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Pounds: The gamble

By
Tom Pounds
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Editorial cartoon by Don Lee

Congratulations to Penn National Gaming and Hollywood Casino Toledo. The property is astounding in its vision and a triumph in its execution. Every inch of the casino has been crafted with care, attention to detail and a major-market quest for quality that should be lauded and applauded.

Hollywood Casino Toledo is a marvel, an attraction that catapults Toledo into the modern era of entertainment. Our zoo, museum and baseball stadium will always be cornerstones of our identity and future, but the casino is a new investment, an exciting gamble that should draw business and dollars from a great regional circle.

Penn National Gaming could have downscaled its investment in this unproven market or could have hedged its bet. Nothing of the sort is evident anywhere on the property. The technology in the gaming and the intense passion in the casino’s four restaurants are a major statement on Penn National’s confidence in this market. The company has already made major philanthropic investments in our community, and has proven itself to be a more open-minded and fair neighbor than many of our long-standing institutions.

Now, it’s our turn. It is vital to our future that Hollywood Casino Toledo becomes a renowned success. If it does, there will surely be more investment and development to follow. If it were to fail, it strains credulity to imagine a scenario in which another major business would invest this kind of multimillion dollar venture in Northwest Ohio. If a $320 million major market draw doesn’t earn support, what message does that send to other prospective investors who may be circling Toledo?

Is it a panacea? No. Does the castle being strong mean the kingdom will be run flawlessly? No. But the investment and promise the casino represents are owed an opportunity to thrive and flourish. If you don’t gamble, how about trying one of the restaurants or seeing a live show? How about at least checking out the property and then spreading the good word to others in our region and beyond?

It may not be winner take all, but Hollywood Casino Toledo represents a turning point in the culture and future of Toledo. Are we going to step up and contribute to its success or are we going to stand back, arms folded, skeptical, while a golden development opportunity dances in front of us?

Again, congratulations to the owners and staff of Hollywood Casino Toledo — and to contractor Rudolph|Libbe. Thank you for your investment and belief in Toledo; here’s to a long, mutually beneficial run that pays off for everyone.

 

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

Szyperski: Little Children

By
Shannon Szyperski
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Despite my reputation as someone who is not a fan of novels (based solely on my ongoing admission that I am not afan of novels), I was actually part of a book club once.

One of our selections was a book called “Little Children.” It simultaneously followed the stories of two unhappy stay-at-home parents having an affair, a married man obsessed with an Internet porn star, a convicted child molester’s attempt to contain his compulsions and a rogue former police officer intent on stalking said convicted child molester.

We were privy to the separate but equally distressed lives of a group of people living in the same suburb but mostly unaware of one another.

Not surprisingly, the lives of the main players semi-dramatically intersected at the end of the book. We are then left to wonder what the point was exactly and what the book specifically had to do with little children. Not being terribly well-versed in fiction and sometimes too literal for such things, I’m not 100 percent sure of the author’s intentions.

However, it was my best guess that the supposed adults in the book were the “little children” named in the title, based on their constant impulsive and immature actions.

Every time I have a childish moment in my adulthood, I seem to think of that book. I wish I could say that such moments were fewer and further between, but they happen more frequently than I’d like to admit. Fortunately, I have no experience with affairs, obsession and revenge, but I will admit to stooping toward envy, pettiness, insecurity and immaturity on occasion.

Even more than temporarily adopting childish tendencies, I just flat out forget to be a grown up at times.

I took yet another little trip through juvenile junction as an incident involving my son unfolded over several months last fall. As my son struggled through a difficult time with a couple of other boys, I opted to take my concerns directly to “higher ups” rather than directly to the other boys’ parents.

There was a part of me that knew I wasn’t quite taking the most mature approach, but there was an even bigger part of me that was much wimpier than the mature part.

More recently, in the heat of a newer disagreement, I finally informed the other parents of my son’s previous issues with their sons face-to-face and without any hesitant truths or sugarcoating.

After an initial and understandably defensive response by one of the boys’ mothers, she suddenly softened and opened up to me with receptive ears and from a place of obvious compassion. Such a simple and understated gesture made all of the difference and allowed us to move forward with mutual understanding and a much better appreciation for one another.

Although I suppose it shouldn’t be, it’s an amazing thing when both sides lay out their conflicts honestly and come to the table with a true willingness to find a way past them.

Not long ago, I was awed when I witnessed two of my son’s third grade classmates do that very thing as I sat nearby in the cafeteria. I could see that one was at a place of deep hurt, but he was willing to directly and explicitly tell his friend, “You pained me in this way and I don’t understand why.”

He continued by rationally offering specific details and feelings, and his friend reciprocated with the same. Even more impressively, they really, truly listened to one another’s convictions and concerns and bent where they each needed to in order to work it out. Within a few minutes and without adult facilitation, they literally shook hands and walked away together.

