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Kings Throne Inn: Award-winning stay in the Old West End

By
Stephen Zenner
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Landon King, owner of The Kings Throne Inn & Guest House, shows off his Inn. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

TOLEDO – Nestled on the southernmost reach of the Old West End’s historic district, The Kings Throne Inn occupies a quaint and secluded part of Collingwood Boulevard. 

“We love the place. We love the actual building,” said Atlanta resident Joe Roncetti, pointing out the biggest asset of the Old West End, its collection of eclectic Victorian homes. 

“We love the kitchen. We love the living room with the dining room. There’s a little sun room that has a little room in the back that has a hammock.”

Roncetti has stayed at the Inn on his trips up to Toronto, Canada, and has stayed for weeks at a time.

“It’s like a home to me,” Roncetti said, and shared this feeling of home was also due to the proprietor. 

“He knows me, and we’re family,” Roncetti said of the owner, Landon King. The two built their friendship after Roncetti had stayed there. 

“He’s a perfect people-person. He’s got a great heart,” Roncetti said of King, appreciative of how he runs his Inn. 

Landon King stands in front of his Kings Throne Inn & Guest House. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

Back in 2021, King decided to throw his heart into the hospitality industry, buying the 1892 4,000-square-foot, three-story building and turning it into a place for out-of-towners to enjoy the vintage quality of Toledo. 

“I used to travel overseas to Bulgaria and in other parts of Europe, and every place we stayed was someplace like this,” King said about his inspiration for the business model. 

King wasted no time, buying the house in August, and by October he hosted his first guests. 

“My partner and I work different day shifts; he works nights, I work days,” he said, and they both live on the third floor, available to fix any trouble the guests might have. 

At the same time, King was acting as a quality engineer for the auto industry by day, and furnishing the house in his spare time along with his partner. 

But that same eye for quality seems to have crossed over into a well-executed experience for guests. 

“From my level of luxury hotel background, I look at every delightful detail, and I thought that he did such a great job of exceeding my expectations, even with such a simple stay,” said Kylie Rae Fitzgibbons, a guest who threw a dart on the map that landed in Toledo. 

Fitzgibbons, a professional in hospitality working for multiple Ritz-Carlton Hotel and managing resorts in the Cayman Islands and Texas, is on a “Service with a Smile” 50-state tour, seeking out destinations and places to stay. 

She stopped by for a night at the Inn and was blown away.

“That was one of the most comfortable bedding that I’ve ever stayed in and I’ve traveled the world,” she proclaimed.

She said personalized service, attention to detail and charm were the hallmarks of her stay. And even more than those features, she added that King’s ability to anticipate her needs, “maybe before you even think to ask it,” made the stay memorable. 

This kind of attention to detail landed the Inn as the first Consumer Choice Award winner for a Toledo business. 

“They approached me first and said, ‘Congratulations, you have this, and this is why you have this,’” King said. 

According to the Consumer Choice Award website the, “winners are never random; they’re the result of an in-depth consumer evaluation calculated with the help of Big Data.”

The Kings Throne Inn & Guest House recently won the Consumer Choice Award. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

The Toledo Free Press reached out to the Canada-based organization for comment and have yet to hear hear back. But a brief synopsis of what they sent King said the award was tied with online reviews.

Kings Throne Inn commands a 4.9/5 stars on Google. The Consumer Choice Award status and listing, now on their website, stated they would be able to rescind the award if King’s rating dropped below a 4.5. 

King then hired Consumer Choice Awards to do “the majority of my marketing, because they already know the SEO [Search Engine Optimization].” The award, mixed with the marketing package, has landed the Kings Throne Inn with ad/reviews across papers in the USA Today network, including The Columbus Dispatch, The Tennessean, Business Insider and more. 

One of King’s coworkers reached out to him to congratulate him after seeing one of the reviews written by Consumer Choice Award. “I looked it up, and they were really big news outlets,” he said. The one he read initially was in the Indie Star. 

King thanked his friends, family and patrons in a Facebook post after seeing the listing.

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. To everyone who’s cheered me on, stayed with us, supported this dream — thank you.”

