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Mobile Meals seeks volunteers, serves 600 clients a day

By
Morgan Delp
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Mobile Meals of Toledo, which provides daily sustenance to 600 people in the Toledo area, is in urgent need of volunteers.

About 500 people serve clients who are unable to provide meals for themselves due to medical problems, but with 40 daily routes that are constantly changing, the need for volunteers is extremely high.

“It’s kind of an ebb and flow,” said Associate Executive Director Carolyn Fox. “A lot of our volunteer base are retirees, so several are on medical leave or golf during the day in the summer. Also, another big age group is the 50s, who are now starting to care for their own parents.”

Volunteers are needed to meet the constant demand for Mobile Meals, a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It “is designed to enable the elderly, ill, disabled, homebound, the convalescing and all those who need assistance with diet and meal preparation to remain in their own homes and retain the dignity and independence they treasure,” according to mobilemeals.org.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., people ranging from high school students to elderly adults travelto one of six area pickup sites and deliver around 10-14 meals near their home or workplace.

Retiree Vicki Melms and her husband Rick deliver at least one route a week, sometimes two or three. Since 2009, the couple has made it their mission to help.

“I used to work at MCO’s Center for Successful Aging and got to know a lot of the senior resources that we had in the city and I really liked Mobile Meals,” Vicki said. “When I retired, I took one month off and then started volunteering. I enjoy going and meeting people and knowing that I am doing something for them. We’re healthy and can get around and we just think about the people that can’t.”

Patty Dabrowski of the Hylant Group has volunteered with a coworker for about eight years. She, with many other employees around theToledo area, participate in Corporate Cares, an initiative of Mobile Meals that encourages people to volunteer during their lunch break.

“We pick up meals from Mercy Healthcare Center, which is right down the street from our office in Downtown,” Dabrowski said. “We go deliver our route then stop and get a bite to  eat, and we’re usually back towork within an hour and a half.”

Dabrowski noticed that one client’s freezer was full of meals she never ate, and she only continued to pay for meals for the companionshipof a volunteer, even if for a short time
each day. In the case of some clients, the volunteer is the only person they will see that day.

In a letter to Fox, one grateful client, Marleen, said, “I worked at Wal-Mart as a people greeter for 19 years until I fell and broke my hip.… Now I’m on dialysis and living independently again because of Mobile Meal’s delicious renal diet. I can’t do it without all of them so I want them to know how much I appreciate the work they do.”

Mobile Meals encourages anyone who is interested in volunteering to call (419) 255-7806, email info@ mobilemeals.org, or check out their
website: www.mobilemeals.org.

Steel tables proposal for ‘Joe Wicks Way’

By
John McCartney
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On May 15, Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel dropped pursuit of discussion or a vote on the ordinance to name a portion of Erie Street Downtown in honor of the late Joe Wicks.

The move has drawn spirited testimonials from Wicks’ friends as intense as Downtown business owners’ complaints.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no,” recalled Army veteran Alan Erwin. “Joe was not a bad guy. Joe would be the first one when you were in trouble to help you.

“I came to Toledo in 1986, when I was 20. I didn’t have a job. Joe Wicks was the first person to offer to help me get a job. It was at Frisch’s. He knew someone who was hiring, and he put a word in for me.

“And through the years, he would help me if I would need anything. He’d help me any way he could. He helped me move once. When I paid my rent one month, the guy who I gave the money to, to give to the landlord, used it to buy drugs. And Joe helped out. He paid the rent for me and helped me get out of that situation.”

Jon Lento, 35, agrees with Erwin. Lento, who met Wicks 17 years ago, said he treasures his working relationship and his personal friendship with Wicks.

“I pretty much grew up to be the man I am because of Joe,” Lento said. “I would have dinner with him and breakfast with Joe and his sister Peg all the time. I was with him at the hospice the day he died.

“I wasn’t pissed when I heard the news that Steel plans to withdraw his proposal. I was more disappointed. They’re looking at it as to the state of the building and not to Joe as a person. I knew Joe both as a bar owner and as a person outside his establishment. The thing that hurts me is that I don’t think they’re talking to people who really knew Joe.”

Lento acknowledged there is a kernel of truth behind Councilman Tom Waniewski’s concern that Downtown businesspeople complained Wicks was rude to people.

“Joe could be very abrasive,” Lento said. “That was the business side of him. He could get insulting, especially with other businessmen. But if you knew him, really knew him, after he got abrasive, two seconds later, he would turn around and kid you, slap you on the back, and tell you, ‘I’m just teasing. You know I really love you.’”

Lento said Wicks was unfairly criticized for not fixing the facade of Caesars Show Bar after a bus crashed into the building on Nov. 30, 2005.

“I don’t know the run-ins he had with people Downtown,” Lento said.
“He didn’t always get along with them. And he took a lot of criticism he didn’t deserve after that bus crashed into his business. That accident did a lot of structural damage. He told me that he didn’t get the compensation he needed to repair the building the way he needed to.”

‘Smoke screen complaints’

Gay activist Lair Scott, who introduced Steel to the idea of renaming the intersection at the May 8 Council meeting, said he was more distressed than surprised with Steel’s decision to table the legislation.

“It’s sad more people haven’t  up for Joe Wicks Way,” Scott said. “There were many people who loved him deeply. I blame the whole situation on Mayor Mike Bell and City Council. It just shows their ignorance of Toledo’s LGBT community.”

Scott contends the complaints about building maintenance are a smoke screen that a handful of influential Toledoans are hiding behind. Scott insists the real issue is the underlying prejudices those same people hold about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] clients Wicks served.

“It’s all about homophobia,” Scott said. “That’s what I believe. Toledo’s LGBT community is not vocal enough. The solution is for them to be a lot more vocal.

