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Retirement guys: Four financial spring cleaning tips

By
Mark Clair & Nolan Baker
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Financial spring cleaning should be done once a year. Use these four tips to get started this year.

Rebalance investments annually: A good rule of thumb is to review all investments annually and look at the asset allocation and rebalance the accounts. This can help reinforce the long-term strategy of buying low and
selling high and help maintain diversification. Ask a financial professional for a review or use online tools from sites like www.morningstar.com for an investment analysis.

Check into new or expiring law changes: The Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. It is our opinion that tax rates will go up in the future. Thus, for many of the people we are talking with right now we are discussing Roth IRA strategies.

One strategy involves making contributions into Roth IRAs. Income limitation could come back into effect next year, making this a great year for high income earners to look at this option. Other times, a Roth conversion strategy can make sense for current retirement accounts. The main advantage for investors is they can pay taxes now versus later, which could be at a higher rate on what could be a higher balance.

Dust off old policies: Old life insurance policies can be another great area to review. More competition and longer life expectancies have driven down the cost of insurance at most insurance companies. Doing an insurance policy review can be an eye-opening experience on how offers vary from one company to the other.

Update documents: New grandchildren, a loss of a loved one, a marriage — you name it, life changes occur all of the time.

As life changes occur, not only is it important to make sure your legal documents, like wills and trusts, are up to date, it is important as well to make sure beneficiary designations get
updated. Accounts such as retirement plans, life insurance policies and annuities should contain named beneficiaries. If these accounts do not get updated as life changes occur an account owner’s assets may not be paid out the way the owner thought.

Make any changes necessary and make sure the changes have been acknowledged in writing.

For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 p.m. on 1370 WSPD or visit www. retirementguysradio.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC. NEXT Financial Group, Inc. does not provide tax or legal advice. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537. (419) 842-0550.

Nationally known grief counselor to speak in Toledo on April 23-24

By
Brigitta Burks
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Author and grief counselor Alan Wolfelt will present seminars in Toledo. Photo courtesy Alan Wolfelt.

At age 16, well-known counselor Alan Wolfelt already knew he wanted to help those reeling from the grief associated with death.

As a young person, he lost his best friend and grandparents and wrote a mission statement that his life’s goal was to help those with similar experiences. By age 19, he had written his first book on loss.

Now, about 30 books later, he is director of the Center of Loss and Life Transition in Fort Collins, Colo. He travels the country with his message of promoting companionship with grievers instead of treating them.

On April 23 and 24, Wolfelt will bring that message to Toledo at two free events organized by Walker Funeral Homes. “[Wolfelt’s] very intellectual, but also funny. There’s a lot of interesting and meaningful stories he shares,” said Keith Walker, president of Walker Funeral Homes.

Walker attended a retreat at Wolfelt’s Colorado center in 2004, an experience he called “a great, great thing.”

An avid reader of Wolfelt’s books, Walker first invited the counselor to Toledo two years ago and plans to bring him back every other year if possible.

The April 23 seminar topic is “exploring Critical Questions for When someone dies,” and the April 24 topic is “exploring the dimensions of Adult Grief: The Caregiver’s Role.”

One issue Wolfelt will focus on is the importance of providing a safe place for mourners. “We live in one of the world’s most mourning-avoidant cultures,” he said. “We want to give people three days off and then ask things like ‘Are you over it?’”

Most people who care for those affected by grief fit into one of three categories: positive, neutral and negative.

Positive people “know their job is to enter what [mourners] think and feel,” Wolfelt said. These people remember that the mourner is the “expert” on his or her grief.

Neutral people “say things like, ‘If you need me, call me.’”

Negative people “make you feel worst. They try to take grief away.”

Being a positive influence and providing mourners a safe place is vital, Wolfelt said.

“If you have safe places and safe people, you can do what we call the work of mourning. sadly, most people don’t have those safe places,” he said.

Wolfelt’s message also stresses the idea of mourning and not just grieving. Grief is a feeling, Wolfelt said, while “mourning is a shared social response. It’s grief gone public.” Mourning can occur through talking with friends, journaling, visiting a counselor and in many other ways, Wolfelt said

“You integrate that loss and you are transformed,” he said of the mourning process. still, grief is something that doesn’t necessarily go away.

