from SBA by partnering with the SBA and Huntington Bank to put delicious healthy cookies on every table, not just in America but around the world,” said Yuval Zaliouk, president and CEO of YZ Enterprises.

Mills toured the company facilities with Zaliouk and saw how the cookies are produced and packaged firsthand. Mills, her official party and other guests at the press conference sampled Almondina cookies and received a gift bag of them.

YZ Enterprises refinanced their existing loan with an SBA loan to improve its cash flow. The company also received two additional SBA loans that totaled $608,000 for expansion.

The SBA loans are being used to cover the construction loan of $350,000 for the expansion to its facilities and refinancing the company’s debt, according to Tamar Zaliouk-Markham, vice president of finance and treasurer at YZ Enterprises.

She reported that work has already begun on the air-conditioning in the first phase of the project and they expect to have construction of the loading dock completed before winter arrives. She is the daughter of founders and owners, Zavul and Susan Zaliouk.

Zaliouk-Markham reported that the company has 30 employees, including six new workers hired this year. They plan to increase sales and hire an additional five people in 2013 following the expansion.

Zaliouk-Markham worked with Tina Kern and Jeff Banks of Huntington Bank to put together the SBA loan package.

“We support small business with passion. It’s our advocacy since we believe that small business drives the economy,” said Jeremy Guitierrez, senior vice president and Northwest Ohio market manager for Huntington.

“SBA loans are an important tool in our kit. Huntington is the number one SBA lender in Ohio and number three nationally in number of SBA loans,” Guitierrez said.

Zaliouk said that, without Huntington Bank, which has supported their business since it was founded in 1989, “we wouldn’t be here today.”

Mills reported that the SBA had a record year in 2011 in Ohio in terms of SBA loans granted.

“President Obama wants to make sure that small businesses have access to capital. The president says ‘where small business succeeds, America succeeds,’ ” Mills said.

Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, speaks at YZ Enterprises as business owner Yuval Zaliouk listens. “We’re here to celebrate a great company and the entrepreneurs who built it,” Mills said. Photo by Joe Herr

As SBA administrator, Mills travels regularly, at least once a week to a total of 40 states so far, to keep in touch with small businesses.

Zaliouk, a former conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and his grandmother are excellent examples of Mills’ statement. He enjoyed his grandmother Dina’s cookies as a boy growing up in Haifa, Israel.

As generous as she was in giving away her recipes, Grandmother Dina kept the one for the “petit gateau sec,” meaning dry little cookie in French, a secret until the end of her life. She finally revealed the secret to her daughter, Ahuda, Zaliouk’s mother, he said.

“Your grandmother was an entrepreneur and a great cook,” Mills said to Zaliouk. “Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life.”

“Grandma Dina was a smart little cookie and is guiding us today from above,” Zaliouk said.

Grandmother Dina “could not have imagined that would be making her cookies here in Maumee for sale around the world,” he said.

His family began making the cookies for sale in the kitchen of their home in the late 1980s. He and Susan founded YZ Enterprises in 1989 and built the current facility in Maumee for the business, opening it in 1995.

The original all-natural Almondina cookie is made with almonds and raisins with no cholesterol, added fat, salt or preservatives. Since the original recipe, they have added nine additional flavors and introduced three new flavors in 2012, Zaliouk said.

“The cookies are unique in that they are delicious and healthy,” he said.

Their first customer was The Andersons in Maumee, according to Zaliouk. Almondina cookies are now available locally at The Andersons, The Fresh Market, Giant Eagle, Kazmaier’s, and Walt Churchill’s Markets, and at Wal-Mart and other retailers in all 50 states and Israel.

Mills was scheduled to visit Ballreich Brothers in Tiffin, a family-owned company that has produced potato chips since 1920, on Thursday afternoon.

Szyperski: Marriage, Part III: Unsolicited Advice

By
Shannon Szyperski
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I find it interesting that the U.S. Census Bureau is not the keeper of marriage and divorce statistics in the United States; the National Center for Health Statistics is. Further digging quickly gives an answer as to why. There is a documented relationship between marital status and health. Research shows that it’s healthier to be married than to be single. However, it is also healthier to remain single for life than to find yourself single once again after the loss of a spouse through death or divorce. 

Considering the U.S. divorce rate continues to teeter around the 50 percent mark, marriage preservation does not seem to be our strong suit. Yet, as the marriage of gay couples settles into acceptance, adding legions of new members to our club, it is as important as ever to find a way to make marriage work. When taking the health benefits of partnering up for a lifetime into account, coupled with the fact that we’re not the healthiest bunch around, the issue seems even more urgent. 

While marriage veteran status used to take 25, 40 or 50 years to establish, I feel comfortable declaring myself as such after only 13 successful years, given our current state of marital underachievement. Although I truly believe that every marriage is unique and that different strokes work for different folks, there are some key elements that can set a healthy pulse for a good marriage. 

Go All In: At a time when it is acceptable, and even sometimes suggested, that married people keep separate bank accounts, maintain their own last names and sleep in different quarters, there is still something to be said for forming a truly joint venture. Founding a marriage as a a co-op demonstrates that we are invested in the relationship as a team rather than as individuals. Maintaining independence from the start may make it easier to separate if things don’t work out, but a willingness to put it all on the line at the outset says you’re in it to win it.  

Expect Change, Accept More of the Same: Entering marriage with the belief that you will be changing the things you don’t necessarily like about your partner is to set yourself up for certain defeat. People do change over time and having a spouse offers us a unique opportunity to remodel certain behaviors, hopefully for the better. However, it is best to pair a willingness to embrace change as it comes with a pledge to also accept your spouse as they were when you first married them. Personal transformation often comes in unexpected forms and keeping our expectations open allow us the greatest chance of growing together instead of apart. 

Don’t Bow to Peer Pressure: It doesn’t seem to make many “How to Have a Happy Marriage” lists, but surrounding yourself with other happily married couples is statistically the safer way to keep your own marriage rock solid. While one study found that someone with a divorced sibling is 22 percent more likely to get divorced, multiple studies have found that having divorced friends increases your odds even more. One study pegged your risk at a 75 percent increase while another study found friends of a divorcee to be 147 percent more likely to get divorced themselves. This so-called “social contagion” effects even married friends two degrees of separation from the divorced couple and can result in divorce clusters. 

Build a Support System: Don’t just surround yourself with other married couples, learn from them together and lean on them. Take note of couples who are already ahead of you in the game and doing well. Find out what works for them and figure out how to incorporate their best advice into your own relationship. As a culture we spend at least 12 to 20 years preparing for our intellectual pursuits but very little time preparing for marriage. Yet, a troubled marriage can make our intellectual successes suddenly lose meaning and significance. An institution that carries so much weight in other aspects of our lives is no doubt worthy of constant attention and improvement. 

I’m not convinced that marriage is necessarily harder than it ever was, but I do believe that we are now often ill-prepared to make the most of it, unsure about how to fix it or unwilling to fix it when it breaks down and too quick to give up on it altogether. For something that is such a consequential part of our physical, mental and emotional health, not only as individuals but as a culture, batting .500 is simply not acceptable. 

Shannon and her husband, Michael, are raising three children in Sylvania. Email her at [email protected]. 

 

 

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