“Who are the gay icons in Toledo? Or who were they? For people who have streets named after them, what are the skeletons in their closets? I’m sure I can dig those up.”

Scott said he retains hope that Toledoans will find a suitable way to honor Wicks’ work in the early 1990’s with AIDS awareness, AIDS prevention and AIDS treatment.

“[Steel] said we’ll honor Joe in another way. [District 4 Council member] Paula Hicks- Hudson actually said exactly what Steve [Steel] said, that maybe they can find an alternative way to honor Joe. I’m hoping it’s with a community center. I have hope.”

Scott said an LGBT communitycenter named in Wicks’ honor would be the most appropriate way to acknowledge Wicks’ leadership because it would breathe life into discussions the two men had as far back as the mid-1990’s.

Scott argues that May 2012 is the time for that community center to receive City Council’s attention and funding.

Appropriate honor

Lento, who worked as bartender for Wicks at Caesars Show Bar from 2008-10, said there may actually be a more appropriate intersection to
name after Wicks.

“That spot [on Washington Street] was iconic to a lot of us,” Lento said. “Joe was, you could say, our ‘gay godfather.’ He made it his job to raise you and point you in the
right direction.”

Erwin questions if Toledoans can ever honor Wicks in an appropriate manner.

“What should Toledo do to honor Joe?” Erwin asked. “I’m not sure on that. If they don’t want to do the Erie Street thing, why not do the intersection at the corner of Ontario and Jefferson? That’s where Caesars moved to before Joe’s death.”

Like Lento, Erwin said he worked for Wicks “on and off.” And he says Wicks would find a job, maybe even create a job, to help out someone in need.

“When I needed to buy a car, my first car, and I didn’t have any money, Joe offered me a job to bartend so I could save up to buy a car,” Erwin said. “I don’t know too many business people who would help out and help someone buy a car.”

All three men — Erwin, Lento and Scott — testified to Wicks’ role as a community leader.

“Complaints about Joe Wicks’ ‘bat-wielding’ behavior have everything to do with his legacy as a community leader,” Scott said. “Yes, Joe ‘wielded a bat’ down the streets at times, but he did it to protect his customers. The Toledo Police Department has never kept the LGBT community safe. Joe is the one who kept it safe.”

Lento said that Wicks’ advocacy for his customers’ safety was evidence of his concern for everyone who lived in Greater Toledo.

“Yes, he chased people off the street, but it was the hustlers and prostitutes he got after,” Lento said.

“He would take other people off the street. He opened his kitchen when he saw someone in need. As long as he was already there, he would throw you a bowl of soup or a sandwich so you didn’t go hungry.”

Wicks had a sensitive side that few were ever privileged to see, Erwin said. “My mother passed away in 1986, the year I first moved to Toledo,” Erwin said. “When I was at the  funeral home, and was looking at all the flowers she had received, who did I see? Out of all the people I knew, lo and behold, Joe had sent flowers to my mother’s funeral.”

Scott has been criticized for staging actions in Toledo though he lives in Chicago.

“I left Toledo because of the oppression of Toledo back then. Whether I live in Toledo or not doesn’t make any difference,” Scott said. “Although I live in Chicago, I will never leave Toledo until there is a community center and services for the Toledo LGBT community. I owe that to Joe Wicks. Then I’ll move back to Toledo.”

Letters to the editor, May 20, 2012

By
Dock David Treece
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Joe wrong about Kaptur
I couldn’t believe it when I saw the headline in your May 6 issue, “Veterans
deserve more respect from Kaptur.”
Marcy Kaptur has been one of the greatest advocates for veterans to ever sit in the House of Representatives. From her tireless efforts to bring the World War II Memorial to the National Mall in Washington to the Honor Flights that salute the soldiers of our “greatest generation,” her push for accountability for our POWs, her strong support for the Webb GI Bill, her work to create a Veterans’ Job Corps — her work for and with veterans includes many of her greatest accomplishments as our representative.

But then I saw that the column was written by Joe the Plumber, and it made sense.

In Joe’s world, you don’t need to know the details of anything or deploy basic logic to make arguments. What I got from his piece — a great example teachers could use in classrooms of how to violate all six rules of critical thinking — is that offering veterans employment and education is disrespectful. Marcy’s proposal is to give veterans gainful, satisfying employment, what he derisively calls “landscaping and grounds keeping,” along with credits for education, instead of simply providing unemployment checks.

But Joe would rather wait for the market to grow jobs that fit skills veterans learn in the military — in his case, plumbing — while feeding their families on, what … their old combat boots?

I served in the field artillery, but didn’t see much call for those skills in the wantads when I got back from Vietnam. Instead, I took advantage of the GI Bill,  that nasty socialist program out of Washington that I’m sure Joe would gut as soon as he got to Congress.

But fortunately for Northwest Ohio and America, Joe won’t get there, because combat veterans like me and a whole lot of other fans of Marcy know who she is, what she stands for, what she has done and what she will continue to do for us all.
— Tom Barden
1st Lt., U.S. Army (RET)

Ben the Ignoramus?
You guys print some pretty dumbstuff once in a while, but Ben Treece’s May 13 column, “Eliminating the 2013 deficit without raising taxes,” might be the stupidest thing I have ever read in my entire life.

I am dumbstruck by the level of ignorance so apparent in his comments, and I am surprised that you would permit anyone to fill up so many column inches with such drivel.

You can see he dug way down deep into the budget before he applied his red pencil. $10 billion? I’ll give you five! We’ll just fire three or four hundred thousand people. We’ll cut
funding for programs (whether they are mandated by law or not). And we’ll eliminate whole departments and hand them over to the states. It’s as simple as that.