“We don’t get over grief. We live with and are changed by grief,” Wolfelt said. “You can replace a trinket. You can’t replace something precious that you’ve loved as a person and, in that case, you’re going to be different and that’s not a bad thing.”

Although painful, that transformation can bring about other positive changes.

“When somebody in your life dies, you come to realize what gives significance and meaning is the people you connect to,” Wolfelt said. As for the adage “Time heals all wounds”? “I always say grief waits on welcome, not on time. Time is only an influence if you have that safety,” Wolfelt said, adding that the cliché can be a passive way to deal with grief.

Mourners are often told it’s better to look ahead when all they want to do is remember the past.

“When you have a loss, there’s an instinct to go backward, but yet many of the messages we give are ‘Put the past in the past,’” Wolfelt said.

Instead, he recommended helping the mourner tell stories about his or her deceased loved one. It’s also important not to sugarcoat the process, he said.

“[People] try to put a happy face on [death] when we’ve come to understand there’s times in life when we have a downward turn in our psyche. We have darkness before we have light,” Wolfelt said.

Senior citizens tend to have more losses in their lives so it’s important to be sensitive to their mourning needs, he added.

“We need to recognize as we age we have more and more losses that require us to slow down and give attention to those losses,” Wolfelt said. “Allow an older adult to talk about what losses have shaped their life.”

Registration for “exploring Critical Questions for When someone dies” starts at 6:30 p.m. April 23. Registration for “exploring the dimensions of Adult Grief: The Caregiver’s Role” begins at 8 a.m. April 24. Both programs are free and at Central Park West, 3141 Central Park West, Toledo. Advance reservations are preferred. Call (419) 841-2422 to save a spot or visit www.centerforloss.com for more information.

Toledo, Perrysburg libraries mark Titanic anniversary

By
Brigitta Burks
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This newspaper page is part of local libraries' exhibit on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. Toledo Free Press photo by Caitlin McGlade.

Two area libraries are giving patrons an opportunity to learn more about the Titanic tragedy through exhibits and an event.

“You don’t really realize what happened around the sinking, all the ships out there, all the information they had,” said Rebecca Stanwick, an intern at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library who organized the exhibit there. “The big thing we’re trying to promote is not just history, but the information the library has available.”

The display is slated to be in the humanities department at the Main library, N. 325 Michigan St., from April 9 to May 31.

The “Titanic Sinks!” display will contain five cases highlighting the library’s extensive periodical collection from 1912.

Stanwick, a graduate student in the University of Toledo’s English department, organized the display so it tells a story.

“I do want the exhibit itself to tell the story of what happened; I don’t want it to be just random tidbits,” she said. The exhibit includes a timeline “so you can trace what exactly happened the night [the ship] sank, who got on a boat, who didn’t get on a boat,” Stanwick said.

“Titanic Sinks!” also contains information on William Harbeck, a filmmaker from Toledo, who died in the sinking. At the time of his death, Harbeck was traveling with a woman who may have been his mistress, Henriette Yvois. This resulted in confusion when his wife, based in Toledo, came to claim his body as some officials thought Yvois, who had also died, was Harbeck’s wife, Stanwick said.

“He has this huge, kinda weird connection and history involving his life and it all came out when he was declared dead from the sinking,” she said.

Stanwick’s “personal favorite” part of the display features some of the 15 couples who were honeymooning aboard the Titanic.

Another part highlights the finding of the Titanic in the 1980s.

The library also received 15-20 new books on the ship.

“Titanic Sinks!” is free and open during library hours, noon-8:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Way Public Library has a display with periodicals and other items of the time period now through April 20 in the lower level gallery.

History buff and Rossford resident Judy Sikorski orchestrated much of the display, said Mary Meyer, programming/public information specialist at Way.

The main attraction at Way is an event planned for 6 p.m. April 13. Musical duo TAPESTRY starts the evening with harp and guitar and will play for an hour.

The 1958 film, “A Night to Remember,” based on the book by Walter Lord, will start at 7 p.m.