Photos by Stephen Zenner

Photos by Stephen Zenner

Don Lee: Celebrating the Constitution

By
Don Lee
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Inside Lucas County Commissioners Meeting: July 1

By
Stephen Zenner
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Cassie Bloomfield, community outreach coordinator for Lucas County Canine Care & Control, holds Julep, a five-six-month pit bull mix, during the Lucas County Commissioners’ meeting, which proclaimed July 2-6, 2025, Fido Freedom Days. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

TOLEDO – Two meetings for the Lucas County Board of County Commissioners were held on Tuesday – one meeting at 11 a.m. and another at 2 p.m. 

Meeting 1

Citizen Levy Review Committee

First on the agenda at 11 a.m. was a proposal brought forth by Thomas Susor, the chairman for the Lucas County Levy Review Committee (LCLRC), who requested a renewal for the levy supporting the Lucas County Children Services (LCCS) board. 

“So, 20 years ago the board of commissioners decided it was important for an independent review outside the commissioners to look at levies,” said Pete Gerken, Lucas County commissioner, as he introduced the LCLRC. “They’re very important. This is the 20th year of doing that, and they had a really big assignment this year, to look at Children’s Services.”

Susor presented the request for the renewal of a 1.8 mill levy to appear on the November General Election ballot to fund Lucas County Children Services. 

Thomas Susor, chairman of the Lucas County Levy Review Committee (LCLRC), requests renewal of the levy for the Lucas County Children Service Board. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

A mill levy is $1 taxed per $1,000 of property valuation, and the proposed renewal is for 1.8 mill. Since this is a renewal of a levy, those who live in Lucas County will not see an increase in property taxes due to a successful renewal of the levy. 

LCCS had a new levy for 1.5 mill approved just a year ago in 2024, and attempted to renew this 1.8 mill levy before its scheduled renewal in 2025. 

“This levy that we recently reviewed from Lucas County Children’s Services was the same levy we actually approved to be on the ballot a year ago in June, but through some complication with the filings they had to redo it now,” Susor explained. 

In August 2023, LCCS realized it was going to run out of funding before any of the three levies that fund LCCS would be naturally up for renewal; the earliest natural renewal of the levy would have been in 2025. 

According to LCCS director Randall Muth, LCCS’s “[placement] costs over the last five years have risen by 68 percent statewide. So, for every county in the state, they’ve gone up 68 percent, but metro counties, urban counties always get hit harder. Ours went up by 77 percent.”

Because of the rising placement costs, LCCS proposed an early renewal of the 2025 levy. The effect of being crunched for time and filing under a different Ohio Revised Code than the advised one limited the millage, so LCCS bifurcated their funding into separate mills. 

This Tuesday’s request was for the second of the proposed property tax levies for LCCS, as the first had already passed. 

“They still need to be on the ballot to fund their operations,” Gerken said. “This is to keep the system intact. That’s all this is. This is not to expand the system or or make the system more rich. This is to keep what they’re doing going, and if it doesn’t pass, the consequences to us are going to be pretty severe.”

Commissioners put forth a resolution that declared the levy necessary, the first part of a two-stage process to get the levy on the ballot in November. 

A July 8 meeting will determine whether the LCCS levy will be on the November ballot, but the LCLRC unanimously voted for the levy to be approved for the November ballot. 

“It’s still important that our taxpayers realize that freedom is not free,” Susor said. “Kids are not going to take care of themselves, and as our families deteriorate, we have to step up and take a positive role in helping these kids get by.

“It’s imperative to know that without taxpayer support, the most vulnerable population, our children, will be the victims of any shortfall in funds.”

Commissioner Lisa Sobecki speaks about the percent rate raises to the county’s water during the meeting. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

Succinctly, Susor declared, “We reviewed it, it was viable and it’s needed,” with Lucas County Commissioners Gerken and Lisa Sobecki supporting the independent committee’s findings. They pointed to the rising costs of raising children as the overarching reason for funds running out before the levy’s planned renewal.

Fido Freedom Days and LC4

A five to six-month-old pit bull mix named Julep stood before the commissioners in the arms of Cassie Bloomfield, the community outreach coordinator for Lucas County Canine Care & Control (LC4), as the commissioners declared July 2-6, 2025, Fido Freedom Days. 