Move over, Joe the Plumber. I’m voting for Ben the Ignoramus.
— Thomas J. Menacher,
Maumee

Vote for Lake Schools
This coming August, Lake Schools will put a 6.75 mill levy on the ballot for the people to vote on.

Note, this “mill” does not stand for “million.” “Mill” is a percentage of your property value.

I am a student at Lake High School. I’m a member of Student Council, SIA (a group designated to volunteering) and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

In addition, every day from 2:30- 3:30 p.m. (Monday-Friday) I volunteer at Lake Elementary for three different teachers.

My goal through all of this work is to give back to the community and teachers who have supported me and given me a wonderful education. I’m writing this letter to encourage everybody to go out and support Lake Schools. I am just one of many students who would like your support.

I believe that with great support of the community, to add to our already wonderful teachers, administrators, BOE , etc. we can continue to be excellent together. However, we can’t keep up the excellent and beyond state ratings without your help. We need this funding to ensure that teachers can still teach, classrooms can be a goodsize and to ensure that our education remains incredible. I’m proud to be a Lake Flyer.

Also, I will continue to stand up for my school and do everything in my power to help this levy pass. I hope those who are able to vote, will vote for our levy. Remember, each “no” vote is a downgrade of property value and less support for our wonderful school district. Remember the students this August.
— Byron Swartz
Freshman, Lake High School

Miller: Emily, blunt

By
Michael Miller
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Editorial cartoon by DON LEE

When President Barack Obama announced on May 10 that he supports gay marriage, the faces of a number of friends flashed through my mind. I know several couples who have built lives together for decades, and while I sadly doubt any of us will live to see gay marriage become an American reality, a presidential endorsement is a step in that direction.
But the face that lingered in my thoughts belongs to Emily Hickey. Emily is a columnist for our weekly arts publication, Toledo Free Press Star. She recently contributed a column, “Putting a face on same-sex marriage,” a brave statement that put humanity before labels.

I contacted Emily and asked her to update the column for the May13 Toledo Free Press. In the context of Obama’s announcement and recent Toledo stories concerning domestic partner rights and the naming of a Downtown intersection after Joe Wicks, the late owner of Caesars Show Bar, Emily’s column carried great resonance.

There was no question Emily’s moving and inspirational writing would have an impact, and I knew with absolute certainty that some of that impact would splash back from people who disagree with Emily’s stance.

Receiving that opposition is not only fine; it is the point.

During the weekend the column was published, my family attended the Celebration of First Eucharist for my wife’s godson, Ben. Resurrection Parish in Canton, Mich., was full of happy families celebrating their children’s First Communion. One of the planned hymns was number 700, but the hymnal in my hands opened to 706, “Never The Blade Shall Rise.”

The title caught my attention, as did Verse 2: “The one who loves the worldly life loses the life so lived, while the one who hates the life in this world preserves it to life eternal.”

I interpreted this to mean that those who wallow in an earthly life of material needs and control will sacrifice their opportunity for eternity, while those who recognize, eschew (and, I imagine, vocally protest) such temporary pursuits increase their chances at life everlasting.

Checking my e-mail messages after the service, I waded through the first wave of reader feedback to Emily’s column. While many people recognized Emily’s bravery, some were less supportive. A few demanded delivery be stopped, as if ignoring Toledo Free Press issomehow going to make the gay marriage debate go away. Some described Emily’s thoughts as “simplistic” and “naïve.” Some used words they would never say to her face. Among the comments was this letter:

TO EMILY,
As a person that lived with a family member that was gay I understand firsthand some of the struggles you are trying to work out. My brother that passed away last year came out some 33 years ago.

Still this day I ask myself why? Why did he have to proclaim to the world, to my dying grandmother, to everyone that would listen that he was GAY?

Our sexuality seems like such a private matter yet for some reason he and many like him want to proclaim it from the mountain tops.

I have never told one person in this world if I am gay or straight. I am married and have three children and so by that act you might assume I am straight. Yet many people live like I am living only for us to years later have them tell us from the mountain tops that they lived a lie and are really GAY!!!!

The point in all this is WE DON’T CARE . If you didn’t keep shoving it down our throats maybe we wouldn’t be so opposed to what you do in private.

In your article you state it’s not a religious thing and if that is true than why get married in the first place? Marriage in an institution that was set up in the Bible from the beginning of time and set up for a man and a woman. We have lessened that institution over the years through the divorce and multiple marriages but it’s still God’s plan for procreation.

So if God set it up why not follow his rules in how it’s implemented instead our your own. There are a number of ways without marriage to show your unfailing love to your partner and not trample on something that was set up for procreation and for a life time.

Thanks for listening to another side of the debate and I wish you well in the years to come.

— Jim Moline

Later in the weekend, our family visited the Toledo Zoo. It was our first time there without a stroller, but our boys covered a lot of ground and bounced from exhibit to exhibit like silver orbs in a pinball machine.

One of their favorite places is The Crawlspace (A World of Bugs) in Nature’s Neighborhood. The boys climbed spider webs and bee hives, planted seeds and tried to get the attention of the birds. Then we watched the ants.

The Crawlspace has an amazing exhibit in which leafcutter ants chop down pieces of leaves and carry them through a transparent tube running the entire length of the building, climbing uphill, walking downhill, never losing focus, never dropping their burdens. The organization and cooperation is amazing; the entire society of ants gets its work done with efficiency well beyond the reach of human beings.

Checking my messages during a break in walking and exploring, I read another wave of reader feedback.

Among the comments was this letter:

TO EMILY:

As I was sitting at dinner with my daughter this evening I read your article. You sound like a very brave and confident woman to put yourself out there like that. As I read your article, however, I felt compelled to tell you that you want what you cannot have.