After my heart sang to the tune of the next generation, I cringed inside at the number of times I can’t seem to conduct myself in the same manner.

I know I’m not alone in this. As I relayed my story of the long overdue parent-to-parent breakthrough to friends, person after person admitted that they usually aren’t willing to use the direct approach to kid conflicts either. We seem to make assumptions that the other parents don’t want to hear us out and won’t be willing to work with us.

I’m learning (repeatedly) that one of the greatest signs of maturity is knowing that you don’t know everything. You can’t know everything. We can make broad assumptions based on our limited and biased awareness of others, but the chance that we are spot-on in our assessments are slim to none. We can only learn how to get along by extending an open hand, an open mind and an open heart.

Even little children seem to know such a thing.

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

Sen. Brown: Bringing jobs home

By
Ben Osburn
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Like you, too often I’ve opened the newspaper only to learn that jobs in our state — whether in Mansfield, Lorain or Springfield — are being outsourced to places like China, Indonesia or Mexico. We have seen a decade of manufacturing job loss and factory shutdowns, which has weakened communities and blindsided families all across our state.

Today, the manufacturing sector is beginning to turn around. During the past two years, our country has added 400,000 manufacturing jobs. We made a tough choice to restructure the auto companies, which has revitalized manufacturing across the supply chain.

But it’s not enough — we must encourage companies to return to the United States,and discourage them from ever leaving. We have to replace “outsourcing” with “reshoring” — bringing good-paying jobs back to the United States.

Combined with our country’s outdated trade policy, current American tax law actually encourages companies to move jobs offshore — where labor is cheap and environmental and health standards are weak. As it stands, businesses can receive a tax break for moving personnel and company equipment to a foreign country — effectively deducting the cost ofmoving jobs overseas from their U.S. taxes.

Instead of promoting job growth here, our nation’s tax laws reward companies for outsourcing.

That’s why I’m sponsoring the Bring Jobs Home Act, which makes two common-sense changes in our tax laws—a carrot-and-stick approach. The proposed legislation would give a 20 percent tax credit for costs associated with moving a production line, trade or business back to the United States.

Any business that brings jobs back to the United States can use this credit to reduce their overall tax liability.

In providing this tax credit, we incentivize companies to reshore jobs that might have been moved abroad. It would also close the tax loophole that allows companies to take a tax deduction when they send jobs abroad. Our laws should reward companies for bringing jobs to the U.S., not for shipping them overseas.

It’s clear why the United States, and Ohio especially, is a good place to do business. We have a first-class workforce, a strong network of colleges and universities and manufacturing know-how that is second to none.

Despite all the roads and bridges we need to repair, which the Senate-passed highway bill takes a major step toward achieving, companies invest in the U.S. because we’re capable of building a first-class infrastructure. Not only that, but companies are returning to the U.S. because of higher costs associated with doing business abroad: whether that be transportation costs, higher labor wages in places like China or the legal difficulties of doing business overseas.

The Bring Jobs Home Act builds upon these factors by giving a real, financial incentive for companies to bring their production lines back to the United States. It aims to make the United States more attractive to business development and investment, and would help make our country more competitive in the global marketplace.

We need to turn our tax code right-side up when it comes to U.S. jobs — both promoting their creation and discouraging their elimination. That’s what the Bring Jobs Home Act does, and it’s one important step that we can take to continue turning our economy around.

Sherrod Brown (D) is a U.S. Senator from Ohio. Email him at [email protected]

Berry: Unprecedented negativity?

By
Thomas Berry
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The Barack Obama re-election campaign’s “Truth Team” email “Tip Sheet” of May 20 was  sent in anticipation of what it calls “the unprecedented level of negative campaigning we’re going to see from our opponents this year.”

What is being said and published in the effort to defeat PresidentObama and his agenda is nothing compared to the blatant lies and vicious character assassinations that his party have disseminated for the past several years against conservative Republican politicians and spokespersons, conservative causes such as Ohio SB5 and protection of religious freedom, and ordinary Americans like me who support them.

“Unprecedented negativity”? Ask conservative women about negative. Ask them about Playboy’s list of the top 10 conservative women who should be “hate-f***ed.” Ask Laura Ingraham, whom Ed Schultz of MSNBC called a “right-wing slut.” Ask S.E. Cupp, whose image was defiled in a recent issue of Hustler. Ask Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who Democrat talk show host John Sylvester accused of performing “fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee” and of engaging in gang sex. Ask ordinary conservative women who are being called whores by Democrats — the party that is supposedly sensitive to women — about negativity.

Ask conservative columnists Michelle Malkin, who has published a list of media attacks on conservativewomen at http://michellemalkin. com/2012/03/07/the-war-onconservative-women/, and Cupp. Democrats have called Malkin “(a) mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick
on it,” and Cupp a demonstration of the necessity of abortion.