During Fido Freedom Days, any licensed dog picked up by LC4 will have their impound fees waved if the owner can show the dog’s license. Bloomfield stated before the commissioners, “Last year we took in over 50 dogs during the same time period, just over that extended holiday weekend alone.”

(From left): Dave Blyth, director of Lucas County Canine Care & Control (LC4) and chief Lucas County dog warden; Terra Bundy, deputy director of LC4; and Cassie Bloomfield, community outreach coordinator for LC4, stand with Julep, who represented all dogs available for adoption at LC4. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

Jeff Nowak, the facilities director for Lucas County, gave a brief update of the progress on LC4’s new location at 1301 Monroe S. in Toledo. 

“We’re finishing up the construction on the building,” he said, and asked the commissioners for permission to advertise that some of the items and services provided at LC4’s old location would now be at the new Monroe St. location. 

Early fall or later this summer, Sobecki said, “we’ll be transitioning from our old LC4 to our new LC4. Anyone that’s been able to drive right down here on Monroe St. has been able to see the progress and the excitement that’s building around it.”

Support Services then sought approval from the board of commissioners for the June 2025 Purchase Order “Then and Now” Certificates, an amendment to the Lucas County Purchasing Policy Manual #11 and a different amendment to the Lucas County Commissioners’ Surplus Property Policy #42. 

All were approved.

Administration

Then the commissioners authorized Lucas County to enter into an agreement with the Hospital Council Of Northwest Ohio to Support Rental Assistance and Housing Stability Services. 

Meeting 2

The main subjects of the second meeting on July 1 were the two proposals for revised rate charges for water services proposed by Jim Shaw, the Lucas County sanitary engineer.

James (Jim) P. Shaw, Lucas County sanitary engineer. (TFP Photo/Stephen Zenner)

One revised rate charge was to the wastewater treatment and sanitary sewer collection charges, and another proposal revised rates on water charges for operation, maintenance and debt service.

The revised rate charges were approved by the commissioners. 

Gerken said, “Being able to maintain high quality services without disruptions at a small and reasonable increase over a few years is why I think people are not mad about it.”

Hearings were presented on June 10, 17 and 24 for people to comment on and inquire about the revised rate charges.

“I think people want to pay for good stuff,” Gerken said. 

With the revised rate charges, residents who get their water from the county, not from a municipality or city, will see a 4 percent rate increase to these services every year, starting in 2025 and ending in 2028. 

Shaw provided the Toledo Free Press with a visualization of the rate increase over the next four years for sample county residents.

Carty Finkbeiner weighs in on Rocky Ridge rezoning debacle

By
Carty Finkbeiner
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I want to express my gratitude to councilman Adam Martinez, citizen and South Toledo resident Bill Hoag, retired Plan Commission director Tom Gibbons and his staff, and former city employee Toni Thomas, for shining a light on the dark shadows hanging over the rezoning of 110 acres of valuable land in South Toledo. 

Each of the above, using a combination of integrity and common sense, have publicly rejected a request, for the second time, to rezone 110 acres of agricultural land in South Toledo into a contaminated wetland, thereby making the land “useless for any other development.” (The Blade, June 22, 2025).

This site is a short distance from a charter school with a sizable number of school children, a residential neighborhood with a significant African American population and the University of Toledo Medical Center.

There are unanswered questions, obvious conflicts of interest and a clear disrespect for the City of Toledo’s Zoning and Planning officials who have rejected this requested zone change twice. And where has Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz been the last four years while all this has been taking place? Nowhere to be found. However, the mayor took the time to accept $14,250 from the Stansley family, owners of Rocky Ridge, LLC, the company conspiring to abuse this agricultural land and abuse the quality of life of families living close by.

The only councilman standing bravely against this sad and scurrilous project is Adam Martinez, for which he will be treated like an outcast by some councilmen. Adam, the citizens of Toledo respect your courage.

Former Toledo Public Utilities director Ed Moore left the city in 2024 and immediately went to work for Rocky Ridge, LLC, using knowledge he had gained working for the city to help his private sector employer (Rocky Ridge, LLC) make millions of dollars off this valuable 110 acres. By doing so, Mr. Moore has violated both the state of Ohio and City of Toledo ethical codes. 