Marriage of two women or two men is not marriage. It’s gay marriage. You are expecting everyone to sympathize with you. You are expecting other people to abandon THEIR beliefs and principles so you can do what you wish.

And you have very much support in our country today. You have a mayor who approves same-sex benefits, you have a President and Vice president who endorse gay marriage, you have a press that embraces gays, and demonizes anyone who opposes gay rights.

Indeed, people like me have to fear being labeled a “bigot” or as an employee of University of Toledo was, fired from my job for expressing my views against homosexuality, on my own time and in my own words. Indeed my colleagues (both gay and not gay) would hate ME for my views, even though I respect and like some of them — I just don’t agree with being gay.

They would label me “old-fashioned,” “out of it,” “intolerant,” “judgmental.” Nonetheless, I am who I am, just as you say you are who you are. You also have many, many major universities, companies, and celebrities who sympathize with, support, and FIGHT for gays.

Yet, you still are not satisfied. You still want marriage. You still want children. You still want the American dream — on your terms. You want to re-define marriage because of YOUR SEXUALITY. You want to procreate with science or adoption, with little regard to how this will affect a child being raised by lesbians and no dad — a dad is irreplaceable, just as a mom is and any child growing up without one of the other suffers for it, no matter the
circumstances.

Yet……. You, you, you. One thing you need to understand is that there is something instinctivelyrepulsive to some people about homosexuality. I was “born this way.” Within me is the natural repulsion of having sex with another woman or to think of men having sex with men.

There it is, Emily. Like it or not. Call it “bigotry” if that makes you feel better, but it is the truth. People opposed to your lesbianism areequally entitled to our “feelings,” just as
child abuse, porno, cruelty to animals, is instinctively repulsive, so is same-sex.

Rant and rave, whine and cry, demand and fight, but you cannot change me anymore than I can change you.

This does not mean I hate you. I do not even know you. The gay community cannot keep hiding behind the words of hate, homophobic, and bigotwhen someone finds their acts repulsive. Is there nothing which repulses you and would you want someone convincing you otherwise that you should accept it? Would you like being called “intolerant” or “bigot” if you didn’t accept, for instance, slavery?

The gays may “win” the battle of gay marriage. But it will still be “gay” marriage. As I mentioned above, you have tremendous support, but you still are not “at peace.” Good God, do you hear what you are saying? You want a “wife?” Holy sh–, you are a woman. It is completely f— up to say you want a wife. I DON’T CARE HOW TRENDY IT IS NOW TO BE GAY.

It is out of complete honesty and concern I tell you that — and as roughly as I have (does this offend you? — you are entitled to this right, right?) just as I would push a person out of the way of a bus by which he/she was about to be struck.

I hope your publication and you have enough courage to treat both sides of this issue fairly. It is mundanely predictable that most publications will tow the leftist party line whatever the issue, but this issue willbecome central in our great country, so a “Free Press” will do  well to understand both sides. We that oppose are often, demonized — by who?

Those who are supposedly tolerant, peace-loving, and “to each his own.” I truly wish you could experience the American Dream of a husband, children, and family. It is still the
fabric of this nation. There will be no equal to it, no matter how much the gay movement pushes gay marriage down our proverbial throats.

And by the way, naming a street after Joe Wicks, is just more of the same— kowtowing to the gay community because of politically correct guilt.
— Maria Twosley

Driving back home through Tecumseh, we stopped at a red light and saw a recently installed statue of Gandhi. Five-year-old Evan asked who it was, so we told him he was a man who believed in peace and rejected violence.

“Is he alive?” Evan asked.

“No, he was shot and killed,” I said.

Evan was silent, then asked, “Like Martin Luther King?”

“Yes,” I said. “And like John Lennon, the guy who sings with The Beatles songs we play.”

“And Jesus?” he asked.

“Jesus wasn’t shot, but yes, he lived for peace and was killed by people who feared him,” I said.

Evan said nothing, but I know his mind was trying to work through these incongruent facts.

At home, I checked my messages one more time.

Among the comments was this letter:

TO EMILY:

I read your same sex “marriage” article with interest. Marriage is not in the cards for you and neither is having your own child, without the aid of a man. I am sure your parentsdid a fine job of raising you but I believe your parents are made up of one man and one woman and until science comes up with a way for two females or two males to conceive a child it will always be that way no matter how badly you want it otherwise.

I deny you no rights nor do I consider you a second-class citizen, however, I also will fight so that thiscountry maintains that a marriage is always between one man and one
woman.

If you need that piece of paper or that blessing to be happy on your chosen path then it is you who needs to get your priorities straight(pardon the pun), instead of trying to make the rest of us adhere to and accept your way of life. Thank you for reading my opinion. I wish you nothing but the best.

— Janet Cope

As humans in general and Americans in particular, we are not capable of emulating Jesus 100 percent.

Nor are we ants, marching in straight lines, thoughtlessly serving and laboring.

Most of us certainly do not devote our lives to any one position strongly enough to find ourselves dying for it.

The questions are many. The answers are few. But somewhere in the middle between gods and ants, between martyrs and saints, between soaring  free and marching in escape-proof
tubes, we manage to all live together.

We haven’t managed to find ways to all love together, not yet. But somewhere between Heaven and the ant tunnels underground, there are people like Emily, Jim, Maria, Janet and me, trying to figure it all out.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and TFP Star.

5K to raise scholarship in honor of family killed in tornado

By
Brandi Barhite
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Community enthusiasm often wanes after the first year of any tragedy. People often stop asking, “How can I help?”

Millbury resident Mark Beck knows that reality, but hopes that doesn’t happen when it comes to remembering the June 5, 2010, tornado and participating in the upcoming 5K in tribute of the storm’s victims.

The second annual 5K run/walk to raise money for a scholarship in honor of the three victims in the Walters family  will be June 9 at 9 a.m.

