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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.

‘You Are Here’ art to adorn city

By
Morgan Delp
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Alan Stucker installs Angie Baker's sticker for the Collingwood Arts Center. Photo courtesy Arts Commission/AIGA

Art and technology meet with Toledo’s newest public art project, “You Are Here” (YAH).

The project consists of 100 3-feet-wide laminated circles, which will be fixed to the ground in front of various sites around Toledo.

Each circle, designed by one of 95 local artists, features a “quick response” or “QR” code, which when scanned bya smartphone directs the viewer to an application with information about the artwork and location of the dot.

Set to launch May 22, 2012, with a reception at The Valentine Theatre, the collaborative effort between the Arts Commission and the Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) aims to connect the community of Toledo by encouraging“urban art and public exploration” and “highlighting significant locations around the city,” according to Dan Hernandez, Art in Public  Places Coordinator for the Arts Commission.

“The idea of engaging 95 artists and having them design 100 designs specifically for 100 sites is an opportunity for people to go revisit these sites they may have visited in the past,” Hernandez said. “Allowing the community to revisit these locations is great.”

The 95 artists selected for the project came from a pool of 218 applicants; each had to submit three of their original pieces to be considered.

Jenn Stucker, president of AIGA and YAH coordinator, said that all sorts of artists applied, including painters, sculptors, collage artists, digital designers, a glassblower, a graffiti artist and even a basket weaver. The applicants were judged by a panel of four judges, all with a background in graphic design. Once selected, each artist was assigned a location to respond to in some artistic way.

“Some are very direct and some are abstract,” Hernandez said of the responses. “That’s where the website and app will be very helpful. Some of the abstract designs may need a little info to go with them, so each piece of artwork has a statement on the website and app.”

While some responses were drawn or designed on a computer, some were sculpted or made three-dimensionally and then photographed for the sticker, Stucker said.

There will be an exhibition in June at the Davis Building to display the actual works that were created.

“It’s really hard to choose a favorite,” Stucker said. “I was very overwhelmed by everything that came in. It felt like Christmas!”

Jacqueline Barchick, creative director for Thread Marketing Group, submitted work representative of her agency. Once selected, she worked with a team to create the sticker, which is displayed on the corner of Kenwood Boulevard and Douglas Road. This is the location of the former B’Nai Israel Congregation and current home to Central Academy of Ohio.

Barchick and her colleagues focused on the educational component that connects and binds both places, and took their project a step further. Included in their QR code app description is a link to a Facebook page they created that displays a timeline of the location’s history, and space for people to leave stories about their educational experience at either institution.

Past projects aimed at connecting and beautifying Toledo include the initiative in which giant painted frog statues were placed around the city. Stucker saidshe believes YAH will be more effective in activating Toledo because it includes more sites and showcases more local talent, along with incorporating a technological aspect that deepens the meaning of the collaboration.

“We’re extremely excited about the project,” Hernandez said. “It is multifaceted and multi-layered, smart and complex, well-designed.”

The project was designed not only for the benefit of Toledoans, but especially for the 1,200-1,500 visitors that will flock to the city for the Glass Art Society 42nd Annual Conference will take place June 13-16.

The stickers, which will be on display until October, cover all corners of the city.

A launch party is scheduled from 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 22 at The Valentine Theatre.

ARCA celebrating 60 seasons of racing in 2012

By
Erin Holden
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Racer Mike Young on the track at Toledo Speedway. Photo courtesy arcaracing.com

From Benny Parsons to Kyle Petty to Danica Patrick, some of NASCAR’s best drivers have honed their skills racing for a Temperance-based organization.

The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), now in its 60th season, operates Toledo Speedway and Michigan’s Flat Rock Speedway as well as the ARCA Truck Series, ARCA CRA Super Series and ARCA Racing Series, which includes races at Daytona International  Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

ARCA organizes about 100 stock car races a year, grooming future NASCAR stars as well as offering regional drivers the opportunity to pursue their passion, said ARCA president Ron Drager.

“I could list you 50 more, but those are examples of people who found their way to where they went by coming through our series,” said Drager, grandson of ARCA cofounders John and Mildred Marcum.

“I’d say two-thirds to three-quarters of any given starting lineup on a Sunday for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race are people who have raced in our tour.”

Former NASCAR driver and ARCA team owner Ken Schrader started racing for ARCA in the 1980s, having already driven for NASCAR.

“A lot of guys work their way through ARCA on the way to NASCAR; I kind of did it ass backward,” Schrader told Toledo Free Press, laughing. “I’m just really a fan of the series. To get the experience of running a big, ol’ heavy car, it’s the best place. You don’t need to learn to drive a 3,400-pound car at 200 mph at Talladega. With ARCA, you can learn at 120 mph at Toledo and work your way up.”

