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City finance director reflects on year with lobbying firm

By
Caitlin McGlade
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From left, Sean Dunn, Lisa Dodge and Christie Angel. Photo courtesy Sean P. Dunn and Associates.

A year has passed since the city hired a lobbying firm to represent Toledo’s interests in Columbus and the city finance director says the anniversary marks a success.

Sean P. Dunn & Associates has enabled Toledo to balance its budget and keep a close eye on discussions that fill the state’s House and senate floors, said Patrick McLean, city finance director.

The three lobbyists, Sean Dunn, Lisa Dodge and Christie Angel, are Columbus-based and represent nearly 25 associations, health care systems and companies. Toledo is the group’s only municipal client.

City Council approved the hire for $60,000 a year April 5, 2011.

“When cities are already struggling and the state has been struggling too trying to balance its budget, there is no more important time to have a lobbying presence in Columbus than right now,” McLean said.

McLean referenced the $48 million deficit that faced Mayor Mike Bell’s administration when he took office, combined with the dwindling amount of money eked out of the state each
year. Toledo received $25 million from the state in 2007; by 2013, the city will get only about $8 million.

One of the ways the city has handled the predicament is by going after delinquent taxes. In 2010, the extra effort pulled in $4.1 million in delinquent taxes, followed by $4.5 million in 2011.

Talks in Columbus are threatening to hinder the city’s efforts, McLean said. Proposals have began floating around that would centralize tax collection, authorizing the state to collect on behalf of cities. McLean said he doubts that a centralized force collecting taxes from numerous other entities would be able to act as aggressively as the city has. That’s where Sean P. Dunn & Associates comes in.

The lobbyists call McLean at the first hint of talks like these, McLean said. Then, they can take measures to try to stop proposals from further motion.

“Sometimes success is seen in what does not happen rather than what does happen,” he said.

He said a concrete example of success was the sale of parking garages.

The city needed to sell the garages to balance its budget but wording in a statute forbade the municipality from transferring the property. Basically, the city owned the meters but it did not own the streets where the meters sat. Up to the deadline on the state floors, Sean P. Dunn & Associates were able to change the law and the city then sold the garages to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

The sale brought in $13 million. About $5 million went to resolve debt and about $7.8 fed the general fund.

The deal enabled the city to balance its budget, McLean said.

Councilman Tom Waniewski, who opposed hiring the lobbying firm last year, said he would expect the firm to perform its job well but that doesn’t change his original contention.

“We elect state representatives; aren’t they supposed to be lobbying on our behalf down there?”

Waniewski also took issue with the difficulties encountered in reaching the lobbying firm as well as acquiring basic information about what the group has accomplished. He said he asked for an update from the city in January and hadn’t received anything until recently. He said he called Sean P. Dunn & Associates last week and is still waiting for a return call.

McLean said he talks to the lobbyists often — depending on the issue at hand he might converse with them several times a week. Dunn said legislators are the strongest lobbyists because they have the votes, but that these elected officials and their small staffs are inundated with a gamut of issues. Private lobbying firms can narrow their focus to a particular bill or interest, he said.

“Their whole world is a constant kind of drinking from a fire hose so they’re very willing to help the city and their region, but the role we often fill is helping the city as our client efficiently deal with them,” Dunn said. McLean added that representatives and state senators do not cover just the city; the city might be only a portion of their constituency.

“It would be unfair of us to ask [State Rep.] Teresa Fedor (D-47) to stop representing everyone else and just represent us,” he said. “She couldn’t do it and quite frankly she shouldn’t do it.”

The city has a three-year contract with Sean P. Dunn & Associates but the deal will be up for renewal in a couple of months. McLean seeks to renew the contract.

Dunn, Dodge and Angel said they’re eyeing a fund for local governments called the Local Government Innovation Fund. The firm aims to help the city apply for a loan or grant that encourages local governments to collaborate with each other. Whatever projects they might seek are still in the draft stages, the firm said.

Churches, agencies partner to develop South Toledo

By
Caitlin McGlade
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Christian van Rafelghem and Randi Nosen, University of Toledo students, collect information on a property in South Toledo. Toledo Free Press photo by Caitlin McGlade.

A kid, sunken into clothes at least three sizes too large, walked alone Saturday morning down an alley between two houses that leaned painfully toward the earth.

Just up the block, groups of volunteers holding clipboards canvassed his South Toledo neighborhood, logging to what extent gutters, paint, foundations, windows and other furnishings needed help.

Pastor David Kaiser, who runs the South Toledo Community Center at the New Kingdom Baptist Church on Broadway Street, estimates that at least 1,000 homes in this kid’s neighborhood lie vacant. He said this particularly becomes a problem when you have a derelict house, like one on Crittenden Avenue, marked too dangerous for firefighters to enter if it catches fire sandwiched between two homes in which families live. Or when you have a little girl living in a house on Thomas Street surrounded by abandoned homes now frequented by drug peddlers and prostitutes.

Millions of federal, state and local dollars are available that could help repair the salvageable houses and demolish the goners. But organizers need hard data to bring those dollars here.

The volunteers holding clipboards took the first step in that direction on March 24. Most of them were University of Toledo students, deployed by 1Matters, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS)/NeighborWorks, the South Toledo Community Center and other players.

The next piece will fall into place this summer, when volunteers will go door to door to interview residents about their community’s needs. Data will then be compiled and shipped off to secure loans and grants. The goal is to know exactly what needs fixed and what needs torn down. A similar program has already worked in another Toledo neighborhood.