Ryan and Mary Walters and their son, Hayden, died after a tornado tore through their Millbury home while they were sleeping. Their daughter Maddie, who survived, drew a picture of herself and her family for this year’s race T-shirt. Maddie, 9, now lives with her mom’s sister and family.

“Last year, we had 370 participants and raised about $7,000 for the scholarship at Owens,” said race director Beck. “We decided to make this an annual thing so we can continue to give kids a chance to get an education.”

Beck got involved in the race last year after Ryan’s sister, Robin Arquette, contacted Toledo Roadrunners to organize a 5K in memory of her brother who, along with Beck, was a member of the running group.

“My father-in-law’s home was damaged in the tornado, so we had some personal connection, but really I wanted to help out the Walters family,” Beck said.

Once again, the race will begin and end at the Ayers Road Fire Station, 1911 Ayers Road in Millbury.

“We have had some positive responses from companies who are planning on sponsoring their employees,” Beck said. “It is a nice way to support the community and a nice way to give employees a health benefit.”

Proceeds will go to a scholarship fund for students enrolled in the early childhood education or the information systems programs at Owens Community College.  The youngest of four, Ryan graduated from Owens and worked at the Hospice of Northwest Ohio, according to Robin.

“Every one of my siblings has a bachelor’s and my older brother has an MBA,” she said in an interview last year. “We wanted to benefit youth in the area, especially those who helped clean up from the tornado. My brother and sister-in-law always tried to do positive things. It is important to give back.”

Ryan had almost completed his bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development from Spring Arbor University when he died. Robin shared some excerpts that Ryan had written for a school project about education and helping others.

“To embrace a lifelong learning and demonstrate to my children the value of an education by finishing my Bachelor’s degree by 2010 and possibly going on for a master’s degree,” Ryan wrote.

He also stated: “To look for the good in others and help them achieve their goals by listening to them and connecting their goals with people, projects or resources I may know.”

Entry forms for the Annual Walters Family 5K Run/Walk are available at Second Sole and Calvary Lutheran Church or on race day at the Ayers Road Fire Station.  The entry fee is $20 with a shirt if preregistered by May 30, 2012; $15 without a shirt; or $20 on race day with no shirt.  For more information, email [email protected] or call (419) 367-1917.

Brandi Barhite is the Toledo Free Press community ombudsman.

Pounds: Decisions, decisions

By
Tom Pounds
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The debate about naming a Downtown intersection after “gay icon” Joe Wicks was more than a conversation about how to honor Toledo’s citizens; it was a test of the Downtown business community’s ability to organize and exert influence on the political process.

It often seems as if local government follows the whims of its individual officials instead of the guidance of the people whose money and lives dictate the fortunes of the city.

In this case, Steve Steel’s seemingly innocuous proposal to name an intersection after the late owner of Caesars Show Bar caused Downtown business owners to respond with a flurry of emails, mostly protesting the manner in which they felt Wicks conducted business and the state in which he left his property. There was only one email in the first two dozen that used what I would describe as insensitive language, but the vast majority of comments were strictly business and community oriented. I do not have insight into the hearts and minds of every person who wrote an email, but I know many of them, and I believe their shared concerns transcended sexual identity politics.

It is appreciated that Steel recognized the Downtown business community’s concerns and responded by tabling the motion. With advocate Lair Scott involved, it is unlikely this discussion is closed, but there is no doubt Council will now implement a process for naming intersections that will help circumvent future controversies.

Another big decision was introduced this week with the announcement that Toledo Public Schools (TPS) is seeking a 6.9-mill levy on the November ballot. There is a lot of time to study, challenge and understand the proposal, but one issue will be difficult to overcome: The levy is “continuing,” which means permanent. No matter how much we support TPS and understand the critical needs of its mission, no matter how desperately we seek improvement in the components of education that make our community viable, we are uncomfortable endorsing any levy, for any institution, that is permanent. Is it our place to saddle the next several generations with a levy they have no say in and for which TPS has no ballot box accountability?

It’s too early to make the call on the TPS levy, but it will take a lot of work to convince enough voters that a permanent levy is the solution.

 

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

Canning: Affordable Care Act confusion hurts compliance chances

By
Jeff
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Employers and employees have undoubtedly entered confusing and uncertain times regarding their health care security. Complexity breeds confusion and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is anything but simple. Take note, if you are an employer providing a group health plan to your employees: Going forward your chances of perfect compliance with the 2,700-page law are near zero.

Did you know that regulations written for Obamacare are now over five times longer than the law that passed in March, 2010? Recently, Obamacarewatcher.org calculated Obamacare regulations to contain 2,163,744 words compared to 425,116 words in the law itself, and they are still regulating.

Any business owner, consultant or insurance carrier representative tasked with understanding, explaining and ultimately complying with the law is automatically subjected to an ongoing process of mind-numbing reading and attempts at interpretation. These hard-working people on the front lines are already suffering from health care reform fatigue and the major portion of the law establishing the health care exchanges has not even been implemented yet, and may not be if the Supreme Court overturns the whole statute or a new administration and Congress repeals it.

In any case, many aspects of the regulations have already required such an in-depth analysis that splitting hairs would seem like a break in the action. Some of the simpler yet still confusing questions to be answered are:

  • What provisions apply to what size employer? When do they apply?
  • Is this or that requirement a shared responsibility between the insurer and the employer?
  • What affect will this law as a whole have on my employees’ benefit and compensation package?
  • What are the penalties for failure to comply?