Ask Ann Romney, who was attacked for having “never worked a day in her life,” even though she raised five boys while suffering from breast cancer and multiple sclerosis — as conservatives are accused of being insensitive to the sick.

Ask Condoleeza Rice, who was smeared with vilely racist cartoons crafted by liberals — who call conservatives racially insensitive.

Negative? Rep. Paul Ryan has been depicted in an online ad paid for by the pro-Obama Agenda Project as gleefully pushing a wheelchair-bound grandmother off a cliff. Negative? Democrats have publicly fantasized about former president George W. Bush being assassinated and Rush Limbaugh and Justice Clarence Thomas dying horrible and painful deaths, and lamented former vice-president Dick Cheney’s successful heart transplant.

They have actively campaigned on demonstrably false grounds to driveLimbaugh and other conservative spokesmen from the airwaves. This, from the party that advocates civility and free speech.

Democrats have characterized me, a conservative blogger and tea party activist,as bigoted, a terrorist, racist, a Nazi, a religious fanatic, an idiot, a liar, a failure, hateful, ignorant, un-American, uneducated, anti-free speech and, by the President himself, a hick who clings to his guns and religion.

My opinions have been called slanted nonsense, laughable, trash, rubbish, childishly simplistic bombast, revisionist, blind, irresponsible and manipulative, and I have been threatened with physical harm for expressing them.

The president welcomes the backing of Bill Maher (who, among many offenses against civility, attacked Sen. Rick Santorum’s children for being home-schooled) and other character assassins, and — speaking of unprecedented — used his 2010 State of the Union address to defame Supreme Court justices who dared defy his will by upholding election law.

In other words, only Democrats are allowed to criticize their opponents, and there are no limits on the obscenity, crudeness, slander and deceit that are to be deployed in doing so; but conservatives, even though they make every effort to be civil and stay with the facts, are to be forbidden from speaking out in any way against the progressive agenda.

This mindset is precisely typical of Obama’s crybaby, the-buck-stopsthere attempts to divert scrutiny from his hideous record of failed policies, broken promises and betrayals of the Constitution, liberty and the best interests of the republic.

Thomas Berry, for Children of Liberty, www.meetup.com/The-Children-of-Liberty

Seven Mary Three roars into Sandusky for 2012 Ohio Bike Week

By
Vicki Kroll
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Seven Mary Three -- Photo courtesy The Splinter Group

“Cumbersome” isn’t exactly a word you’d expect to hear in the chorus of a monster rock hit. But that awkward adjective proved anything but for Seven Mary Three.

“I couldn’t have predicted that song would have the eternal life it seems to have,” said bass player Casey Daniel during a call from his home in Orlando.

“We had a little taste of [success] with a couple radio stations and specifically one in Orlando playing [‘Cumbersome’ from the self-produced ‘Churn’ disc] back then, so we had kind of gotten the one-city idea of what it would be like to go that well everywhere,” he recalled. “So when we went in to do ‘American Standard,’ we were hoping that success would continue on everywhere else.”

And it did. In addition to “Cumbersome,” the 1995 major label debut, “American Standard,” included “Water’s Edge” and “My My” and went platinum.

“I think, especially in a lot of decades, there are a lot of things that date music,” Daniel said. “We’re lucky in the fact that back in the ’90s, there was enough of the modern
technology that we still use today with the way albums are recorded that we recorded onto tape and then put it into Pro Tools, but the sounds aren’t dated.

“It’s not the amp of the day; it’s not all electronic; it’s not all Auto-Tuned;it doesn’t have  any of those pitfalls that go in and out of style if you just have four guys in a band with their instruments and singing directly — that’s the real vocal track.”

Daniel, singer-guitarist Jason Ross, guitarist Thomas Juliano and drummer Mike Levesque continue cranking out real music. The group also known for the hits “Lucky,” “Wait”
and “Over Your Shoulder” is working on its seventh studio album.A live disc, “Backbooth,” was released in 2010.

“We’re a live band,” Daniel said.

“If people come to the shows, then they’ll stay interested in the albums and everything else because that’s the real deal. It’s hard to get people to buy music a lot of times nowadays because they can steal it, but you can’t go to a show without getting up off your butt and going and doing something.”

Seven Mary Three will headline the Mad River Harley-Davidson Ohio Bike Week show June 2 at the Yuengling Concert Pavilion, 5316 Milan Road, Sandusky. Gates open at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 day of the concert; VIP passes are $25.

Coincidentally, the band’s name came from the TV show “CHiPS.” Officer Jon Baker’s police call sign was “7 Mary 3” — seven stood for his patrol beat, “M” meant he was a motorcycle unit and three was his unit number.