NHS/NeighborWorks conducted surveys in the Birmingham neighborhood and procured a quarter of a million dollars in low interest loans for low-income families to fix up their homes. NeighborWorks America awarded the grants last fall, said Bob Krompak, an economic development specialist with NHS/Neighborworks.

“This neighborhood needs a lot of love and a lot of help but there are still a lot of viable businesses,” Krompak said.

Neglect

Lourdes Santiago, director of the city’s department of neighborhoods, said the area has been neglected for too long.

Evidence is in the rows of cracked foundations, the peeling paint, the duct tape and plastic trash bags that pretend to be window panes. Or it’s in the boarded-up doorways, signs aggressively mandating “KEEP OUT” and the graveyards for old toys laid to rest among trash heaps and corroded metal fencing.

There is a cavernous hole in the concrete at the end of the alley that leads from Kaiser’s church. A single orange barrel, contorted and scuffed, crouches near the hole’s edge. Kaiser wonders if it’s only a matter of time before a child climbs in to explore and gets stuck somewhere in the netherworld beneath the street.

Folks living on the 600 and 500 blocks of Walbridge Avenue — the few who haven’t left or been foreclosed upon — had grown accustomed to the half-demolished Jones Jr. High building off Broadway Street. Its skeleton stood for more than a year before demolition picked up again just within the past couple of months. Down the road, a gutted elementary school on Newbury Street had become part of the landscape up until just a few weeks ago. Now the structure is completely gone, the land covered with a smooth coat of dirt.

Change in scenery

Santiago stood up before a group of South Toledo residents during a community meeting March 27 and told them things are soon to change.

“Rather than a neighborhood that has been neglected, you are now a neighborhood that is at the top of the list,” she said. The gaping pit that was once Jones Jr. High, for example, will soon be open land. Santiago said Toledo Public Schools is giving the city first dibs on the property. And the city’s looking to turn that space into a commercial garden, she said.

The Lucas County Land Bank, which seeks to remove blight by acquiring vacant homes and slating them for demolition, is working on a few properties in South Toledo. But the projects are about to multiply. The land bank is eyeing $5 million to $10 million that the area could secure because of mortgage settlements through the attorney general’s office.

The grant program might allow the agency to tear down between 1,000 and 1,200 properties across the city over a two year period. To put that in perspective, the City of Toledo tears down about 300 to 400 properties a year, said David Mann, the executive director of the land bank.

One of the bank’s biggest challenges is finding fresh data, so programs like the South Toledo housing survey help direct the agency to problem areas, Mann said. Kaiser and his Broadway Corridor Coalition, a group of churches, government agencies, individuals and ministries, seek to have one house built for every two taken down.

Mann said demolition is going to be the priority for removing blight.

“We certainly have more houses than we need in the City of Toledo,” Mann said. “The reason we have a lot of abandoned houses is not just because of the housing crisis — we have a lot of folks who have moved from Toledo and moved out to the suburbs.”

Toledo enjoyed population growth from 1940 until 1970, reaching about 383,800. But by the 1980 census, population had declined to 354,635. The trend continued; 287,208 residents were recorded in the 2010 census. Just 10 years prior, the census had recorded 313,619.

Not the End

So do all of these upcoming demolitions mean job opportunities? That’s Kaiser’s goal. His church serves free breakfast a couple times a week.

Starting at 8 a.m., prostitutes, ex-cons and pimps are among those gathering around hot trays full of bacon and eggs. They are tranquil and silent as they eat. Some share tables and others sit alone. They wear anything from dense cloaks to short shorts.

Many of them sleep outside or in abandoned houses because they don’t have jobs. The trouble is that many of them can’t get jobs. Their criminal records doom their job applications to the trash pile.
Kaiser wants to find them work. He knows many of them have construction backgrounds. So he aims to either get these people hooked up with contractors or form a contracting organization that could be used for upcoming demolitions.

Kaiser told the attendees at his community meeting that he’s consciously not calling South Toledo the “South End” anymore.

Because this, he said, is not the end.

Former Libbey principal and alumni discuss school memorabilia

By
Brigitta Burks
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An excavator works on the last remnants of the Libbey High School building on Western Avenue. Photo courtesy Bruce Taylor

About eight alumni of the shutdown Libbey High School met with the former principal of the school to continue discussing a plan for memorabilia on March 26.

Gayle Schaber, the last Libbey principal and current director of special projects and compensatory programs for Toledo Public Schools (TPS), told the group, “This is not going to get done in three months or six months; we’re going to be working together for the foreseeable future.”

Much of the group, including members of nonprofit Libbey High School Alumni Inc. (LHSA), attended a March 5 meeting. Schaber took the group’s ideas to the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission (OSFC) of TPS to get a response.

TPS has given Schaber the go-ahead to give trophies to individual winners or their families if the winner is deceased. Schaber said she would be “conservative” in giving the trophies away if multiple family members want the item.

On March 5, the group had suggested that they get together to better catalog the trophies, which are in storage. A list, compiled by Schaber and released by LHSA, is available at www.site.toledolibbeyhsalumni.com/.

However, although Schaber received permission to reinventory the items, she must do it without the group’s help per TPS. “By myself was the way I was assigned it,” she said and declined to expand.

