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And … the TFP is back!

By
Sean Nestor
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0
TFP board treasurer Sean Nestor, left, and founder and publisher Tom Pounds stand by the resurgence of the nonprofit online newsroom. The office above the Blarney Irish Pub is now open for business, and the website will launch soon. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

Toledo Free Press returns as nonprofit newsroom

TOLEDO – Like so many Toledoans, I was heartbroken when the Toledo Free Press announced it would close its doors in April 2015.

During its tenure, the Free Press published independent, award-winning local journalism that never failed to give our city something to be proud of. While maintaining a “glass half-full” outlook, the paper still engaged in important investigative work and facilitated deep conversations on crucial topics, acting as a lively town square for Toledo.

It was some time in 2018 when I noticed the TFP website was gone – and with it 10 years of local news. The ethereal nature of important information in our much-heralded information age struck me, and I felt something had to be done. Through my friend Sarah, I was able to reach out to Tom Pounds, founder and publisher of the Toledo Free Press, who agreed to embark on a project of restoring the Free Press archives with me.

After a few conversations at The Blarney (and a few beers), we decided to use my nonprofit Toledo Integrated Media Education to put the Free Press archives back online. Thanks to a team of volunteers, we succeeded in creating a new website in 2019 that restored public access to much of the paper’s content spanning an entire decade. Writers could once again share links to stories they had written, and citizens could once again share our articles through social media.

Naturally, this led to deeper conversations about the state of journalism and what we could do about it. Approximately 1,800 communities across the U.S. no longer have local newsrooms, and thousands of others operate with a skeleton crew producing little of substance. This decline has been a crisis for our citizenry, resulting in increased polarization, lower voter turnout, higher rates of corruption, and more government waste. Is this a state of affairs we can accept for Toledo?

Our civic patriotism led us to decide it was necessary to revive the Toledo Free Press – not simply as a museum that houses the news from years past, but as an active, muckraking pillar of the community.
What followed is several years of planning and fundraising that has brought us to the moment we now find ourselves in. Through our 501c3 nonprofit, Toledo Integrated Media Education, we are prepared to ensure that Toledo has a quality local newsroom for years to come.

TFP publisher and founder Tom Pounds cleans his office above the Blarney Irish Pub. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

We’re proud to stand at the precipice of a new Toledo Free Press; one that understands and takes advantage of digital publication, embraces multimedia content delivery, and leverages the emerging model of nonprofit journalism as a way forward. Our mission, then as now, is to provide high-quality independent local journalism that is accessible to the public. That means no paywalls, no partisanship, and an exclusive focus on local news.

We are committed to being Toledo’s independent news outlet – one that can provide comprehensive coverage with an editorial staff that has the freedom to speak truth to power. We believe, as the authors of the First Amendment did, that a free press is vital to the preservation of our democracy.

If you share our beliefs, please help us carry out our mission by signing up for our newsletter, and by supporting us financially.

Our future – and our independence – depends on you.https://toledofreepress.com/tfp_returns/

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Living on campus mandate

By
Douglas Oliver
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Forcing students to live on campus: Expensive, violates rights, state law

Most of Ohio’s state universities require students to live on campus. For example, BGSU requires most freshmen and sophomores to live on campus.  They can claim an exemption if they live with their parents within 50 miles of campus. 

Two narratives explain why many state universities require students to live on campus.   Most universities justify these mandates by stating that living on campus improves the likelihood of academic success. Yet, the research literature does not uniformly find that living on campus increases the grades of students.

Ohio University’s Distinguished Professor of Economics Richard Vedder states that on-campus living requirements represent “monopolists” practices since they require students to purchase housing as a condition of enrollment.  Student housing has become a multi-billion-dollar industry with private equity firms profiting handsomely.

On-campus living mandates not only cost students dearly, but these mandates also violate Ohio law and likely infringe several constitutional rights. 

An Ohio Revised Code (3345.47) states that:

“No state university shall require a student to live in on-campus student housing, if the student lives within twenty-five miles of the campus.”