“We were in college at the time and it was old reruns running during the middle of the day, and we had been playing with a different band name almost every show and trying to find something that worked,” Daniel said. “I guess we either had a good show or a bunch of people came out that night, so [Seven Mary Three] stuck.”

Read about more events at www.ohiobikeweek.com

Owens keeps focus on retention initiatives

By
Erin Holden
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Bridge representative Janice Skaggs, left, and student Meagan O'Dell. Toledo Free Press photo by Sarah Ottney

There are many reasons students don’t stay in school, but Owens Community College’s growing slate of retention initiatives aims to address as many of those issues as possible.

One program is Bridge to Success, which first-year student Meagan O’Dell of Hoytville credits with keeping her enrolled in college.

“I loved it. I’m glad I did it,” said the 18-year-old, who graduated from Bowsher High School in 2011 and plans to become a neonatal nurse. “If I wouldn’t have done it, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with college. Iwould have quit and found a full-time
job and started my life that way.”

The program begins with a sevenweek summer session that helps recent high school graduates transition to college life, said Tamara Williams, associate vice provost for academic services and retention at Owens. Tuition, textbooks, meals and bus fare are all free during the session.

“Students come in directly from high school and are not sure what expectations we have for them at the college level; the language we speak is so different,” Williams said. “Bridge to Success helps them get acclimated to what is expected of them and makes sure they have mentors they can connect with and courses to make surethey get up to speed on reading, writing and math. It’s really a seven-week orientation program.”

Besides developmental math, reading and writing classes, participants also take a course called First Year Experience, another Owens retention initiative, which introduces them to campus resources and develops a plan for personal academic success.

On average, 89 percent of freshmen who complete the First Year Experience course re enroll at Owens thefollowing semester compared to 66 percent of the general student population, according to statistics provided by Owens. More than 2,000 studentsenroll in the course each year.

More than 200 students have participated in Bridge to Success since its inception in 2008, said Bridge to Success Manager Jacquelyn Jones.

The program started with 20 students from Woodward High School and has expanded almost every year since. This summer, the program will be available to students in Lucas, Wood and Hancock counties as well as parts of Ottawa and Sandusky counties, Jones said. There are about 50 participants per year at the Toledo campus, while Findlay can host up to 25.

“They pretty much set up your academic career and put you on track for being a college student,” O’Dell said. “It taught us how to talk to instructors the proper way; that was probably the most helpful. They also showed us around campus so you weren’t lost the first day of the semester. It just helped out a lot.”

Bridge to Success participants build close relationships during their year together, Jones said.

“From the time they are in high school to the first day of Bridge to Success to the end of the program, there are relationships formed,” Jones said. “Students strengthen their academic skills, build confidence and feel really equipped to start their college career. It’s a wonderful program. We build family here and we build community. That’s what learning communities are all about.”

All of the summer 2010 participants enrolled for the fall semester at Owens, with 92 percent continuing through the spring. That’s compared to a 71 percent retention rate for Owens as a whole, Jones said.

During their first year, participants meet with advisers and mentors and take most classes together.

“The mentors help you out asmuch as they can your first year,” O’Dell said. “They helpkeep you organized and get your foot in the door and make you less likely to drop out.”

Bridge to Success peer mentor Ashley Miklovic-Inbody of North Baltimore works on Owens’ Findlaycampus. She serves as a supplemental instructor for classes and also meets regularly with students one-on-one and hosts a weekly study session.

“Anything they were doing, I’m there with them, just to help and be someone to talk to,” Miklovic-Inbody said. “I fell in love with the studentsand in love with the program. I thought it was so neat how it gave the students a jump start.”

Miklovic-Inbody, a sociology student who plans to transfer to BGSUnext year, said it was satisfying to watch the students mature.

“They were kind of typical high school kids — carefree, kind of immature, joked around a lot,” Miklovic-Inbody said. “Watching them grow over the year into these confident, self-sufficient adults who are working and taking charge of their lives has been amazing. It’s a weaning process. We cut the strings, little by little, and let them go off on their own.”

Bridge to Success RepresentativeJanice Skaggs, who serves as a student success mentor, said she couldn’t ask for a more rewarding job.

“It’s a pleasure to intersect my life with theirs at this key time in their life,” Skaggs said.

Gateway to CollegeOwens’ newest retention initiative is Gateway to College, a partnership with Toledo Public Schools (TPS). The first group of 50 students will start this fall.

A $325,000 startup grant from the Gateway to College National Network allowed Owens to become the first academic institution in Ohio to offer the program, which will serve up to 150 TPS students over three years.

Gateway to College serves young adults age 16 to 21 who have dropped out of high school or are significantly behind in credits and unlikely to graduate. Students are dually enrolled at TPS and Owens and complete their high school diploma requirements while simultaneously earning college credit. Tuition and books are free until a high school diploma is obtained, Williams said.