After the March 5 meeting, Schaber was able to rescue three pallets of medallions and the letters L, H and S from being auctioned on March 6. At the March 5 meeting, alumna Janet Mohamed had said the Burroughs Neighborhood Association was interested in securing pallets to create a Libbey monument. However, her group’s plan has hit a snag as gas tanks are under where the monument was slated to be built at the triangle of South Avenue and Airport Highway.

LHSA members suggested the former Libbey campus as an option for Mohamed to take back to the association in addition to applying for grants to fund the project.

Much of the meeting centered on individual plans to take place before the next meeting. Alumna and activist Sue Terrill has been working with Councilman D. Michael Collins about where to place the Lt. Robert Craig plaque, commemorating the Congressional Medal of Honor honoree, and a plaque listing the names of 106 Libbey alums who gave their lives in World War II. One option is the Veterans Affairs medical facility, scheduled to open this fall on Detroit Avenue. Terrill requested dimensions of the monuments from TPS so that plan could move forward.

In regard to housing trophies, Larrie Baccus, president of LHSA, said he would reach out to The African American Legacy Project and Schaber said she would contact the Toledo History Museum, which has indicated that it may have a 20-by-30-foot room available for Libbey items. Mohamed said she wanted to contact the Toledo Museum of Art to see if it could help.

Yearbooks were another topic touched upon. Schaber said she had extra copies of some years and the group suggested finding other copies to fill the gap years and create a complete set. One complete set is available through the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, but the group agreed that having a backup set at Bowling Green State University or University of Toledo would be preferable.

“How often do you see an 18-year-old (Craig) who has become a medal of honor winner? You see him at 18 in the yearbook,” said Larry Farren, secretary of LHSA.

Another option would be selling the extra copies to fund the project, which is not receiving funds from TPS as of now, Baccus said.

“We need to move on this. I don’t like a project that lingers,” Baccus said. However, after the meeting, he expressed optimism about the project. “I feel like we’re moving forward … hopefully, I’ll have some good news to report at the next meeting.”

The group will report their findings at the next meeting, set for 6 p.m. May 21 at Jones Elementary School. Schaber will once more report TPS’ responses to the group’s ideas at that meeting. Regardless of where the team trophies are, TPS will retain ownership of the items.

Miller: Super Mario has Tigers covered

By
Michael Miller
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Describing Mario Impemba as a baseball broadcaster is like identifying Paul McCartney as a bass player; you’re leaving out an abundance of detail.

For a decade, Detroit Tigers fans have invited Impemba into their homes 162 times each season as the play-by-play man for FOX Sports Detroit’s television coverage of every pitch and swing. But he also calls games for the Oakland Golden Grizzlies men’s basketball team, blogs at his own website, established a website honoring sports broadcasters, makes sure servicemen and women overseas get to see Tigers Opening Day and is raising two sons with his wife, Cathy.

The Michigan native and Emmy winner stepped inside from the spring training sunshine in Florida for a March 27 phone interview, a week before the Tigers visit to play the Mud Hens at Fifth Third Field.

Toledo Free Press: Your son Brett has been drafted by the Tigers organization. Have you thought of what you’d say if you get to call his first at-bat in the big leagues?

 

Impemba: He’s playing college ball at Oakland [University]; we’ll see what happens later in his career. It would be wild, but that’s so far down the road, and it is such a difficult thing for anyone to get into the big leagues. It would be neat, though.

TFP: Optimism must fit right in with the Tigers’ mood this preseason.

Impemba: It’s nice that the team is winning a lot of games, but even more than that, this team really seems like a unit with a lot of chemistry and a lot of talent. And a lot of expectations; if this team can avoid injuries, they can put together a really special year. There are a lot of great teams in the American league, and it really ought to be a fun race this year, but the Tigers should be right in the middle of it.

TFP: Are you seeing anything in the eyes of the players this year that wasn’t there last year, in terms of nervousness or confidence?

Impemba: I don’t see any nervousness; I see a lot of confidence, and a lot of guys who can’t wait to get it going. Every year as spring training winds down, the players are itching to go, but there’s a special feeling this year with Prince Fielder on board and these players are not only ready to go, they’re ready to get it done. Justin Verlander is talking about the World Series, and that’s the goal for these guys. They used to seek to make the playoffs; they’ve done that, and now they want to get to the World Series and win. There is definitely a feeling that this ball club can do it.

TFP: How is Fielder fitting in with the team?

Impemba: It’s been phenomenal. If you ask anyone who has been around the team, it’s not that we’re surprised it’s happening this way, we’re surprised it’s happening so quickly. When you have a team with this many superstars — the Tigers have three $20 million players — that can work for you or against you. Fielder has been treated very well — Miguel Cabrera has welcomed him and is even changing positions for him — and all the guys say he’s a fun-loving guy, he’s a positive influence in the clubhouse on a daily basis. He’s the complete package, and he realizes what he needs to do to live up to his contract. He is working very hard at practice every day to make sure he does live up to it.

TFP: Were you calling games when his father Cecil was swinging the bat for Detroit?

Impemba: Yes, when I got here, he was winding down with the Tigers, and I did get to see Prince when his father played for the Angels at the end of his career.

TFP: That certainly marks time, seeing a player’s son carry on the tradition.

Impemba: It makes you feel old. It’s, “Oh, my God, the kid’s dad was a big leaguer just a few days ago, now his kid’s a big leaguer.”