The condition in this statute relates to where the student lives, not where the parent lives. Since almost all college students are legally adults, BGSU should exempt students based on where the student lives – not where the student’s parents live.  It may be wise for many young adults to live on campus or with a parent – but state universities have no business mandating this.

The First Amendment has been interpreted to include the right to associate (or to not associate) with others for religious or expressive purposes.  It is well known that on many campuses, many students feel the need to self-sensor on hot-button issues.  A touchy issue today is the conflict in Gaza.  It is reasonable to expect that some observant Jews would feel threatened for their physical safety if they were forced to live on campus.  Yet, the policies at most of Ohio’s state universities would require them to live in an environment where they have good reason to feel unsafe.

Contrary to popular belief, dorms are not necessarily safe places for all students (the vast majority of campus sexual assaults occur in the dorms).  The Second Amendment has been interpreted to allow adults to keep a gun in their home for self-protection.  State universities should not be allowed to mandate that students make their “homes” in a dorm, while simultaneously prohibiting weapons for self-protection in the dorms.  I am not advocating for guns on campus – I am advocating that state universities should not be allowed to mandate that students make their “home” in a dorm while prohibiting these same students from possessing weapons in their dorm-room “home”.

The Fourth Amendment states that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”  Yet, the housing policies at most universities allow housing staff to search student dorm rooms with or without cause.  As with gun rights, if a state university wants the right to search students’ rooms without warrants, then they should not require those students to live on campus.

The penalty for not living on campus is often a fine rather than an academic penalty.  If a student chooses to not live on campus (in violation of an on-campus living mandate), the cumulative fine can be as high as $30,000.  Yet, a similarly situated student in Ohio would face no penalty if that student’s parents lived within 25 miles of campus.  The Eight Amendment prohibits excessive fines, and the Fourteenth Amendment requires equal treatment.  These large fines seem to be both unequal, arbitrary and excessive.

Living on campus may be desirable for many students.  Even so, it is expensive – often financed by student debt.  Student debt in the US is nearly $1.8 trillion.  Ohio’s state universities should not be allowed to increase the cost of college education while violating state law and the constitutional rights of students by mandating that students live on campus.

(The opinions expressed are his and not those of Utoledo)  

Dr. Douglas Oliver is an attorney and an Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toledo.

Book Review: Nicole Ryan

By
Erin Holden
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0
Author Nicole Ryan stands ready to sign her novel The Very First Night during a signing at Finch & Fern Book Co.

Nicole Ryan’s contemporary romance with a Swifty twist

SYLVANIA – Nicole Ryan’s contemporary romance with a Swifty twist

None of us escapes this life without some level of regret accompanied by the sense that, if it were possible, going back in time would fix everything. That’s what local author Nicole Ryan explores in her third novel, The Very First Night, a contemporary romance with a time traveling protagonist. 

“Kat wakes up five years in the past, and she really wants to make it work with this person,” says Ryan. “We think about a lot of things through rose-colored glasses, and it’s a story of self-growth and self-worth. Those are huge themes in the book, just because I think that impacts all of our relationships with ourselves and other people.”

This novel is a departure from Ryan’s earlier work (her Just Peachy series concludes with its third novel being released in March 2025) in that it is considered a new adult novel. The characters (at least post-time-travel) are college-aged. To tap into the mindset of an undergrad like Kat Marritt, Ryan drew from her own experiences navigating life and love in her early 20s.

“I did take a lot of inspiration from my relationship past, especially Kat’s relationship with Elijah…the aspects of it that weren’t totally healthy,” she said.

I wanted to give it the care that it deserved, and I think, as a writer, you’re always growing. I wanted to have a few [books] under my belt before I tackled something so personal.

The initial inspiration came to Ryan while listening to Taylor Swift’s Red album. In her song “The Very First Night,” Swift sings, “I wish I could fly. I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time. I’d write this in the sky. I miss you like it was the very first night.” That’s where Ryan first thought about time travel for a protagonist who is having a hard time moving on from the one that got away.