Pat Paule, an employee benefits consultant at Savage & Associates, shares that:

“It’s become much more difficult to help our clients with longer term projections on their health insurance programs. The overwhelming amount of uncertainty surrounding Obamacare puts employers in a very precarious position. Mandated benefits with coverage requirements, new taxes that will be passed through, mountains of new paperwork, and numerous regulations make it impossible for companies to wrap their arms around the future. We are doing the best we can for our clients but it’s very hard when Health & Human Services (HHS) is still interpreting what is in the bill. What I do know for sure is that we are far from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The ongoing HHS interpretation makes Obamacare a shapeshifter. You start with the law, then HHS and other agencies issue the regulations for implementation, administration and enforcement in an interim form, followed by a comment period for interested parties to voice their concerns and suggestions. After the comment period, the final regulations are released. There is no guarantee that you will see any resemblance between the interim and final regulations. Just get ready to scramble to comply.

Paule notes that there is a mountain of new paperwork for insurers, brokers and employers to wade through and disseminate. The first year of Obamacare alone created six new mandatory notices for employees to receive (and attempt to understand) about their group health plans:

  • Notice of Grandfather Status
  • Notice of Dependent Age Limit
  • Notice of Patient Protections
  • Notice of Adverse Benefit Determination
  • Notice of Final Adverse Benefit Determination
  • Notice of Rescission of Coverage

For all of these notices, questions about model language, responsible parties, deadlines, delivery methods and penalties abound. A clear pattern has already developed that puts employers in a pickle from a compliance standpoint. Some notices are required to be given out 30 days before the employee benefit open enrollment period. That’s an unworkable process when an employer is unable to access the data they need to make a decision about the benefit package renewal that far in advance.

As an HR consultant working closely with employee benefit consultants and business owners, I’ve seen firsthand the utter bewilderment of employers trying to understand, plan for and comply with Obamacare. One thing seems clear, without considerable assistance, employers have a better chance at stumbling along the way than perfect compliance with the law.

Joan Canning is the owner of HR Advocate LLC, a Toledo-based human resource and management consulting business, helping employers solve difficult problems and improve performance. Find more info at www.hradvocate.biz.

China Business Summit to address culture, finance

By
Caitlin McGlade
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Jessica Xie, vice president of the Hylant Group, and Jim Rush, senior vice president of Communica. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

They might walk the streets of Shanghai one week and drive across the Midwest the next.

But on May 31, 2012, some top business leaders and consultants will be at the Toledo Club to talk about Chinese-U.S. business relations.

Toledo-based marketing and communications firm Becker|CMCA, Toledo Free Press, Communica, The Hylant Group, Sinn Consulting, Wei Shen, Inc. and Brennan, Manna & Diamond are sponsoring the China Business Summit. The conference, running from 8:30-11:30 a.m., will present a panel of experts to discuss economic opportunities in China, the legal and financial hurdles to overcome when businesses cross borders and the differences in etiquette between American and Chinese business people.

Becker|CMCA sought to conduct the event because the firm has helped a number of large businesses expand to China. BASF is one of the many clients that Communica advertising designers have helped to saturate the Chinese market. George Becker, president of the company, and Jim Rush, senior vice president and partner for Communica, said the collaborative targets mid-size cities in China.

“The cross-border traffic just started moving up pretty recently,” said Wei Shen, who started BridgeConnect LLC. “I think both parties started to appreciate more of each other and had time to recognize the differences because both sides realize they need each other. It’s a gradual progression.”

Jessica Xie, vice president of the Hylant Group, and Jim Rush, senior vice president of Communica.

Shen led the General Motor’s marketing team that took the Buick to China. But before she left her Shanghai home 25 years ago, such a large-scale international business move would have hardly seemed possible. Shen said the country around her was impoverished before she fled, as many of her younger years were marked by the government’s tight grip on the borders.

She left the country in the late 1980s with the maximum amount of cash the government permitted her to take: the equivalent of $40.

Jessica Xie, vice president of the Hylant Group, moved to the U.S. from China in 1998. The maximum amount she and others were permitted to take was $10,000 — an example of how quickly China has changed, she said.

Both will present at the business summit, along with William Sinn, president of Sinn & Co., a consultant company that specializes in establishing operations and distribution networks in China. John Tang, head of the Shanghai-based China Practice of Brennan, Manna & Diamond, will also speak.

Tang helps American businesses maneuver through licensing and networking in China and helps Chinese businesses sort out regulations and new concepts in America. Even as borders become more fluid, Americans have a tougher time setting up a business in China than Chinese business people do in the U.S., he said.

“In China, the law is not very clear and a lot of it is based on relationships and who you know over there,” Tang said. “Knowing the law is half the battle. Getting that business license is not a right, it’s a privilege.”

That’s because the government sets a minimum on the amount of registered capital your new business could start with, he said. For example, an American seeking a business license in China would likely get rejected if he or she registered only $10,000.

It helps to know officials, particularly the Chinese equivalent to the secretary of state, to get your business recognized, he said.

Chinese businesses moving to America have quite the learning curve too. The financial structure of business is simpler in China, and derivatives and credit swapping is a foreign concept, he said.

Collaborating with American businesses has also led to a concept new to many Chinese business owners: liability insurance. Xie counsels some clients who expand their business to the United States and are now

required by law to buy liability insurance, such as businesses in the automotive industry. They often question why they have to buy product liability insurance if they know their product is a quality one, and if they know their parent company in China could cover any losses in the future, she said.

“It’s an expense — Chinese culture is such that we value savings and we don’t like to spend money,” Xie said. “They don’t see the value of buying insurance.”

Cultural differences between the two nations can also complicate business deals. When an American businessperson visits China to sign a deal with prospective partners, his or her initial visit may be a shock. The first four or five days of the meeting might involve tours, meals together and mingling — with no business talk at all. This is because Chinese businesspeople want to build relationships and become friends with their partners; they want to trust someone before they sign over money, Tang said.