Mario Impembra

TFP: Verlander is coming off a historic year; what are you seeing from him at practices and games?

Impemba: His goal is to win a World Series. I talked to pitching coach Jeff Jones about this very question recently, and asked if Verlander feels any pressure to top his numbers from last year. Jones said Verlander doesn’t think in those terms, that he is one of the most focused players he has ever been around, and everything he does is with a purpose, whether it’s throwing his bullpen pitches getting ready or throwing in an actual game. His goal is to win the World Series. Not to win one more game than last year or strike out more guys or better his ERA. He wants the ring, not the just the numbers.

TFP: How is the skipper’s mood?

Impemba: Jim Leyland is more relaxed this year. I would be too, if I had Fielder and Cabrera in the middle of my lineup. Going into battle each day with those guys, you always have a pretty good chance. He understands he has a really balanced team. It’s a young team blending with some veterans who can really play, his pitching staff is solid, the backend of his bullpen is solid, his lineup 1 through 9 is going to score a lot of runs. Jim knows his team has a really good chance of winning this year, now it’s time to go out and play the games.

TFP: Leaving the field and going into the booth, you have been working with color commentator Rod Allen for a while now; do you maintain contact during the offseason?

Impemba: Rod lives in Arizona, a long way from Michigan. We do check in once in a while during the offseason, but once the season starts, it’s such a long haul, he becomes another part of your family. We have our ups and downs, but we have a great time in the booth, and we’re on the same page in trying to be as professional and entertaining as we can be.

TFP: How has technology changed the way you call a game? Have the graphics and computers forced you to adapt the way you announce?

Impemba: That’s a great question. When I first started calling minor league ballgames in the mid-1980s, we had stat sheets that were faxed to us every morning, and that was it. No Internet, no MLB.com. It’s had a tremendous impact on how we call a game. Each year our graphics get better, our camera angles get better; it’s just a better, more polished product, and viewers benefit from that.

We can keep up with all the news from other teams, and there’s just no excuse for not being prepared for every game. The crew people in truck who look up stats, who produce, who direct, our replay guys, it’s a huge staff. Rod and I are out front on camera, but we can’t do any of what we do without the crew.

TFP: This will be the fourth year for your project Operation Opening Day. (Impemba oversees and funds the creation of a DVD that captures Tigers’ Opening Day so it can be sent to overseas servicemen and women who are Tigers fans).

Impemba: Yes, a couple of years ago I met a group of soldiers who were getting shipped out and were sad they were going to miss Opening Day. I thought, if they can’t come to the game, why can’t we take the game to them?

So we take the game, the parties, all the atmosphere surrounding a game, and soldiers can go to Tigers.com, fill out a form and we’ll send them a DVD for free. I decided to organize and fund it, and the first three years have been really good. I get so many letters from our military folks, and it helps us bring a slice of the game to them.

TFP: On April 4, the Tigers are coming to Toledo’s Fifth Third Field  to play the Mud Hens.

Impemba: We’ll be there! It will be our last dress rehearsal before Opening Day the very next day. I have been to Fandimonium a few times in Toledo and I am extremely impressed, not only with the number of fans, but the knowledge of the baseball fans there. It’s a great ballpark and I can’t wait to see it with the stands full. There is so much buzz around this team, I’m sure a lot of Detroit fans are going to take the short trip down to Toledo. We’re used to this beautiful Florida weather, and hopefully we’ll have some of that for the game in Toledo.

TFP: You cover all 162 games; how do you handle being on the road so much?

Impemba: When people ask me what the best part of my job is, I say the travel, and when they ask me what the worst part of my job is, I say the travel. It’s great to go to all these cities and see all these ballparks. It’s what I dreamt of as a kid. It’s a great thrill.

But I missed a lot of my kids’ lives as they grew up. I missed a lot of sporting events, a lot of concerts. That’s the difficult part of what I do, and there’s a part of me that feels like I’m not being a very good dad, because I’m not there for these things. But I realize that this is what I do for a living to give my kids a good chance. They have grown up to be great kids, but it’s difficult to leave my family for the whole summer.

TFP: It must be a little easier when the team is winning.

Impemba: It’s certainly better than in 2003, when we lost 119 games. But even in those times I realized I was going to the ballpark for a living, so it can’t be all that bad.

 

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at [email protected].

FLCC program takes Lucas County children to camp

By
Brigitta Burks
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AmeriCorps VISTA worker Khalfani Rice loved summer camp as a child — so much so that he wants to bring that experience to 600 Lucas County children at no cost.

Rice found the missing piece to his dream in Tony Siebeneck, executive director of Feed Lucas County Children (FLCC), a nonprofit that provides hungry children with nutritional meals.

“For me, this is kinda a personal thing. This is something I wanted to do since I started going to camp. When I found Tony, he was definitely growing the same idea,” said Rice, who attended Camp Big Silver as a kid. He received his degree in recreation education from Bowling Green State University.

The free Lucas County Kids Camp is slated to run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 11 to Aug. 16 at Knights Academy and Aurora Gonzalez Center. Rice and Siebeneck hope to draw in 600 area children from first to sixth grades. So far, about 120 children have signed up. Anyone is welcome, but the camp is targeting children who live near the sites.

“It’s awesome when [children] can get some good leadership, some good fun, build some self-esteem; these are the main things that kids may not have a chance/privilege to receive. The word is out, so if you want to come to the camp, you can come, but mainly we’re thinking the kids in the area will show up,” Rice said. Rice and Siebeneck believe that the program could be duplicated throughout the area to help even more kids in the future.