Toledo is hurting for jobs and housing. These 110 acres are a perfect area for both. When this Adams Township land was added to the City of Toledo, many projected significant additional wealth to city coffers. The proper development of this valuable piece of real estate can launch a renaissance in South Toledo and protect the quality of life for those living in this neighborhood.

Camp Perry: Hot spot for firearms competition, education

By
David Yonke
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PORT CLINTON – An estimated 4,000 people from across the country will be heading to the Camp Perry National Guard base for the National Matches, a monthlong marksmanship competition starting July 10.

The event, often called “The World Series of Shooting Sports,” is run by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), a nonprofit organization headquartered at the 9,275-acre military base along Lake Erie on State Route 2, about five miles west of Port Clinton.

Camp Perry, home to the second largest outdoor rifle range in the world, attracts competitions like the upcoming National Matches and a recent Junior Rifle Camp, which drew teams from a wide range of states, including Hawaii, California, Florida and Georgia.

But it also hosts annual conventions, like the Professional Outdoor Media Association’s annual meeting, held June 23-25.

Logan Hall, from Texas Trophy Hunters Association, fires with custom-built 6mm GT cartridges by Precision Rifle Series. (TFP Photo/Lori King)
Gary Anderson. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

Gary Anderson, of Oak Harbor, who won Gold Medals for marksmanship in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, was at Camp Perry on June 23 for the first day of the Professional Outdoor Media Association’s annual meeting, a gathering of the nation’s top outdoor journalists and supporting outdoor companies. The first day was spent on the shooting range, where the media was given the opportunity to fire weapons and learn about firearm safety.

Anderson, for whom the CMP’s 80-point indoor firing range at Camp Perry is named, said he retired in 2009 as director of Civilian Marksmanship, and was given “a fancy title,” director of Civilian Marksmanship Emeritus.

“They keep me around, and I do special projects and some writing,” said Anderson, who won Gold shooting at targets 300 meters away. “That’s more than 3 ½ foot fields.”

Anderson has an electronic target and air rifle at home but said, at age 85, he no longer shoots competitively.

“My skills aren’t anywhere close to where they would have been when I was competing. I’m not too interested in shooting badly,” he said with a smile.

But Anderson still enjoys promoting the sport and teaching young shooters. 

Learning how to shoot requires a fairly complicated set of skills and a lot of training. Of all the things that I do now, watching these young people shoot is probably my favorite.

Gary Anderson

Anderson said it was “a big personal reward” when the CMP named the building after him in 2014.

“That was special.”

The indoor range in the Gary Anderson CMP Competition Center features electronic targets, air rifles and pistols that expel lead pellets propelled by air, which are quiet and have virtually no kickback. They are ideal for first-time shooters, according to officials.

The outdoor ranges at Camp Perry are positioned up to 1,000 yards from the shooter and provide targets for everything from vintage rifles to AR-15s.

Richfield, Ohio resident Bill Brod, of Outdoor Specialty Media, left, is shown how to fire a Rock River National Match AR-15 during the range experience. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

The June 23 media event, called the range experience, drew presenters and experts from throughout the industry, from shooting champions to manufacturers of firearms, ammunition and related equipment.

Anderson was chatting near the outdoor ranges with Scott McRee, who was at Camp Perry to promote target cameras by Longshot that enable long-range shooters to track where their bullets hit targets hundreds of yards away. 

Scott McRee, who was at Camp Perry to promote target cameras by Longshot. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

McRee, who lives in Pearland, Texas, said he has been involved in long-range shooting since he was a teenager in Wisconsin hunting elk from a mile away. His hunting prowess became legendary and opened the doors for him to teach and equip military and police marksmen from around the country.

McRee said he has built rifles for everyone, from Navy Seals and local police to Hollywood stars, including the one Mark Wahlberg used in the 2007 movie Shooter.

“We call them precision rifles,” he said. “The person who shoots them is the sniper.”

He said he doesn’t like to talk about how far snipers can shoot, saying reports from Operation Iraqi Freedom are unreliable and vary wildly.