The program evolved from a single-site program launched in2003 to a national network of 35 colleges in 20 states with more than 125 school districts, according to the program’s website.

“That’s an exciting one,” Williams said. “It’s an opportunity for students to re-engage with school.”

Brian Murphy, assistant superintendent of K-12 education with Toledo Public Schools, said the program is “a perfect fit” for TPS and will be “the chance of a lifetime” for students.

“It’s a second-chance effort for those students who haven’t made all the right decisions,” Murphy said.

“What an opportunity, to go froma situation where you aren’t going  to graduate to an opportunity to be dual-enrolled in college and highschool at the same time. We really look forward to seeing the results of this program in its first year of implementation. We think it’s going to be successful.”

Students interested in applying for Gateway to College should contact James Jackson at james_jackson11@ owens.edu.

Other retention initiatives at  Owens include:

O Project DE gree: Launched in fall 2010 and funded through a grant from the Gateway to College National Network, Project DE gree operates at ninecolleges in nine states, with  Owens theonly location in Ohio. Students who have tested into developmental level courses at Owens become part of a learning community with 20 to 25 other students. They take classes togetherand receive intensive individualized academic and social supports to helpthem achieve their academic goals. The integrated, project-based curriculum is coordinated so what students are learning in one class will complement what is being covered in another class, Williams said. Project DE gree participants have a 70 percent retention rate compared to a 52 percent retention rate for nonprogram students.

O Connect2Complete: Ohio was one of three states chosen to pilot Connect2Complete and Owens is one of three community colleges in the stateto implement the program. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Connect2Complete, which combinespeer-to-peer advocacy with service learning and civic engagement activities, is open to low-income students enrolled in developmental education courses who experience significant barriers to obtaining a post-secondary education. Each student is assigned a peer mentor, who helps them transition to college during their first year. For their second year, participants then serve as peer mentors for incoming students.

O Student success mentors: Since spring 2011, more than 78 percentof the 1,500 students who utilized student success mentors re-enrolled for fall 2011 classes, compared to 54 percent of students initially enrolled during the same time period, according to figures provided by Owens.

O Supplemental instruction: Supplemental instruction provides outsideof-class studysessions for traditionally difficult classes, led by students who successfully completed the course. Supplemental instructors also provide in-class assistance in developmental level  classes. Early data suggests the average GPA of participants exceeds that of nonparticipants (2.55 compared to 2.14) as did course completion rate (75 percent compared to 62 percent) and next-term retention rate (86 percent compared to 75 percent).

Goals Retention initiatives such as the First Year Experience course, student success mentors and supplemental instructors originated from a five-year $1.68 million Title III Part A Strengthening Institutions grant from the U.S. Department of EducationOwens received in 2006 to implement a comprehensive retention effort for first-year students.

“We’ve really focused on retention and are dedicated to retention initiatives,” Williams said. “All of our programs are very, very important and each touches a specific target market.” The goal used to be making sure students got into college, Williams said; today, focus has shifted more to helping enrolled students complete their educational goals, whether that’sto take a few classes in order to be eligible for a professional promotion, to obtain a two-year degree or to transfer to a four-year school.

Williams said Owens’ ultimate goal is to expand retention initiative programming to serve more students.

“Our ultimate goal is any student who wants to participate in a learning community can because we know the programs are working,” Williams said. “That’s the vision, to be able to scale up.”

For more information, visit www.owens.edu

Szyperski: Meet the parents

By
Shannon Szyperski
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My mom wanted to go to the University of Hawaii but, for reasons I don’t recall, ended up at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. She had intended to at least visit our 50th state upon completion of her studies, but, as the story goes, she ended up meeting my dad in college and most of her life’s plans suddenly became null and void. Instead of taking a solo excursion to the Paradise of the Pacific, my mom opted to join my dad on one of the wildest, most unpredictable, most difficult, most wondrous journeys known to humankind – marriage. 

 I have personally had the privilege of witnessing the last 36 years of my parents’ relationship travels, and I have to say that those two crazy lovebirds have managed to make the whole enterprise of marriage look rather, well, hard. You read that correctly. My happily-married-for-45-years parents have made almost every aspect of the matrimonial state look like the most trying and inconvenient venture on the face of the earth. True story. 

 I do remember hugging and kissing and blissfully dancing the night away making appearances on episodes of “The Tom & Sandy Nichols Show.” Yet, I also recall many “ABC After-School Special” type themes like “We Seriously Have No Money,” “One of the Kids Just Broke a Window and Another One Just Broke His Arm,” “I’m Not Sure That I Really Like You All That Much Today (or for the Past Couple of Months, Actually),”  “The Car Is So Crappy That It Caught On Fire While I Was Driving,” “Here Comes a Mid-Life Crisis,” “I Was Laid Off…Again,” and “I Think It’s Time to Put the Dog to Sleep.” In fact, the list goes on and on and on and on. 