Nicole signs autographs at her signing party.

A Swiftie to the core, Ryan’s release party at Finch & Fern Book Co. included an Eras costume competition and other references to Taylor Swift lore. What she hopes for Swifties and contemporary romance lovers alike is that they’ll come away feeling self-assured when they read The Very First Night. 

“Don’t settle. I think we often think to ourselves that we put so much time into this person, that if you let it go, it was all for nothing. But holding onto that person is what could be holding you back from meeting the right person.”

Learn more about Nicole Ryan’s work at nicoleryanbooks.com, and follow her on Instagram @nicoleryanbooks for the latest news on her work. She also has a Facebook group for her readers called Nicole Ryan’s Peaches for her fans.

About the author:

Favorite romantic gesture: I’m a big acts of service kind of person, and gift giving in the sense of “I saw this and thought of you.” The small gestures.

Top date night in Toledo: Nagoya, which is where we went the night we got engaged.

Favorite writers: K.A. Tucker and Anna Huang.

What are you reading right now? The first Zodiac Academy book.

Best book of all time in your opinion? The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker.

While writing, music or no music? Music, but no lyrics.

Do you write everyday? Toward the beginning of a book, not so much, but when I’m close to a deadline, for sure.

Best heroine of all time: Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

Favorite romcom movie: Something Borrowed.

What you do to get inspired when you’re in a writing rut: Read. I find that reading other people’s stories gets my gears going a little bit more.

UToledo adds women’s rowing

By
Toledo Free Press
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0
Matt Schroeder, University of Toledo interim president, speaks during a press conference to announce the addition of women’s rowing as a varsity sport on July 24, 2024 at the Glass Pavilion in Toledo. (TFP Photo/Scott W. Grau)
TOLEDO – The University of Toledo announced the addition of women’s rowing as a varsity sport during a press conference on July 24 at the Glass City Pavilion.

Toledo Women’s Rowing will be the university’s 17th varsity sport. The team will compete at the NCAA Division I level and in the Mid-American Conference, which is adding women’s rowing to its lineup of sports. Competition begins in the 2025-2026 school year.

Toledo will compete against Eastern Michigan and UMass, as well as affiliate members Delaware, High Point and Temple.

A full squad will include approximately 50-60 student athletes.

Bryan B. Blair, University of Toledo vice president and director of athletics, told the audience that “we are going to be adding high-achieving young ladies who will be adding so much to our campus and the vibrancy in our athletic department.”

“Today is about showing an example of an athletic department that’s not afraid to be bold,” said University of Toledo vice president and director of athletics Bryan B. Blair. “We want to be uniquely Toledo and take advantage of all this great community and university has to offer.

“We are going to be adding high-achieving young ladies who will be adding so much to our campus and the vibrancy in our athletic department,” added Blair.

“We have a culture of excellence that we want to extend to this new program, and we have a department that’s ready to embrace the addition of rowing. It gives us the opportunity to pursue a MAC Championship in another sport, which we intend to do like we do in our other 16 sports.”

Toledo Women’s Rowing will practice and compete on the Maumee River and will utilize the Philip LeBoutillier, Jr. Memorial Boathouse in International Park in downtown Toledo. The boathouse is owned by Metroparks Toledo and is operated by the Toledo Rowing Foundation.

A search for the coach is ongoing.

Toledo Women’s Rowing will practice and compete on the Maumee River and will utilize the Philip LeBoutillier, Jr. Memorial Boathouse in International Park in downtown Toledo.

Daily Dose | The Humorist

By
Don Lee
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0
Editorial cartoon by Don Lee for the Toledo Free Press

Daily Dose | The Humorist

By
Don Lee
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0

Wild Side | egrets & herons

By
Art Weber
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0
A great egret at Side Cut Metropark. (TFP Photo/Art Weber)

‘Tis the season to spot tall wader birds at our local Toledo Metroparks

MAUMEE – If it seems like you’re seeing many more great egrets and great blue herons than usual these days, you’re right.