On the other hand, when a Chinese businessperson comes to America, he or she might feel extremely rushed and uncomfortable when the American starts gabbing about money right away.

“They (Americans) can still come across as very arrogant,” Shen said.

The American recession saw a jump in Chinese investment that continues to this day. As real estate was cheaper, Tang said many Chinese saw the recession as an opportunity. Whether they took incentives from the government to expand overseas or whether they saw the opportunity to collect assets quickly, setting up shop here became alluring quickly, Tang said.

Programs such as the EB-5 visa, which offers a speedy track to permanent residency in exchange for $500,000-$1 million of investment in an American business endeavor, also helped draw interest.

EB-5 visas have existed for about 20 years but are growing in popularity. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fielded at least 3,805 petitions from prospective foreign investors in 2011. Fewer than 800 bids were made four years prior.

Tang said individuals looking for a safe place to invest their money are more likely to take advantage of this than are large corporations.

Despite the obstacles in the beginning, the allure of starting a business in China is undeniable if not essential to success, he said.

“The biggest incentive is that China is the largest market in the world — it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “Even for domestic businesses, they can’t think they’re going to just stay domestic because their competitors are going global. In order to stay competitive, they have to think globally.”

Shen said walling up financial borders and suspicion of international business taking root in the U.S. hinder the well-being of both the U.S. and the Chinese economies.

“We need each other,” she said.

Toledo Public Schools seeks 6.9 mill levy on November 2012 ballot

By
Morgan Delp
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Officials gathered May 14 to support Toledo Public Schools’ (TPS) 6.9-mill levy. The levy will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. The resolution for the levy was approved by the Board of Education at an earlier meeting, along with the decision to reinstate some junior high school and freshmen sports programs into the district.

If passed, the permanent levy will cost the owner of a $60,000 home $126.79 per year, or 35 cents per day. The money would fund the district’s current transformation program and balance the budget beyond the 2012-13 school year. While the 2012-13 budget is currently balanced, a failed levy in November would mean drastic cuts the following year.

“Without additional funding at this time, the district will have to cut an excess of $15 million before the beginning of the 2013-14 school year,” Toledo School District Superintendent Jerome Pecko said.

Lisa Sobecki and Bob Vasquez

Pecko said that the proposed levy would allow the district to pursue a new district-wide discipline program, a unified student data program for parents and teachers, and employee evaluations based on student performance.

School Board President Lisa Sobecki said the school district’s transformation program cannot be completed without the funding from the levy; its amount was chosen by the finance committee after a variety of millages were studied.

Sobecki said some highlights of the transformation program include the developments of a gifted and talented program for grades 3-6, extracurricular programs for grades 7-12, the continuation of early high school programs for grades 7-8, the implementation of online digital classrooms and electronic grade-books, and of thematic-based high schools.

The School Board’s plan of thematic-based high schools allows each school to concentrate on a specific area. Bowsher would focus on arts and medicine, Woodward on renewable and innovative sources of energy, and Rogers on sports medicine, among others areas of specialization.

University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs gave his “unqualified and unequivocal support” for what he believes to be “one of the best investments for the social fabric of our community.”

In addition to Jacobs, city council President Joe McNamara, Representative Fedor, TPS board member Bob Vasquez, Mayor Mike Bell and TAAP President Don Yates spoke at the news conference.

In November 2010, TPS proposed Issue 5, a 7.8-mill levy which voters rejected. That levy, which would have generated roughly $21.6 million, was the second to fail in 2010 as TPS attempted to meet its $40 million deficit.

Issue 5 would have been the highest millage amount passed for Toledo Public Schools in the past four decades, and the first levy passed for TPS since 2001.

$15.2 million elephant exhibit opens at Toledo Zoo

By
Caitlin McGlade
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Toledo Zoo's Tembo Trail is home to four elephants: Louie, Lucas, Renee and Twiggy. Toledo Free Press photo -- Joseph Herr

Nine-year-old Louie picks on his little brother like many siblings do — by flinging dirt at him.

But unlike his human counterparts, who squirm and stretch to bend their bodies over the exhibit’s railing to watch him, Louie can wield a trunkful.

Perhaps in a few years Louie’s kid brother Lucas will fend off flying mud cakes, but the little guy has yet to even mark his first birthday. He’ll celebrate turning 1 year old June 3, a day made all the more exciting because of his family’s new home.

The Toledo Zoo’s elephant exhibit was set to open May 18. The Tembo Trail, which replaces the old African Savanna walkway, hugs the edges of the elephants’ enclosure. Zoo-goers can catch glimpses from three of the four sides of the mock-African environment.

Zoo officials began planning to move the elephants to a larger, more enriching area in 2007. $6.2 million and more than 175 workers later, phase one opened in 2009. Crews began constructing phase two in the spring of 2010. This second portion took $9 million and 145 employees to finish.

The Tembo Trail is set to open May 18.

The exhibit spreads across 37,680 square feet outdoors, pockmarked with uneven terrain and tree stumps and dotted with towering metal trees supporting leafy green canopies and dangling tires or sacks stuffed with hay.

If the elephants tire of the elements, they can choose to go indoors, where they have about 8,970 more square feet of space. During nice weather the glass windows of the indoor exhibit open like garage doors. At the old exhibit, zookeepers had to let them in or out.

“The reason that we care for animals at the zoo is that we need people to care about elephants and all other animals in the wild,” said Anne Baker, the zoo’s director. “Their habitat is disappearing and eventually it will disappear if nothing is done.”

Growing population

About 450,000-700,000 African elephants live in the wild, down from a few million at the turn of the 20th century, according to Defenders of Wildlife, a wildlife protection advocacy organization.