 The interesting thing is that, with the exception of a few cliffhangers that will likely never be fully resolved, my parents have always found some way to work it out by the end of the story arc. Instead of allowing times of adversity to forever divide them, they combined and conquered over and over and over again. As far as I can tell, they did it by committing to love each other every single day more than they lamented that they didn’t quite like each other and/or their situation at any given moment. Regardless of the forks, potholes and missing stretches of road, they fulfilled their promise to stay on the same bus and somehow kept on trekking. 

 Aside from adhering to the most important part of the marriage, which is sticking to the original agreement, my parents supposedly did it all wrong. They married young, settling down together before they were settled down themselves. They rarely did the date night thing, with nights out together instead meaning little league games, high school choir concerts and school board meetings. They didn’t make a vow to themselves to maintain their separate identities or keep doing their own things. If one took an interest in something new, the other usually followed out of a genuine loyalty to their partner’s interests. Yes, by today’s standards and advice for a healthy, happy marriage, my parents set themselves up for failure with their grow-together, attached-at-the-hip, put-the-kids-first approach. 

 Yet, somehow they have managed to make it work for 45 years and continue to do so. 

 One of them could have easily decided at some point that they had given up too much of their autonomy or missed out on a self-serving stop along the path. My parents have never seemed to look at marriage as something that takes away from one’s personal desires in life, however. In fact, according to their example, the only essential element of a life well lived is finding a way to keep living it together.  

 To the casual observer my parents’ marriage probably looks like an easy ride, an unlikely case of stars aligning just right across a lifetime. Being an insider, I have had the good fortune to watch them happily fight tooth and nail year in and year out to make it look like a piece of cake to those less in the know. Because so much of the battle to constantly keep it together happens behind closed doors, good marriages are often mistaken for miracles when in reality they are masterpieces. 

 My parents are celebrating their 45-year masterpiece with a trip to Hawaii this fall. It is bound to be a spectacular journey but will surely never outshine the one they live hand in hand each and every day. 

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

Feed Lucas County Children expands, marks 10 years in 2012

By
Brigitta Burks
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As Feed Lucas County Children, a nonprofit combating childhood hunger in the area, celebrates its 10th anniversary and millionth meal served, some big expansion plans are in the works. 

For five years, the nonprofit has run out of the old Macomber High School building, 1501 Monroe St., where it can prepare up to 7,000 meals daily to be shipped out. As part of $1.5 million expansion, Feed Lucas County Children (FLCC) has plans to move into a 20,000-25,000-square-foot facility, giving it the capability of making 21,000 meals per day.  

“We’ve been blessed with wonderful donors over the past 10 years and now that the word’s getting out, we’re seeing more and more people realizing this is a huge impact that we can have,” said Emily Laurel, development coordinator for FLCC. At press time, the FLCC board was still finalizing the exact location of the new kitchen and whether it will be a rehabbed or newly constructed facility, she said.  

Laurel said that the goal is for FLCC to be in its new location by Jan. 1, 2013. 

 “All of our electricity and all of our gas lines are just completely maxed out. We can’t add more equipment so we need a bigger kitchen,” she said. “Time is of the essence for us because this building is deteriorating so the sooner, the better.” 

FLCC’s new home will also include a serving area so it can feed children on site and potentially be rented out by other groups. The nonprofit, known for its nutritious meals, also plans to host cooking classes on how to make healthy meals with resources on hand, Laurel said. 

Over its history, state officials have recognized FLCC for its contributions to feeding children, said Tony Siebeneck, FLCC’s executive director and founder. When he started FLCC in 2002, it served 7,231 meals at two sites during its first summer and operated out of area churches. Now it prepares up to 7,000 meals daily at 80 locations. 

“When we started this, we really didn’t know what was going to happen … we did not realize it was going to get this large,” Siebeneck said, adding that one reason his nonprofit is so successful is because of its commitment to one cause. 

Siebeneck became aware of Lucas County’s childhood hunger rate through reading articles. “I didn’t believe it. I just thought, ‘Ah, here’s another bleeding heart story,’” he said. After research, he realized the extent of childhood hunger and decided to do something about it. He left his job in the agriculture industry and started FLCC. 

“I loved [my old job], but I got kind of tired of working for corporate America and I thought most people talk about helping others, but they really don’t do anything about it.  I just kind of felt, ‘Let’s not be a talker, let’s be a doer,’” he said. Siebeneck spent much of his own cash on FLCC and nearly became bankrupt. 

“I’ve put a lot my personal financing and time and energy into this way back 10 years ago. It came with a lot of hard knocks, but it was well worth it,” he said.  