Late summer and fall are perfect for viewing the tall waders, especially in Howard Marsh Metropark, and in the Maumee River rapids and shallows from Side Cut Metropark upriver to Providence Metropark and beyond.

The numbers of those two waders are at their peak now that the nesting adults have fledged their young, and both adults and young are now feeding in mainland marshes and streams. The young were raised in the largest American rookery on the Great Lakes, located just east of us on West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge, Ohio’s only designated national wilderness.

When that rookery is active the adults can be seen regularly flying back and forth from the island to nearby marshes, such as Howard Marsh Metropark, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and Magee to catch food for their young and ferry it back to West Sister Island.

Look for them, especially at Side Cut Metropark in the channels at Blue Grass Island and the rapids below the Fallen Timbers Monument, across the river at Wood County Park District’s Buttonwood/ Betty C. Black Recreation Area, the Roche deBout Rapids at Farnsworth Metropark, Weirs Rapids Fishing Access in Wood County, and Wolf Rapids below the Providence Dam at Providence Metropark.

Beautiful Noise | Legendary guitarist

By
David Yonke
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0
Jeff Kollman

Globe-trotting guitarist Jeff Kollman drops in for a hometown reunion

BOWLING GREEN – It was a rocking reunion when guitarist Jeff Kollman recently took the stage at Howard’s Club H in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The guitar virtuoso, who grew up in Toledo and now lives in California and Indiana, has been traveling the world for the last three decades performing with some of the top names in pop, rock and jazz, including Alan Parsons, Lou Gramm, UFO, Lyle Lovette, Miranda Lambert, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

He was named one of 50 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by Japan’s Young Guitar magazine, and Guitar Player magazine called Kollman “the musical equivalent of an acetylene torch.”

His homecoming show in BG was a walk down memory lane for Kollman, who shared stories about growing up in Toledo, attending Bowsher High, performing at local clubs, and playing in local bands such as Edwin Dare and The Stain.

The trio featured bassist Kevin Chown, who had been in Edwin Dare, and a new member of Kollman’s band, drummer Dave Potvin.

Opening the concert was Mark Mikel and the Dive-Bombing Space Pigeons. Mikel was a member of The Stain with Kollman and drummer Jon Stainbrook back in the ’90s.

Dan Dauer, who has been a friend of Kollman since they were teenagers, helped close Kollman’s two-hour set by singing a few songs including “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath. Dauer said he invited Kollman to join his band when Kollman was 14 but the guitarist quit after only a month.

“He said he had to practice and the band was taking up too much time,” Dauer said. “He was already playing like Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads at 14 but he wanted to get even better.”

Guitarist Jeff Kollman toasts his hometown crowd during his July 21 concert at Howard’s Club H in Bowling Green. (TFP Photo/David Yonke)

Kollman thanked many friends and musicians in the audience who “changed my life,” including local jazz legend Gene Parker, who gave Kollman music lessons when he was a kid.

The guitarist has built an impressive career as a solo artist, session musician and touring artist. He’s been performing with the Alan Parsons band since 2017, and recently finished a five-show tour with Lou Gramm, cofounder of the band Foreigner.

“I’m juggling the tours and family life. I’m never the guy to get on a tour bus and go on tour for nine months, then come home divorced,” Kollman said in a recent interview. “The artists I play with, it’s usually weekend gigs. The longest I’m gone is four or five days.”

Kollman recalled how Mikel inspired him to further his music career.

“I remember going to his studio when I was like 14 or 15, just watching and listening to the songs he recorded and mixed. He said, ‘You need to get an eight-track machine.’ An eight-track cost $2,200 back then and we saved up our money and went to Bowling Green and bought one. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Mikel is well known on the local scene, just notching his 300th show at Howard’s Club H, and in recent years has enjoyed a career boost thanks to Kollman.