Rice approached a master’s class in social work at the University of Toledo for help. The class decided to form committees to help organize the camp as part of a project.

“It’s really important to keep the kids off the street in the summer and keep them occupied. A lot of kids don’t get healthy, hearty meals during the summer so this is something that’s gonna be really good for them,” said Emily Stanley, chair of the finance committee.

Part of the reason for the camp is the cutbacks on pools and recreation in Toledo. “In Toledo, everyone’s running around with their heads cut off trying to figure out what to do with the kids this summer,” Siebeneck said.

“You look at recent crimes and violence that happened here in the city, and there’s definitely a need for some kind of programming,” Rice added.

The camp will also provide two meals a day, and Siebeneck plans to serve the same type of healthy fare he does through Feed Lucas County Children, which has fed up to 7,200 in one day.

Physical activity is another important camp component. “Kids’ eating habits with McDonald’s cheeseburgers only being $1, that’s where the main diet is coming from now; it’s fast food. Even the video game or gamer generation we’re going through now, which is OK, a lot of kids aren’t receiving any exercise or, honestly, sunlight that you should receive as a youth,” Rice said.

The fact that the camp is free is also crucial. Siebeneck said about 25,000 area children live at or below the poverty level.

“If it’s $5 to get in and [children] don’t have $5, it’s horrible. If it’s free, come in and have a good time,” Rice said.

The camp is also working with educators to develop a curriculum for the camp, Siebeneck said.

“Everybody comes to us for the food, but we know it’s not just the food; it’s the education, it’s the package deal,” he added. “Kids learn by activity. Even if they don’t think they’re learning something, they are.”

Some potential activities include keeping up a community garden and making birdhouses in addition to physical exercise.

These activities breed confidence, Siebeneck said. “You’re telling me these kids aren’t going to be pumped up because someone showed them how to build a birdhouse? They’re gonna go home with their little chests puffed out.”

Still the camp needs about $13,000 to fund itself. Donations of sporting equipment, school, gardening and arts supplies are also accepted, Stanley said.

Some groups are already helping out. St. John’s Jesuit High School and St. Francis De Sales High School students are donating sporting equipment to the camp.

“I’m kinda excited that we got the younger people involved,” said Gary Zarembski, who volunteers with FLCC on the business side.

“The thing that I loved about it is there was no resistance. They said, ‘Yeah, we can do that, that’s a good thing,’” he said.

Time and effort will also be accepted, Siebeneck said, who added that he plans to get parents involved. So far, about 35 people have agreed to volunteer, but Siebeneck said more adults are needed.

“You’re bringing in your own passion and interests to help the kids; now we’re talking,” Zarembski said.

The camp will give kids a chance get away from some of the pressures in their modern lives, Rice said.

“The world and society, what it does to kids, is it doesn’t allow them to be kids. When you have an experience where you can actually be at a camp, you have an opportunity where you can return to being a kid again and just enjoy life for a moment,” he said.

Donations can be sent to Siebeneck, P.O. Box 9363, Toledo, 43697-9363. For more information or to sign your child up, call (419) 260-9265.

Pounds: Put me in, Coach

By
Tom Pounds
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Illustration by Penny Collins

Mud Hens Opening Day rocks. The streets around Fifth Third Field are alive with excited conversation, live music and the buzz of people filled with optimism and pride.

This year’s Toledo Free Press Opening Day issue, compiled and edited by Special Sections Editor Sarah Ottney, positively thrums with the vibrations of a young season. We are grateful to our staff, advertisers, readers and the Mud Hens organization for helping to make this issue one of our biggest and best of the year.

We asked local illustrator Penny Collins to create a cover that embodied the sense of community and fun Opening Day inspires. She rose to the challenge with an image that contains nearly every element of the sights and feel of the first home game of the season. In her grand image are many notable (or notorious) local figures.

See if you can spot:

  • Ed Beczynski (The Blarney Irish Pub)
  • Toledo Mayor Mike Bell
  • Crystal Bowersox
  • Lee Conklin (13abc)
  • Leon “Bull” Durham (Mud Hens hitting coach)
  • Jamie Farr
  • Former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner
  • Former Toledo Mayor Jack Ford
  • Shaun Hegarty (FOX Toledo)
  • Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise

    CLICK TO ENLARGE: Illustration by Penny Collins

  • Rep. Marcy Kaptur
  • Chris Kozak (Columbia Gas of Ohio)
  • Fred LeFebvre (WSPD)
  • Jim Leyland (Detroit Tigers coach)
  • Ralph Mahalak Jr. (Monroe Dodge Superstore)
  • Doni Miller (13abc)
  • Dean Monske (Regional Growth Partnership)
  • Muddy the Mud Hen
  • Mudonna
  • Racing with the Stars

Jim Flealand

Kitty Holmes

Jamie Farrmadillo

  • Richard St. Jean (Hollywood Casino Toledo)
  • Paul Toth (Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority)
  • Samuel Wurzelbacher (“Joe the Plumber”)
  • Andrew Z (Star 105)

Penny is rumored to have even worked in herself and the two faces that appear on Toledo Free Press’ Page A3 every week. You can see more of this local artist’s work at http://studio566.daportfolio.com.

There are scores of additional storylines taking place on the cover, just as there will be on Opening Day.