Siebeneck grew up on a farm near Bellefontaine, Ohio, and has his own experience with hunger. 

“I grew up hungry. I knew what it was like to go without,” he said. 

FLCC’s success was set to be celebrated Aug. 24 at the Believe Center, 1 Aurora Gonzalez Drive. The Believe Center, which stresses the importance of family involvement, also has plans for the future. This fall, it plans to offer a women’s eight-week full figure fitness program, which includes yoga, Zumba, healthy cooking classes and childcare, said Juanita Duran, who operates the center with her family. The Duran family started a sports program 15 years ago, but transitioned to include other programming in May after moving into the Aurora Gonzalez Building and taking on a new name. 

“It’s important that children and the parents are coming to the event this Friday because we want everyone to be together,” said Duran, who used her social work expertise to expand programming. The center will also offer several other activities this fall, including Parkour. 

The Aug. 24 event was also set to include a bouncy house, an obstacle course and prize giveaways, Laurel said. Other social service agencies were also expected to be on site to distribute information and the Believe Center had school supplies for children accompanied by their parents. 

Despite a very successful tenure, Siebeneck said FLCC has more work to do as there are an estimated 25,000 hungry children in Lucas County. However, he and Laurel have high hopes. 

“Once we get this kitchen, which we will, we’re going to hit that 2 million (meal) mark and it’s not going to take 10 years, it’s going to take less than three,” he said. 

The expansion project coupled with help from FLCC’s partnering agencies has the potential to eliminate childhood hunger in the area, Laurel said. Still, more volunteers, awareness and funds are needed. 

“You can educate people, you can talk to people about us, you can post on Facebook about us … you can come down and donate your time, donate your money, donate your ideas,” she said. 

For more information, visit http://www.feedlucaschildren.org/. 

Venue opens on Adams

By
Brigitta Burks
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Connie Hoffmann, a former manager of Erie Street Market, has another “reasonably priced but elegant” events venue in the works.

“We can do everything and do it really nice, but I’m not going to go overboard with my prices because the need is for a low price,”said Hoffmann, who managed the market that ceased event scheduling in February.

Hoffmann left the market about a year and half before event scheduling ended and opened Adams Street Antiques and Art in November. Her latest venture is located at 1717 Adams St., Toledo, in the old IBC building just down the street from her antique store.

“[Opening an events venue has] been in the works since I’ve been on Adams Street and seen all the traffic. It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Hoffmann said.

The venue is still unnamed, but will house its first event, Decades of Diva, a charity fashion event benefiting St. Paul’s Community Center, NAMI of Greater Toledo, the Janet Phleger Foundation and the UpTown Association at 6:30 p.m. May 19.

The business owner decided to open her event venue to host charity events and wedding  functions at a reasonable rate. She has not officially decided on rates, but said, “It’s going to bealong the same lines that I charged at the market. There’s a base fee and then extras are a little bit more,” she said.

Hoffmann said she hopes her venue serves as an alternative for outdoor spaces. “If it’s  lousy, lousy weather, they need a backup place and that’s where I would come in,” she said.

The 7,000-square-foot event space may feature a patio one day and boxing rings like it used to. It already has a runway, parking and a kitchen open to caterers, Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann also plans to use security, if needed, at events. “I want all problems solved before they get to be problems and with the group that I have, that happens,” she said.

Hoffmann said that after the venue goes “full blown” in June she may hire six to 10 employees down the road.

For more information, call Hoffmann at (419) 206-5575.

Elmore’s Schedel Gardens offers respite into nature

By
Toledo Free Press
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Schedel Arboretum & Gardens is 30 miles east of Downtown Toledo. It features 17 acres along the Portage River in Elmore. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr.

It’s only 30 minutes east of Downtown Toledo, but visiting Elmore’s Schedel Arboretum & Gardens is like entering another world.

“When you come onto the grounds, especially when you enter the lower area, it’s like not even being in Northwest Ohio anymore,” said Superintendent of Grounds Jeff Saffran. “It actually seems like a different climate down there sometimes. Being sheltered like it is, it’s warmer and we’re even able to grow some plants here on the grounds that are usually difficult to grow around here.”

The 17-acre property along the Portage River was once the home of Joseph and Marie Schedel. The couple traveled widely, collecting plants as well as antique jade, bronze and other collectibles from more than 110 countries.

Later in life, the Schedels, who had no children, established a foundation in their name that would allow for thepreservation of the property. When they died in the 1980s, they left the property to the Joseph J. & Marie P. Schedel Foundation with instructions to open it to the public, a dream realized in 1991.

One of the most popular parts of the property is the Japanese garden, featuring a 30-foot waterfall, red torii gate, wooden bridges and four stonepagodas the Schedels brought back from Japan, said Rod Noble, executive director for the gardens.