The discussions about sniper shots have taken on a life of their own, he said. In one case, a sniper reportedly shot an Iraqi soldier from a distance of 1,260 yards. But McRee said the sniper had been aiming at the enemy’s chest, and the bullet hit him in the head, so he considers it a miss. 

Gary Ramey, CEO of Liberty Ammunition, was demonstrating the effectiveness of different types of ammo. He said his company’s research shows that lightweight, high-speed bullets are better than bigger, slower ones for self-defense because “speed kills.”

His company’s goal for self-defense ammo is MOD – Maximum Organ Displacement.

Gary Ramey, CEO of Liberty Ammunition, demonstrates the effectiveness of different types of ammo. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

At one of the Camp Perry ranges, professional shooter Trent Marsh fired four shots from a pistol into each of two 15-inch gel blocks, using a variety of brands, sizes and types of bullets. 

The gel blocks showed how Liberty’s “Overwatch” bullets “stop inside the threat,” as Ramey put it, splitting into a “star pattern” just a few inches inside the block. Other bullets used in the demonstration exited through the back of the blocks.

Ramey said with pride that Liberty is known as “a coroner’s favorite ammunition” because they can find the bullets and conduct forensic ballistics tests.

At another media station, Sara Rozanski of Elmore, talked about her role as an instructor with the CMP.

She coaches marksmen shooting at 200-, 300- and 600-yard targets in the prone, standing and sitting positions.

How did she get started in competitive shooting?

“My Dad made me,” Rozanski said with laugh.

“I started shooting .22s at the Adams Conservation Club (in Holland, Ohio) at age 11,” she said. “Then when I was 16, I switched to high power.”

She won numerous shooting competitions and was named to the President’s Top 100 list of shooters 15 times, she said.

Now she enjoys helping out in various teaching and leadership roles with the CMP.

Justin Morrissey of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, one of the sponsors of the media event, said the goal was not just to promote shooting sports but all forms of outdoor recreational activities, including hunting, camping, hiking and fishing.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program offers training and clinics for shooters at every level, including newcomers. It also offers college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 to high school students planning to compete in shooting sports at the college level. 

For more information about the CMP Program, visit thecmp.org.

Megan Schmidt: On Planned Parenthood

By
Lori King
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Megan Schmidt. (TFP Photo/Lori King)

This week on Behind the Byline, Toledo Free Press reporter Jaden Jefferson is joined by Megan Schmidt, co-founder of Toledo Persists, for a personal and timely conversation about Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights in Ohio and across the country.

In the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned on June 24, 2022, by the U.S. Supreme Court, Schmidt reflects on her frontline advocacy in the abortion rights movement, Ohio’s recent vote to enshrine abortion protections in its state constitution, and the political efforts already underway to undermine those rights.

She also opens up about her own experience with Planned Parenthood, offering insight into the life-saving, often misunderstood healthcare services it provides beyond abortion—including cancer screenings, wellness and preventative care, birth control access, STD testing and gender-affirming care.

The episode delves into growing national efforts to defund Planned Parenthood through federal legislation, the rise of crisis pregnancy centers, and the personal and economic barriers many now face when seeking reproductive care. Schmidt explores how abortion access is not just a political issue, but a human one—impacting people across party lines, income levels and communities.

They also discuss how misinformation, political rhetoric and legislation are shaping the future of reproductive healthcare—and what’s being lost in the national conversation.

🔊 Tune in for a candid, critical look at the real-world consequences of these policy debates, and what’s at stake for the future of healthcare access in Ohio and beyond.

New episodes of the Behind the Byline audio news podcast drop every week on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pod Station⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Behind the Byline is a production of the⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Toledo Free Press.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

(Recorded on July 2, 2025)

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Steven J Athanas: Bylaws

By
Steven J Athanas
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Flea market item reunited with family

By
George Tanber
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Tim Casey holds the tackle box he found at The Unusual Trading Co. booth. It belonged to his late brother, Mike. (TFP Photo/George Tanbar)

TOLEDO – When Tim Casey walked into Consign-It-Home Interiors on Central Ave. one morning in late May, he wasn’t looking for anything in particular. Retired with considerable free time, Casey visited the consignment shop from time-to-time, as it’s only a few miles from his home.