Enjoy this special issue, and we hope to see you at the game!

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star.

Hart named one of nation’s top ad agencies by BtoB Magazine

By
Toledo Free Press
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BtoB Magazine has recently named Hart as one of the top advertising and marketing agencies in the country. The agency, located in Maumee, has been recognized as the best small agency in BtoB’s annual list of the top best agencies across the country for the eighth consecutive year.

Hart is Northwest Ohio’s largest integrated marketing communications agency, according to the company’s website. The ad agency, operated by fewer than 50 employees, is responsible for the ad campaigns of the Ohio Lottery, the Certified Angus Beef brand, Paramount Health Care and many other companies.

BtoB, “the Magazine for Marketing Strategists,” is a monthly publication with more than 45,000 subscribers and is maintained by Crain Communications Inc. Every year, the magazine rates the country’s top 50 marketing firms based on the total percentage of the firm’s business that is “business-to-business,” a marketing term that describes the transactional relationship between two companies.

According to Hart’s news release, approximately 63 percent of Hart’s work is business-to-business, including several new clients that were added in 2011. The agency’s business grew by 15 percent last year, said President and CEO Mike Hart.

Mike Hart

“We had a great year,” he said, “but by the end of the day, we don’t talk about the numbers, but about the satisfaction of our clients.”

Other factors, such as revenue growth, new client wins, innovative work and expanded service capabilities, are considered when BtoB Magazine determines the best agencies for the list. Agencies are judged in categories based on the size of their operation: small, midsize, large and interactive.

Hart’s submissions for the magazine’s judges included an interactive ad campaign, a program guide and tool kit for franchises, and an event designed to promote a company’s brand to its investors.

“We are so pleased to be on this list,” stated Hart in the agency’s news release. “We work hard every day to bring value, strategic thinking and creativity to our clients’ marketing efforts, and this award is an affirmation of that.”

The BtoB’s rating is not the only award Hart has received this spring. At this year’s ninth annual Service Industry Advertising Awards, Hart was given a Best of Show Award for its “Gas Guzzler” ad campaign for TARTA as well as a handful of other awards. Hart also recently received three bronze awards at the 33rd Annual TELLY Awards for the agency’s ProMedica television spots and its HCR ManorCare television ad campaign.

Hart’s success derives from the agency’s ability to build relationships with its clients in a personal and hospitable way ever since its founding in 1965, Hart said.

“Three words can illustrate the Hart experience: involvement, empathy and integrity. Those three words set us apart. We take the golden rule — treat others as you would like to be treated — and apply it to our business. You can still be a great business, but those fundamental Midwestern values and a creative approach make us, and many other local businesses, special. It’s a great community, that’s why we love to call Toledo home.”

For more information regarding Hart’s services, visit the agency’s website at: www.hartinc.com.

Szyperski: Rex and effects

By
Shannon Szyperski
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Spring seems to have sprung, which means birthday season in our house is about to commence (“Birthday season: Part deux” runs almost continuously from October through December).

However, I didn’t quite realize that this year we would be including one more special day in our vernal celebrations. After perusing the paperwork that arrived with our newly adopted canine, Rex, we discovered that we have actually added another Aries to the mix.

I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that we had somehow welcomed in yet another someone with a March/April birthday. My side of the family seems to have started an Aries collection with the birth of my first child, Jack.

In fact, since April 2003, five of the eight individuals added to the family roll call have been born under the sign of the Ram. Rex makes six.

I especially shouldn’t have been surprised considering the way our flat-coated retriever has fit our family like a glove since the moment he arrived. The similarities are uncanny in many a way, some good and some not so good. Within the first few weeks, it became obvious that Rex has our dry skin, loves the snow, likes to be outside (but not for long) and appreciates a good meal.

As we head into our fourth month together, Rex’s characteristics have started getting even more eerily similar to members of our clan. Upon adoption, we were informed that he had some storm anxiety and some separation anxiety. However, during the initial adjustment it was hard to tell what was just a dog in a new situation and what was Rex.

Time has proven that he is, indeed, an anxious fellow who prefers company nearby, especially during a storm. A smorgasbord of anxieties is something we are all too familiar with in our household, so our frightened friend of the furry kind certainly found the right people to love him and hold his big ol’ paw in times of trouble.

Of course, we don’t actually hold his paw, because that really freaks him out. I’ve always felt somewhat responsible for the obsessive-compulsive tendencies displayed by Sebastian, a cat we adopted as a young kitten (e.g., refusing to eat if even the slightest speck of the bottom of his food dish is visible).

However, Rex already had almost five years of worldly experience under his collar when he joined our tribe, so our family is apparently a constant magnet for the Nervous Nellies of the world.

We also seem to have a magnetic attraction to Murphy’s law and spend a good deal of time proving its validity.

After 13 years of convincing my husband, Mike, that a dog would not necessarily impose the financial burden he had built up in his mind, Rex quickly reinforced his fears.

On a day when I was dealing with my youngest’s stomach flu, Mike kept calling to ask me if I had seen Rex pee lately. Um, no, but I’ve seen Lucy puke twice. Does that help you out? In fact, the sarcasm in my head did not help him, so he came home at lunch to check on the Rex urination situation (or lack thereof) himself.

After reluctantly returning to work, I finally joined in on the “Keep Track of Rex’s every Move” game. Huh, I guess despite wanting to go out every five minutes, he really wasn’t peeing. Yet, he was continuing to drink water. Indeed, a dangerous state of canine affairs seemed to be upon us.