“They really loved the orient culture and spent a lot of time there,” Noble said. “We have over 40 varieties of Japanese maple trees here and some of those were picked up in their travels.”

Also among trees on the grounds are a stand of the Dawn Redwoods once thought to be extinct, three Yoshino cherry trees grown from cuttingsoff the trees that blossom each year around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., a much-larger-than-normal mugo pine and a bristlecone pine, one of the oldest known species of life on Earth, Noble said.

“Arboretum means a collection of trees,” Noble said.

The property also features two fouracre lakes, a reflecting pool with water lilies, a fruit orchard, vegetable garden, kitchen garden featuring more than 100 varieties of ornamental hot peppers, a collection of more than 100 bonsai trees and more than 20 sculptures.

Visitors can also view more than 100 flower beds whose designs change every year, including an iris garden, peony garden, perennial garden, rose garden and more.

A children’s garden has been proposed, but is dependent on funding, Noble said. More than 80 volunteers help plant flowers and care for the beds.

The grounds are popular for  weddings, with more than 30 scheduled for this season, Noble said.

Birds commonly seen at the garden include bald eagles, mute swans, great white herons, great blue egrets and kingfishers, Noble said.

The Schedels’ home, called the Manor House, was built in the late 1800s. It still contains many of their possessions, including part of their jade, ivory and bronze collection, including pieces up to 5,000 years old.

At one time, the Schedels held one of the world’s most significant privately held collections of jade, Noble said.

A shelf of passports full of stamps attests to their travels. The home also houses a gift shop.

Noble hopes the gardens allow visitors to reconnect with nature.

“We try to provide opportunities for the appreciation and study of nature and the arts,” Noble said.

“It seems like this generation gets so much of its stimulus from electronics and we feel like our role is even more important because it seems like the appreciation of nature has diminished in today’s generation.”

Noble, who has been executive director for three years, follows in the footsteps of his father, Reginald, who was director for 12 years before him.

“I’ve got the best job in the world just because of the beauty I get to see every day,” Noble said. “Really and truly you could come here once a week and see something different. If I’m gone for a few days and comeback, a lot of times I’m just amazed at how much it has changed.”

Visiting

All visits to the grounds start at the Brown Welcome Center’s information desk, where visitors can pick up a brochure and map for a self-guided walking tour of the gardens.

Guided tours are available by appointment only for $60. Special evening guided garden tours are set for 6:30 p.m. June 7, July 5, Aug. 2 and Sept. 6. Cost is$12. Guided tours of the Manor House and summer home are available for $8 on Wednesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m.

The garden is open May 1 throughOct. 31. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays and closed Mondays. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors (60 and older), $9 for AAA members with card, $6 for children age 6 to 12 and free for children age 5 and younger.

Katie Boss of Genoa recently visited the gardens for the third time. “It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen,” Boss said. “The flowers and landscaping are so perfectly manicured. I even saw bamboo. It’s a dream every time I go. My friend Manny (Bowling Green artist Emmanuel Enriquez) has a few really nice sculptures in the garden. It’s such a great story how this couple, the Schedels, would want to
leave a legacy for generations to enjoy.”

Upcoming events

The third annual Gardens, Wine and Food Festival, set for 6-9 p.m. June 15, is a fundraiser to benefit the Schedels’ foundation.

This year’s event will have a South American theme, featuring South American wines and
music and food by Stella’s and Swig in Perrysburg, Noble said. Tickets are $50.

Another fundraiser is the ninth annual Hidden Garden Party, set for Sept. 9. Tickets are $150 or $1,000 for a table of eight. The event includes gourmet dining, live music, celebrity-hosted live auction and silent auction.

Other upcoming events include:

  • May 23: Container Gardening, taught by Cindy Bench of Bench Farms, 6:30 p.m., $12, reservations required.
  • June 13, Aug. 15: Basic Bonsai Care, taught by Rod Noble, 10 a.m., $12, reservations required.
  • July 12: Indoor Arrangements,taught by florist Jilly Gray of Bloom, 6:30 p.m., $12, reservations required.
  • July 26: Pond Clinic, Ottawa County Soil and Water Conservation District, 6:30 p.m., $12.
  •  July 28: Butterfly and Bird Walk, led by Kenn and Kim Kaufman of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, 10 a.m., $12, reservations required.
  • Aug. 9: Corsage and Boutonniere Workshop, taught by florist Ellen Saffran, 6:30 p.m., $12.
  • Sept. 12: Deadline for an annual amateur photography contest for photos taken at the gardens between September 2011 and Aug. 31.

Schedel Arboretum & Gardens is located at 19255 W. Portage River
South Road in Elmore. For more information, call (419) 862-3182 or visit
www.schedel-gardens.org.

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