Toledo’s elephant population is growing. A couple of years ago, the zoo had only Renee, a 7,900-pound female, and Louie, her 4,690-pound son. In February of 2010, Twiggy joined in — brought to her new shelter after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confiscated her from poor conditions at a circus in Indiana. Although suspicious of others at first, the 27-year-old has become best buddies with Louie.

They stand side-by-side, drape their trunks over one another and take food from each other’s mouths. Baker said it is possible the two could mate, bringing the total number of elephants to five.

The zoo started its breeding program in the 1990s, and zoo officials knew then that they’d need to build a more expansive exhibit if the herd were to grow, said Andi Norman, the zoo’s public relations and marketing director.

The former exhibit was built 25 years ago and was intended for female elephants. Male elephants, as they grow into maturity, tend to fight each other for breeding access to the females. This can get chaotic and an exhibit primarily designed for females doesn’t provide the space and the strength needed to separate aggressive males from each other during this stage, Norman said.

Female elephants get aggressive, particularly when it’s time to push a young male from their circle, so the zoo had to draft plans for a new exhibit.

The Toledo Zoo is one of at least seven zoos across the country that have expanded or enhanced their elephant exhibits within the past two years, said Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

“The trend is that you see zoos elevating their game when it comes to the care and conservation of elephants,” Feldman said.

The emphasis is on “enrichment” — or activities that challenge elephants to problem solve to find food, along with terrain that exercises their physique, he said.

You’ll see this at the Toledo Zoo. Twiggy elicited a round of giggles May 16 when she poked her trunk through one of the holes in the exhibit wall facing her audience. She was searching for water, and she found it. The water could have been behind any of the other holes and the zookeepers switch it up to keep her and Louie guessing.

The tall metal trees are another aspect of enrichment. The tires and sacks filled with hay hang above an elephant’s eye level so the elephants have to reach for their snacks. Louie and Twiggy rolled a tree stump beneath one of the sacks so they could step on it to reach more easily, Norman said.

“Unlike people, who want our meals served on a platter, elephants spend most of their time in the wild foraging for food and water,” she said.

Elephant advocates

But some animal activists aren’t convinced. Catherine Doyle, the elephant campaign director for In Defense of Animals, said her organization advocates for zoos to close their elephant exhibits and send them to sanctuaries that offer dozens of acres to roam.

She tours zoos across the country and has legally advocated for elephants’ rights.

“You have all these artificial means of stimulating them, and these are highly intelligent animals so you have to do enrichment, otherwise these animals have nothing,” she said. “When enrichment is being done, I think unfortunately a lot of it is just something to take up the animal’s time.”

She said moving all the zoos’ elephants to sanctuaries is unrealistic, so the elephant campaign also pushes for AZA to tighten its standards on space. AZA accreditation standards recommend allotting no less than 5,400 square feet per elephant in an outdoor habitat. For indoors, the recommendation is no less than 400 square feet for females and 600 square feet for males or females with calves.

Between indoor and outdoor areas, the Toledo Zoo’s exhibit covers 46,650 square feet. The old exhibit covered 12,510.

“The public is so used to seeing elephants in smaller size exhibits, when there’s a minor expansion people think the elephants are in these huge exhibits now so everything is OK,” Doyle said. “To us it may look like a larger space but to elephants it may not.”

At least 22 zoos in the U.S. and Canada have closed their elephant exhibits since the 1990s, she said.

The Detroit Zoo sent its two Asian elephants to sanctuaries in 2005. The zoo will not open another elephant exhibit again, said Patricia Mills Janeway, spokesperson for the Detroit Zoo.

Providing the adequate physical and social environment had become unrealistic, particularly because of Michigan’s harsh winters. The two elephants had arthritis and foot problems, health issues common among captive elephants. Living in small areas or standing on concrete floors are believed to trigger these health problems, Janeway wrote in an email to Toledo Free Press.

“In the wild, elephants live in warm climates and roam vast areas, often walking many miles a day,” she wrote. “For these reasons, the Detroit Zoo decided in 2004 to no longer exhibit elephants.”

Doing well in winter

The African elephants at the Toledo Zoo do well in the winter, said Ben Whitebread, interim elephant manager. The elephants can go outside overnight if it’s no colder than 32 degrees. They also have a heated porch between their indoor shelter and the outdoor area, so they don’t have to spend all of their time inside during the winter months, he said.

He said he’s watched the elephants go outside during 25-degree days and amuse themselves by breaking the ice frozen over puddles.

“A lot of people feel that because these elephants are from Africa, that they can’t tolerate cold and that’s very far from the truth,” Whitebread said.

Baker said overheating is more of a problem for these animals because of their size.

“It’s hard for them to dump heat — the nights in Africa get very cold, so they warm up in the day and over the night they cool down,” she said.

Whether Twiggy, Louie, Renee and Lucas are inside or out, zoo-goers will be able to get a close look at these colossal mammals this summer, Norman said.

Tembo Trail opening weekend ceremonies

The Grand Opening for the Tembo Trail will kick off May 18 with a ceremony at 10:15 a.m. at the trail entrance.

Drums of Thunder will perform at 10:30 a.m., followed by a performance by I AM ART, with singing, dance, African drums and storytelling at 11 a.m. at the trail entrance.

Staff will host educational activities at the entrance from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Otter keepers will talk at 1:15 p.m., followed by an elephant training demonstration at 2 p.m.

May 19 will be full of arts and entertainment from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., including a performance by the Toledo School for the Arts Glass City Steel band.

The zoo will host events on May 20 as well, with African-themed education activities and crafts and more performances by the Glass City Steel.

Walk the Tembo Trail and see naked mole rats, African spotted-neck otters, African lions, African slender-snouted crocodiles, dromedary camels, meerkats, Nile hippopotami and white rhinoceroses.

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