“I wrote a song called ‘Fly to Me’ for Alan and I needed lyrics,” Kollman said. “I sent it to Mark and he sent it back like the next day with lyrics. He sang the song and he also changed some of the chords around. I presented it to Alan (Parsons) and told him Mark is gold in Toledo, and that I’d put him up there with Jeff Lynne of ELO.

“Alan listened to the song and said it’s uncanny how much he sounds like John Lennon, but maybe we need a famous singer to do it for the album. The next day, he said, ‘I can’t imagine anyone else singing this. Do you think your friend Mark would fly out here to California and sing the song in my studio?”

They recorded the tune with Mikel on vocals and it was included on Parson’s album “The Secret,” released in 2019. Mikel has continued to write and record songs with Parson.

Kollman just released a double-vinyl album and CD titled “2023 A.D.,” consisting entirely of instrumental tunes.

“I have a fanbase with my instrumental music. I have been putting out instruments since Toledo and my “Schizoid” album (released in 1990). Since then, I’ve recorded instrumentals with Cosmosquad on my solo records and with Chad Smith.

“This time I definitely set out to do a new instrumental record and to make it the best it can be, sonically, with the best players and the best flow of the songs. The reviews have been fantastic.”

Special guests include bassist Jimmy Johnson and Smith.

“I wanted to get Chad Smith to play on ‘Tongs and Thongs’ but he was super busy with Chili Pepper stuff and was also working with Iggy Pop and drumming with ZZ Top … I texted him on Monday and he said it’s a really busy week but I’d love to do it. I’ll try. He texted me on Thursday and said, ‘What are you doing at 1?’”

Smith showed up at Kollman’s home studio in Grenada Hills, Calif., and they recorded the song in two takes.

Mark Mikel, from left, Kevin Chown and Jeff Kollman perform the Edwin Dare song “Love Poisons the Mind” at Howard’s Club H on July 21. The three musicians were all members of Toledo band Edwin Dare in the 1990s.

Kollman said he decided to make “2023 A.D.” a double vinyl album because he had 49 minute’s worth of music recorded, which fit on a CD but was too long for a single vinyl album.

“I was not going to cut out songs to put it on vinyl so at the eleventh hour I decided we need a fourth side. The fourth side of the vinyl album has three bonus songs that are not on the CD. You can’t get them anywhere except on the vinyl album.”

The last song is “A Tribute to Tommy,” which he wrote and played in honor of his late brother who passed away in 2012. “It’s just a great way to end the record,” Kollman said.

Now that he’s finished the instrumental album, Kollman is already working on his next project. And true to Kollman’s adventurous approach to music, it’s a total turnaround from “2023 A.D.”

“The next album will be all vocals, one album with 44 minutes of music. I’m going to have different singers, kind of like Alan (Parson) does. You create this music and then you choose different singers. Phil Mogg (of UFO) will be on one of them. I’ve already got Mark Mikel on board.

“I’ve written 27 songs so far and will be going full throttle on the new album in the fall,” Kollman said, adding that he plans to pare the songs down to a manageable number.

More information on Jeff Kollman is available online at jeffkollman.com.

Introducing the Humorists

By
Lori King
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0
Cartoon by Jerry King

Jerry King

Jerry King

Jerry King is one of the most published and prolific cartoonists in the world today. His client list includes Disney, American Greetings, The Wall Street Journal and other businesses.

King has received many awards for his cartooning, including being recognized by the National Cartoonists Society as one of the top cartoonists in America.

After serving in the army as a medic, he went on to graduate from The Ohio State University with a degree in English.

It’s well known that outside the realm of cartooning, Jerry is pretty much void of any skills, rendering him worthless.

His wife, Annie, stated that, “what he lacks in looks, he more than makes up for in talent.”

Steven J. Athanas

No doubt some of you are looking at the byline of this column and wondering “How do I know this Steven J. Athanas dude? Did I go to high school with him? Was he on a wanted poster hanging in the local post office? Did he go out with my sister? Does he owe me money?”