Toledo and Flat Rock are two of about 900 regional racetracks across the country, Drager
said.

“That’s the ground-level grassroots of the sport,” Drager  said. “If you aspire to become a professional race car driver at the highest level, we as ARCA feel we offer a very effective and valuable opportunity for a young driver. If you want to race in the Daytona 500, you can race on the same track, in the same type of car, with the people who own the cars that race in the Daytona 500 watching you. That’s an opportunity we offer that nobody else does.”

Ty Dillon, the 20-year-old grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, was the 2011 ARCA Racing Series champion. This season he is racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“It’s a great series,” Dillon said of ARCA during television commentary of Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in Daytona Beach, Fla., ARCA’s biggest race of the season. “You get to come places like this and learn how to race at the tracks you’ll be learning at in the NASCAR rankings.”

While many ARCA drivers are aiming for NASCAR, others compete for decades at the regional level as a hobby, often serving as mentors, Drager said.

“People like the Kimmels, the Venturinis, Andy Hillenburg, Andy Belmont, Mark Gibson, these are people who have won races and championships as a driver in ARCA and have
found their niche,” Drager said.

One up-and-coming ARCA driver is 19-year-old Toledo native Levi Youster. Youster was racing sprint cars at Toledo Speedway when he was spotted by Wayne Hixson, who invited the then-16-year-old to join his Tennessee-based Hixon Motorsports team. Youster moved to Tennessee, but returns to Toledo, where his family still lives, during off-seasons.

Youster’s dream is to drive for NASCAR, but said he would also like to become a team owner and pay forward the opportunity Hixson gave to him.

“He saw potential and really wanted to develop me as a driver and teach me everything he could. He knew I didn’t have as much money as a lot of these kids out here and he gave
me a break knowing I would work for it,” Youster said.

“I think the biggest thing ARCA’s taught me is you can’t let off one lap, you can’t go 80 percent, you have to give it everything you have every time or otherwise you’re not going to do decent.”

The celebration of ARCA’s 60th season is also bittersweet, as Mildred died Jan. 9, shortly before the season opened. After John died in 1981, Mildred continued to operate races at both Toledo and Flat Rock into her 80s and was a daily fixture in the ARCA offices until her death at age 98, Drager said.

“For everybody in the building it was an inspiration. She was part of the sport when it was pretty much open Wild West and was part of helping organize and form the sport,” Drager
said.

“Nobody is crying in their beer because whatever you’re supposed to get out of life on this earth, she got 98 years’ worth and she didn’t leave much on the table. But certainly you can’t help but expect her to come heading down the hallway, peeking around the doorway to see if you’re busy.”

Even though ARCA has been around for six decades, “It’s like agiant secret,” said Don Radebaugh, ARCA communications and electronic media manager.

Drager’s goal is for people to think of Toledo Speedway the way they think of Fifth Third Field, Huntington Center or Savage Arena.

“We take it as a daily challenge to have Toledo Speedway be thought of in the same thought process as the Mud Hens and the Walleye and University of Toledo athletics,” Drager said. “We’re located within city limits and we very much feel like we’re part of the city. We’d like to be considered an entertainment option just like the ball game.”

Toledo Speedway will host the ARCA Racing Series’ Menards 200 on May 20, 2012. The tour will also race at Michigan International Speedway on June 15.

The ARCA Fan Fest is set for 10a.m. May 19, featuring interactive displays, two practices,  pole qualifying event and the ARCA Truck Series season opener at 5 p.m. On May 20,drivers will sign autographs on the track at noon, with prerace ceremonies at 1:15 p.m. The race starts at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on SPEED TV at 5 p.m.

Among the racers will be NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Joey Coulter; 2011 ARCA Rookie of the Year Chris Buescher; points leader Brennan Poole; ARCA’s first 15-year-old competitor Erik Jones; past ARCA winners Bobby Gerhart and Mikey Kile; andOhio drivers Youster, Chad Hackenbracht, Jared Marks, Tim Cowen and Tommy O’Leary IV.

For more information, visit the website www.arcaracing.com

Rathbun: Do you have a blueprint for your financial house?

By
Gary Rathbun
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Last time I talked about the difference between a fiduciary and an investment adviser that operates from a suitability standard. The conclusion is always that it is better to
have a fiduciary working for you.

As a fiduciary, it is important that we lay out a “blueprint” for your financial house that is customized to you and one that you understand.