As I arose from my stomach flu caregiving stupor and out of my the-dog-also-has-a-problem denial, I began to realize that Rex was even refusing to sit or lie down and was now just pacing the house with a concerned look on his face (even more so than usual).

“Um, yeah, Honey, this isn’t looking too good. You better come take him to the vet.”

An X-ray, urinalysis, sedation, catheterization, ultrasound and hundreds of dollars later, the vet discovered … nothing. Aside from a very slight urinary tract infection, there were no blockages, no obvious anatomical anomalies and no definitive answer. Well, that seems about right.

My personal diagnosis is that something scared our gentle giant, he became too scared to “go” for a while and then kind of forgot how, a classic anxiety episode if I’ve ever seen one.

The only confusing part for me is that our family Scorpios are usually the anxious ones, being tested for everything and finding nothing. Our Arieses are usually the ones breaking bones by jumping in a single bound and, in the tradition of the Ram, stopping car doors with their foreheads.

Fingers crossed that this dog isn’t a little (or a lot) of both.

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

Hens vs. Tigers: Eleven years too many, a lifetime to some

By
Jeremy Baumhower
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The Toledo Mud Hens and Minor League Baseball would love for you to believe that the 2012 Home Opener is Friday, April 6 and officially it is… but the real kick off to the season starts 53 hours prior.  The Detroit Tigers announced in December that the 11-year hiatus was over, they were finally going to renew the most fun rivalry in Toledo sports, and play for the first time at the beautiful Fifth Third Field. This announcement also proved to my 11-year-old son (who turns 12 on April 9, 2012) that I was not a liar, it was not my imagination nor my dreams that told him tales of the Tigers playing the Mud Hens.  
 
On April 9, 2002, my son Brady celebrated his second birthday with 12,000 people at the inaugural game at Fifth Third Field.  By this date we already knew how gifted and different he was going to be. It was in his eyes, his curiosity, his attention to detail, his lack of words.  We had no idea what it was called, we were just hoping it would go away and he would just act like any other two year, it never did and it never will.  A year and a half later, we found out Brady was the one in 110.  Like Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, you’ll never see me write its name because it carries a stigma and does not capture the beauty of its gift.  Once we understood how different his brain is, a plan of action was set forth and we got down to the business of understanding “Braden-ese”, the language he spoke. 
 
The true fear of being a parent of a one-in-110 child is what will your son’s life become and how will he socially survive at school and in the world?  We were determined to do whatever we could to get him “normalized” for school and life.   
 
Every father dreams of playing catch with his son. It’s a rite of passage, an activity that opens lines of communication and  a overall great bonding experience.  Our game of “catch began” after his fourth birthday, except it was more of a game of “throw.” Brady showed zero interest in catching or throwing the ball, but he had a weakness… he loved money, or the thought he could buy something with it, mainly candy. I made a game of it, a dollar for every ball he caught, and he earned a dollar for every ball thrown to my mitt.  For all of the gasps being had after reading the last sentences over the amount of money I must spent, remember he was four and negotiating was not his strong suit.  Eventually the money was not needed. I tricked him into loving the game of baseball and in the process gave myself a way to talk to my son.  

One-in-110 children are blessed to have a brain that runs at a different speed than the rest of 109 of us.  The trick to raising one is to understand them and how their “program” works and what their needs are. Once you speak the same language then you can decide what data/information you can input. WARNING: These children are often obsessive and their obsessions rarely change.   
 
The Detroit Tigers proved to be the perfect “data” for my son: The long season, the daily stats and their relationship with the Toledo Mud Hens. Brady’s love of the sport really took foot when he was introduced to baseball cards.  Beautiful action photos on the front, loaded with stats on the back.  He would study the cards and commit them to his memory.  The baseball cards tricked him into reading, something he was not a fan of during Kindergarten or first grade. Now, money once being spent on candy was being spent on Topps.   
 
When Magglio Ordonez hit the walk off home run in the 2006 American League Championship Series, my son had found his Tiger.  He would and still does emulate Dan Dickerson’s radio call of “Waaaay Back”  as Dan delivered it a full octave higher.  Having a speech delay and various pronunciation issues, he challenged himself to say the player’s name correctly, to copy what he heard being discussed. He became more confident while speaking. The game of baseball was helping us with another life obstacle. 
 
Once Brady found his voice, his conversations never stopped.  We discuss everything from every Tigers’ World Championship, who my favorite player was, the Curse of the Bambino and the relationship  between the Tigers and Mud Hens.  I can still recall the shriek of joy he made when he saw Mike Hessman play on a Sunday for Detroit, and that was before he clobbered a 450-foot home run!  Being able to see your favorite future Tiger or current rehabbing one may be Toledo’s best known secret.   
 
My favorite baseball fables that I shared most often was my dad taking me to see the annual game between the Mud Hens and the Tigers.  My son would often look at me with a sense of “yeah right” whenever I shared these stories. He never understood the premise of why a Major League club would play its Minor League team. I never had the heart to tell him about the financial reasons.  Cecil Fielder, Chet Lemon, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell led by Sparky Anderson all came to Toledo to play the Hens.   
 