Steven J. Athanas

Chances are (if you’re of a certain age range) you could have met me at an outdoor concert, a wedding reception or more likely, a nightclub. There, on the stage, was a plump, bald, slightly obnoxious dude fronting a rock band, singing anything from Man! I Feel Like A Woman (Shania Twain), Rosalita (Bruce Springsteen) or even Lydia the Tattooed Lady (Groucho Marx).

For more than five decades I made a professional fool of himself, jumping up and down maniacally onstage, walking on the bar while singing and doing shots, or inviting people up on stage to sing with me while a live band (as opposed to karaoke) backed me up.

My bands went from Jell-o, in the 8th grade, The Raisin Band in my 20s to The Homewreckers, with many more sandwiched in between. I’ve always been the big fish in the small pond, the guy who shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Nowadays, I’ve traded my R&R shoes for paint brushes and watercolors. Occasionally, I’ll limber up my vocal cords and perform, but for the most part I’d rather be in my studio in West Toledo than some dank ole bar.

Thanks to the people here the Toledo Free Press, I’ll now be showcasing some of my visual art on The Humorists page and recounting my glory days in a monthly column. To borrow from a song title, it’s nice work if you can get it.

Don Lee

A newspaper reporter and editor for nearly 30 years, in addition to being a cartoonist, Don Lee says the best compliment his editorial cartoons ever got was when an Associated Press judge said he was “a cartoonist who ‘gets’ news.”

Don Lee

Also treasured was when the occasional reader would say a particular cartoon gave them something to think about.

Now, Don does all kinds of illustration, having provided the art for about a dozen books on everything from journalism to the history of the Soo Locks. He also does commissions and live caricatures for parties and fundraisers. You can see him every Halloween weekend aboard the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, drawing trick-or-treaters, and every BGSU homecoming raising money for the student media fund at his alma mater.

Steven J. Athanas/Toledo Free Press

New Column: On Faith

By
Laurie Bertke
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0
Illustration by BGSU student Syed Ayaz Fatmi.

Column Introduction: When Faith and religion builds bridges in our community

It is easy to become cynical about the role of religion in public life.

News stories about religious intolerance dominate the national headlines, and some politicians openly call for a movement toward Christian nationalism, while recent court rulings chip away at the divide between church and state. 

Contrast this with a survey by the Pew Research Center earlier this year that found 80 percent of U.S. adults think religion’s role in American life is shrinking. That number is as high as it’s ever been, and Americans’ membership in houses of worship has dropped to an all-time low. Gallup polling in 2020 reported just 47 percent of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from half the population in 2018 and 70 percent in 1999.

Why, then, should the Toledo Free Press be concerned with including a religion column in its newly relaunched publication? 

Even though formal membership in houses of worship is declining, Americans continue to seek supernatural answers to the deeper questions in life. Pew reported last year that seven in 10 U.S. adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way, including 22 percent who do not consider themselves religious. Other notable findings from that survey showed:

  • 83 percent of all U.S. adults believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body
  • 81 percent say there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it
  • 74 percent say there are some things that science cannot possibly explain

One does not need to be religious to do good, but some of the people doing the most good in our community happen to be those who are motivated by faith in a higher power. These individuals and groups are often the ones on the frontlines of feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and reaching out to aid other vulnerable populations and important causes.

Faith — and yes, religion — remains a powerful community-building force in our region, and Toledo has a proud history of religious tolerance and welcoming people of diverse faith backgrounds.

This columnist hopes to showcase those people and places of faith that are building bridges in our community, and to celebrate and share the diverse religious perspectives and traditions that make our region stronger. 

As a publication dedicated to community journalism, we invite our readers to let us know: How do houses of worship bring light to our region? Who are the unsung heroes working day in and day out to share a sincere love of their God with their neighbor? And as formal church membership shrinks, where are residents today seeking spiritual inspiration and growth? And how does spirituality play into non-religious people?

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