His interest, as always, was not in the used furniture section but the kiosks displaying mostly antique knick-knacks. 

Casey stopped at one, The Unusual Trading Co., and as he rummaged through several tables and shelves filled with scores of toys, tableware, magazines and lamps, he noticed a small box.

“I’ve always been interested in boxes,” he would later say. “You never know what’s inside.”

Tim opened it.

Some life events are unexplainable. You bump into a neighbor while touring Paris. After a bad night at a casino, you drop a dollar into a slot machine on your way out and hit the jackpot. Your child’s 5th grade teacher is the same as yours even though you’ve moved to a city 2,000 miles away.

Such was the case when Tim saw what was written in black ink on the inside lid of what was an old tackle box for fishing lures: M. Casey. Oregon, Ohio. 

The M stood for Mike, as in Mike Casey, Tim’s older brother. He had been dead 21 years.

Meet the Caseys

The Casey boys – Patrick, Mike and Tim, in that order – grew up in West Toledo and attended Catholic schools. As youths, their favorite sport was pick-up hockey on Walden Pond in Ottawa Park. Tim became a sales manager for Kuhlman Corp.; Patrick, a priest; and Mike, a beloved teacher, coach and athletic director for 34 years at Clay High School. 

As an adult, Mike loved to fish. He shared a boat with his good friend Frank Beier and virtually lived on Lake Erie in his free time, angling for perch and walleye. 

Mike was a lifelong diabetic, a condition that worsened over the years. A kidney transplant followed by a then rare pancreatic transplant in his 50s further complicated his declining health. Mike died June 6, 2004. He was 61. 

At that point, his fishing days had long since ended. 

“He spent his last three months in intensive care,” Tim said. “It was terrible.”

Mike was survived by his wife of 37 years, Suzanne, whom he met at the University of Toledo, and four adult children, Patricia, Matt, Kathleen and Erin.

So respected was he at Clay, that the school established the Michael Casey Memorial Scholarship upon his death.

It continues today.

The tackle box was listed at $20. Tim got a good deal. 

The aluminum-plated box, Model P-9 and measuring 6.5 by 4.5 inches, can be found on eBay for around $40. Its value likely has been enhanced by the fact its manufacturer, UMCO Corp. of Watertown, Minn., is now defunct.

Unusual Trading Co. owner Scott Carroll didn’t know the back story – he only exchanged text messages with Tim – until we reached out for comment.

Consign-It-Home Interiors booths

He had no recollection of where he bought the tackle box but speculated it was at a garage sale somewhere in the immediate area. 

“I usually cover a radius of 10 miles or less when looking for stuff,” he said. 

Carroll, of Northwood, Ohio, has been in business since 1998. He recalled instances when he’d display vintage photos and family members from a later generation would stumble upon them. More common were old high school yearbooks that were discovered by former students. 

But this was something altogether different. 

“A coincidence?” we asked.

“Oh, no,” he said. “This is more than a coincidence.”

Mike Casey’s family feels the same way.

His youngest daughter, Erin Centa of Westerville, Ohio, said when she received the call from her Uncle Tim about the tackle box, it was just before the anniversary of her father’s death.

“Maybe it was a sign from my dad,” she said. “It comforted me a little bit.”

For Patricia Edwards of Clintonville, Ohio, Mike Casey’s oldest child, the unlikely discovery conjured up recollections of her Dad’s famous perch dinners.

“He’d invite family and friends to our home, and he had this frier he made that could handle a lot of fish at once,” she said. “And he made this light batter, not the heavy stuff you get in restaurants. That was the highlight for everyone.”

 Tim Casey kept the box for a few days and then shipped it to Erin. (Mike’s wife, Suzanne, died in 2017.) Erin then returned it to Tim so he could pose with it for the photo for this story. But she had another reason for sending it back to her uncle.

 “Kathleen really wanted it,” she said of the second oldest of the three Casey sisters. “She doesn’t have much from Dad.”

Kathleen (Hart) of Evergreen, Colo. was ecstatic when she returned home from a short vacation to Montreal on June 16 and found the packaged tackle box in her mail. 