The blueprint I am referring to is the Investment Policy Statement or IPS. An IPS describes the investment philosophies and investment management procedures to be utilized for the investment portfolio.

The principal reason for developing an IPS and for putting it in writing is to enable both the client and the investment adviser to protect your portfolio from ad hoc revisions of a sound long-term policy. The IPS is intended to provide a well-thought-out framework from which sound investment decisions can be made.

The building of a house always begins with the foundation. In this case, the foundation is formed by determining the risk tolerance that you are comfortable with. This is  determined both in writing, using a risk tolerance questionnaire, and also with personal meetings to discuss attitudes and concerns.

I often compare what I do to the work of a physician. When you go to the doctor, especially for the first time, he or she will ask you a hundred questions about your health, family history, attitudes toward your general welfare, etc.

When working with a financial adviser, there is little difference. It is important that I know my clients’ risk tolerances and also their attitudes toward money, the economy, taxes, inflation, government and what their needs and expectations are going forward.

We not only need to agree on what vehicles to use and which ones not to use but also what benchmarks to use when measuring performance. It is vital to know liquidity needs both now and in the future as well as any legal or legislative constraints.

A competent fiduciary will analyze the current investment positions in their entirety to make sure no position is “overweighted” in any one company, sector or geographical region.

The IPS will fully describe the asset allocation for the portfolio. So, depending on the risk tolerance, maximum percentages will be determined for each category and sector of investments, e.g., equities, fixed income, alternative and cash.

Under equities, for example, we will have allocation schedules to large cap growth and value, mid cap, small cap, emerging growth and international. Fixed income might include short- or long-term bonds, tax-free municipals, government bonds, CDs, or private debentures.

Inflation protection might include precious metals, TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protection Securities) commodities or foreign currencies. The list of investment vehicles can be very long or quit short depending on the preferences of each individual client.

An IPS, just like a visit to the doctor, should be reviewed on a regular basis. In this fast paced society, a client’s needs and/or attitudes can change very quickly and the IPS needsto be flexible enough to compensate and adapt to those changes.

Finally, the IPS will spell out the frequency and types of meetings and communication for both parties. All too often I have talked to people who have said they have not talked to their adviser for along time. The IPS addresses this and prevents both parties from ignoring or neglecting the other.

If your adviser does not put together a complete investment policy statement for you, you are letting him or her off the hook for looking out for your best interest. I know that it takes some time to go through this process but the rewards are certainly worth it, not to mention the protection it offers.

It is my opinion that it won’t be long before every investment adviser is required to operate from a fiduciary standard. You need to demand it now from your adviser or you need to get a new adviser. I can think of only one that I would absolutely recommend, who will always look out for your
best interest. O

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

Innovative online program helps area nursing students

By
Erin Holden
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Whether it’s watching a video to review a concept learned in class,taking a practice test or utilizing a virtual reference bookshelf, Assessment Technology Institute (ATI) is helping area nursing students hone the skills they will need in their careers.

The Internet-based nursing education program, launched in 2006, is used by more than 20,000 instructors and 225,000 students in about 2,100 colleges and universities nationwide, according to ATI. The content is developed and written by nurses and the program can be accessed from any Internet-enabled computer.

Locally, the program is used at Lourdes University, Mercy College, Owens Community College, Stautzenberger College, Toledo School of Practical Nursing and the University of Toledo, according to ATI. Stautzenberger is the most recent school to add ATI to its nursing curriculum. The first class began using the program in January, said Kelly Burkholder-Allen, assistant administrator of Stautzenberger’s practical nursing program.

“We have just implemented it to the very first group, so it will take a while to build our database and learn from it, but there has been nothing thus far that has not impressed my socks right off,” Burkholder-Allen said.

ATI is customizable to accommodate any curriculum or learning style. “A lot of our students are part of a video and online age and I think this speaks to them. It’s not static; it’s very
dynamic,” Burkholder-Allen said. “If a student is a visual learner, there are interactive  graphics and online tutorials. If students are audio learners, there is an audio portion in conjunction with the video that is fantastic. There is also step-by-step information with chartsand pictures that work with students who do well with written material.”

Owens Community College has been using ATI since 2007, said Amy Dixon, assistant chair of nursing atOwens. She said she often hears from students who wish they would have utilized ATI’s study tools more and sooner than they did.

Owens plans to trial a new ATI program, Real Life Clinical Reasoning Scenarios, thissummer. Students will watch video scenarios of patients and their symptoms andchoose how to respond. The outcome of the video will change depending on their responses.

For more information, visit the website atitesting.com.

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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0

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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0
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.

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