Next Wednesday morning my son’s worlds will collide, his dreams will come true. That MLB 2K11 Wii game where he plays the Hens against the Tigers will become a reality. My favorite player Cecil Fielder’s son, Prince ,will make his Toledo debut, and the full starting lineup of the Tigers are expected to play.  The game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Detroit and MLB.TV, Mario Impemba and Rod Allen will have the play-by-play. A child could not picture it any better.

This last January my dreams came true, as my son’s second quarter grade card put him on the Honor Roll. for the first time.  For some students the Honor Roll is expected, even demanded, but for a child who is 1-in-110 it was a wish granted. The Tigers unknowingly granted a lot of Father’s wishes by agreeing to come back to Toledo.  I know it’s just one game, but it’s been 11 years and for some that’s been a lifetime.  
 
Thank You Joe Napoli and Dave Dombrowski for not making me a lifetime “liar” and for giving one more lifetime memory. 
 
To find out more information about 1-in-110 Children please visit ProjectIam.com as they help local families like mine. 

Duck-dumping curbed in Perrysburg

By
Caitlin McGlade
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Kelly Meister checks on ducks at Three Meadows Park in Perrysburg. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

Meet Ethel.  

At 7 years old, she has no qualms about table manners or her voracious appetite. She and her boyfriend come running at the first site of their trusted human companion Kelly Meister, and Ethel is the first to stuff her entire face in the bag of feed and scarf down its guts. When her boyfriend finishes eating, he waits for her before descending back into the pond. They’ve gone steady for a few years so he’s grown accustomed to her pace.  

Ethel is, after all, getting fairly elderly for a duck.  

Reaching that ripe old age meant defying all of the odds that worked against her from the day she was dumped at Perrysburg’s Three Meadows Park. Ethel’s story began when a couple purchased her and her sister as an Easter present for their grandchildren. A few months later the pair got bigger, smellier and louder so the grandparents dumped them. Because Ethel and her sister were domesticated, as are all store-bought mallards, they could not fly and had little defense against wild animals.  

Ethel’s sister didn’t last long.  

But Ethel, on the other hand, is one of Meister’s success stories. The brown and white mallard is one of 11 domesticated ducks that have taken refuge at the park. Since 2000, Meister has made regular trips with a 25-pound bag of dried, cracked corn to keep the ducks nourished. In the winter she goes through one bag in three days but during the summer she can stretch it over about a week and a half.  

The couple of months following Easter have typically meant an influx of dumped ducks because parents might think it’s cute to place a baby duckling in their kids’ Easter baskets, Meister said. But here’s another success story: the last duck who joined Meister’s circle arrived a few years ago.  

 “The reason they’re not dumping out there at Three Meadows anymore is because of Kelly,” said Jeff Studer, animal control officer for the City of Perrysburg.  

Meister has written countless letters to the editor before the holiday every year. Meister has seen ducks disappear, likely to hungry coyotes. She’s seen people at the park release their dogs to chase the ducks. She’s seen yards of fishing wire, wadded up in the grass, get wrapped around a duck’s leg and tear it off. She’s seen hooks get caught in ducklings’ feet.  

“It’s a shame that people think they’re disposable,” she said. “People really don’t get that they’re just condemning these poor creatures to a nasty death.”  

She and her volunteers try to scoop up all the sick ducks they can. Meister receives donations for feed but she covers all of the medical costs, which can run her up to about $60 per animal.  

Kerry Ackerman, owner of J&B Feed Co., said his business sells a variety of ducks but that customers must pre-order them and must purchase at least six at a time. Each duckling costs $5. The minimum purchase rule tends to deter people from buying ducklings merely for Easter purposes because its a relatively large investment. Customers typically buy ducks to add activity to their backyard ponds or to raise for food. The white pekin, for example, is often used for meat because it grows to a large size, Ackerman said.  

But a quick Craigslist search reveals a couple of local opportunities to purchase a duckling or two for an Easter morning surprise. One Maumee-based post advertises “the perfect Easter gift” for $10 a duckling. It costs $15 if you want two. Another post from Millbury added March 26 is taking orders for Easter chicks and ducks that will only be ready when they are a couple of days old. One Michigan listing on a different site called Michigansuperads.com markets ducklings for $4 — and these guys will be dyed neon for Easter. 

Even if no one dumps ducks after Easter this year, Meister and Studer still must be on the lookout. The domesticated ducks lay an exorbitant number of eggs in a season — one duck laid 40 last year alone. If they hatch, that means more ducks inept at dealing with nature’s brutal realities. That also creates more ducks to mate with the wild ducks — over time altering the gene pool of the population altogether, Studer said.  

The ducks are also a drag on the city. Studer said Perrysburg keeps the fountain running to keep the pond from freezing over. The city would otherwise be able to shut off the valve during the winter.  

Spend just a half hour with Meister’s duck buddies and you’ll quickly understand why some people might want to own one. They’re friendly once you get to know them; Ethel practically stands on Meister’s lap while eating. And they wobble as they run in a goofy swagger, squeaking or honking or nipping at their partners as they bump into one another. This of course makes them a source of entertainment for park-walkers.  

“If nobody did anything here there would be hundreds of ducks here and they’d be dying,” Meister said. “And nobody knows about all of this. They’ll come here and think, ‘Oh, look at the cute ducks at the pond.'”  

Donate to Meister’s “Lucky Duck Fund” by calling Luckey Farmers Inc. at 419 – 874 – 3525 or stopping by the location at 11330 Avenue Rd. in Perrysburg. Check out Meister’s website at www.crazycritterlady.com. 

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