For her, the box, which she clearly remembered, triggered memories of fishing with her father on Lake Erie and off piers in Point Place.

“I spent lots of time on his boat, although I used to get sea sick,” she said. 

 As for the mystery of how the tackle box left the family, Kathleen had the answer.

 “I can guarantee my brother Matt got it and all his fishing gear because he also got the boat,” she said.

Matt had health issues and died at 50 in 2019. 

“When he stopped fishing, he probably got rid of everything,” she said.

Now that the tackle box is back in the Casey family, Kathleen said it’s likely her husband, new to trout fishing in Colorado streams, will use it to stash his flies. 

“For sure it’s not going to sit around.”

New family memories await.

There’s little doubt her father would be pleased.

Don Lee: Federal Art Funds

By
Don Lee
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Jewish Film Festival in 2 local venues

By
Ian Hubbard
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SYLVANIA – Within its arts scene, one of the Toledo-area’s underrated gems is its creation and curation of filmmaking. 

Several independent features have been shot here over the years, such as the 2022 Tom Hanks movie called A Man Called Otto. Examples of curation includes the Maumee Indoor Theater hosting special screenings, like its ‘Cult Classics’ lineup or the premiere of the low-budget feature Burt in mid–June. And the Valentine Theater runs its Silver Screen Classics in the fall, of which I try to make at least one screening. 

The city has also hosted its own film festivals in the past, as well. The Glass City Film Festival took place in 2017 and 2018, for example. Between organization and funding, it takes a hell of a lot of work to put on such a show – the Black Swamp Festival cost over $100,000 to screen and promote its slate of international films.

This is why I was sincerely surprised to hear that Toledo had a Jewish Film Festival. Its first film, Bad Shabbos, was shown yesterday, June 30. The other four films will run every Monday until July 28. The festival will feature one film each screening, portraying the modern Jewish diaspora.  

“We want to give light to films that will relate to and reverberate within the local Jewish community,” said Abby Hoicowitz. Hoicowitz serves as the marketing and communications manager of the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Greater Toledo. Along with the Stu and Jojo Goldberg Advised Fund at the Toledo Jewish Community, the Jewish Federation is one of the major funders for the film festival, which is promoting it on their website at JewishToledo.org.

Southview High School will host four of the five screenings, with closing night taking place at the Lourdes University Franciscan Center. All screenings are at 7 p.m. and are $10 per screening. Coffee bar, popcorn and candy available.

“Both locations have given us great accommodation, not only for the screeners but the families who attend,” said Hoicowitz, “We’ve had a great turnout and even better response from the community with the iterations of the festival we’ve had in the past.”

The festival’s highlights featured in this year’s lineup are Everything’s Kosher, from Adam Fried, and Forked (a Culinary Disaster Film), via musician Liz Lachman and chef Susan Feniger. 

Susan Feniger, left, and Liz Lachman. (Courtesy Photo)

The former portrays a Chicago father who seeks to fulfill a promise to his daughter. In the midst of his journey, he unturns and confronts the ugly history that has beset his own bloodline. What begins as a search for connection between Adam and his daughter turns into a confrontation with the past, even as Adam attempts to cut out a way of living for himself. 

The latter film is, as promoted, a “verite-style documentary” of Feniger’s attempt to bring her passion of global street food – from Vietnam to LA – under a single cover of a Los Angeles restaurant. 

Gauging from its main promotional tag of “It’s about not if one fails … but How,” the film should be an open-up discussion in the monumental steps which lay before any passion project comes to life, let alone go through being selected as worthy to show. 

“We have a select panel from the Toledo Jewish Community that view and select the films,” Hoicowitz said, “We receive a lot of press releases from films which don’t have the accessibility to a narrow release, even on our current streaming services,” she said.

Paired with the highlighted screenings will be a Q&A featuring the filmmakers: Fried on July 21, then Feniger and Lachman on July 28 – the only screening taking place at Lourdes Franciscan.

The Films:

Southview High School Auditorium
7225 Sylvania Ave.

July 7: Welcome to Yiddishland

July 14: Midas Man

July 21: Everything’s Kosher

Lourdes Franciscan Center
6832 Convent Blvd.

July 28: Susan Feniger: Forked

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