“People my age remember it used to be on TV all the time,” Meyer said. “We did not want to show the newer version, because we know so many people have seen it and it’s not as historically accurate.”

Also on April 13, a 1908 Brush car will be on display outside the library before traveling to “Tea on the Titanic” the next day.

The April 14 event, put on by Historic Perrysburg, Inc., is at the Carranor Hunt and Polo Club, 502 E. 2nd St., Perrysburg from noon-3 p.m.

The unsinkable Molly Brown, played by Perrysburg resident Patrice Spitzer, will make an appearance at the historically themed tea party.

The Way Library movie showing is free and includes refreshments. Library hours are 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday seasonally. Way Library is at 101 E. Indiana Ave., Perrysburg. The library has also added more than 20 new books on Titanic to its collection. In addition, Way has Titanic offerings for children.

“We’ve always been aware that children are fascinated by Titanic. Our children’s librarians say there’s quite an interest in it,” Meyer said.

The library will host a Fun Library After School Happenings program 4:30-5:30 p.m. April 19 for second through fifth graders. Students will learn facts on the Titanic’s sinking and the finding of its wreck, Meyer said.

A home-schoolers’ book discussion of “White Star: a Dog on the Titanic,” is set for 1:30 p.m. April 9 for ages 8-12.

Red Cross Titanic re-creation dinner April 14, 2012

By
Erin Holden
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Titanic sets sail on her ill-fated maiden voyage. AP file photo.

A nine-course meal, ballroom dancing to music of the era and a silent auction will be featured as part of an upcoming re-creation dinner commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic.

The event is set for 6 p.m. April 14 at Central Park West, 3141 Central Park West Dr., and will commemorate those lost (including several from the Toledo area) as well as celebrate the continuing disaster relief efforts of the American Red Cross. Tickets are $100 per person. Captain’s table tickets are sold out.

Proceeds from the event will go to the American Red Cross, Greater Toledo Chapter.

“People are showing a lot of interest in this event,” said Jason Copsey, communications specialist with the American Red Cross. “They recognize how unique it is and, with it being the 100th anniversary of the sinking, it’s an opportunity to not only support a local organization, but also to have a memorable and historically themed evening.”

Actor Dave DeChristopher will portray Captain Edward Smith and the dinner will be a close approximation of a meal actually served on Titanic, Copsey said, including courses with beef, chicken, oysters and more. Silent auction items will include historic memorabilia, an autograph from a Titanic survivor, movie items and gift baskets donated from several local sponsors, including Paulette’s Studio of Dance, Kurt Nielsen Photography and G Forces. Local music group TAPESTRY, consisting of Denise Grupp-Verbon on harp and her husband, Michael, on guitar, will perform live music from the era as guests arrive.

“We have gathered a few selections from a Titanic songbook and we will also be featuring Celtic music selections since the Titanic sailed from Ireland,” Denise said. “We hope people enjoy it — although I’m happy to say we will not be going down with the ship. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that is not fascinated by the story because it’s just such an extraordinary story of survival.”

The evening will also include:

  • A performance by local singer-songwriter Mark Graff
  • Titanic prints signed by local artist Rudolph Schroeder
  • Titanic personal caricatures by local artist Jim Beard
  • Hand-rolled cigars
  • Ballroom dance performance and instruction by Paulette’s Studio of Dance
  • Photos by Kurt Nielsen of Kurt Nielsen Photography

The event is sponsored by Toledo Free Press, Louisville Title, Midwest Terminals and Hollywood Casino Toledo. FOX Toledo is the event’s media partner.

The dinner is part of a Titanic memorial series that includes an April 15 commemorative issue of Toledo Free Press, displays in Toledo-Lucas County Public libraries, Rave Motion Pictures’ presentation of James Cameron’s “Titanic 3D” and an artifact exhibit at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.

Copsey said he hopes guests have a memorable evening.

“This will be a unique event. It’s not often you get to have something like this,” Copsey said. “It was Red Cross volunteers providing care to the people rescued from the site as soon as they got back to the harbor in New York City.

“All services the Red Cross provides are made possible by the generosity of the community. An event like this is a great way to show your support of the Red Cross while having a special evening.”

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.

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