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Off the Hook - Archive 2012
by Melanie Behrens

Publish Date

Title

12/28/12

Crazy New Year’s Eve traditions

12/21/12

Really different Christmas traditions

12/14/12

The blizzard - 35 years ago

12/7/12

 A crazy time to remember!

11/30/12

Is it a miracle?

11/23/12

Dayton Power & Light  to the rescue

11/16/12

Tucker Green  goes to college

11/9/12

Long beach Island, N. J., after Sandy

11/2/12

Saga of the repairman

10/26/12

Help for Haiti

10/19/12

Back to Ecuador

10/12/12

The beautiful Greenbrier

10/5/12

More on Afghanistan

9/28/12

A glimpse into Afghanistan

9/21/12

The heart of a woman

9/14/12

Meet Allie Diehl

9/7/12

Flying Darth Vader

8/31/12

Returning to the South!

8/24/12

Allie Diehl - 90-year-old skydiver

8/17/12

Nigeria to London to Marysville

8/10/12

GOLF - gentlemen only, ladies forbidden

8/3/12

A beauty on E. Fifth St.

7/27/12

The Lawler Triplets

7/20/12

Who needs a Blackberry? I do

7/13/12

Public servants - ready to help

7/6/12

Clugage and his gold, Hope Center needs furniture

6/29/12

A new Dutch connection

6/22/12

The Miami reunion

6/15/12

Father’s Day

6/8/12

Remembers former teacher, Local people behind NICCE

6/1/12

St. John’s church - people helping others

5/25/12

Lori Black in Ecuador

5/18/12

Forty more pounds in 100 days

5/11/12

The world of purses and shoes

5/4/12

Matt Nelson leaves Germany, The new intersection, Cannon Brothers 50-year reunion

4/27/12

Oh those drive-thrus

4/20/12

Rescuing those with four paws

4/13/12

The clothesline

4/6/12

Matt Nelson in Germany

3/30/12

Crazy things my friends do

3/23/12

Irish luck

3/16/12

Lori Black - Peace Corps teacher

3/9/12

Lori Black in Ecuador

3/2/12

Nelson takes Wittenberg to Wittenberg

2/24/12

Growing up in the 1950s - Part 2

2/17/12

Growing up 50 years ago

2/10/12

A Valentine story

2/3/12

Kansas City by rail

1/27/12

The return to Switzerland, The hand of fate

1/20/12

From Russia with love

1/13/12

One giant diverse family

1/6/12

Marysville 60 years ago - Part 2

12/28/12
Crazy New Year’s Eve traditions
I
t’s just four days until the New Year - 2013. The New Year celebration centers many times on getting rid of the old year and hoping for life to be better next year. People wish for a new baby, a new house, a new job or often good health.
In the U.S., we have a countdown ending at midnight during which things are dropped. Everyone knows there is a giant glass ball in Times Square, New York City, which falls for a minute before midnight to signal arrival of the new year.
In other cities in the U.S., other things are reportedly dropped. Some are disgusting!
Since 1999, residents of Flagstaff, Arizona have been ushering in the New Year as a giant, 70-pound, six-foot tall pine cone is lowered from the roof top of the historic Weatherford Hotel which is located in downtown Flagstaff.
This one is scary for the opossum. A live opossum encaged in a Plexiglas box is lowered down at midnight in not just one town, but two towns in the U.S. on New Year’s Eve — Tallapoosa, Georgia and Brasstown, North Carolina. The animal usually reaches the ground safely and is released.
This one could be messy. Atlanta, Georgia rings in the new  year by dropping a gigantic 800-pound peach at Underground Atlanta. As the peach makes its 65-second drop, the crowd counts down the seconds until the New Year is rung in. After the peach has dropped, a fireworks display lights up the sky.
Eastport, Maine has a population of less than 2,000 people and was once home to 14 sardine canneries. So, that’s the reason residents drop an eight-foot-long, 30-pound sardine made from wood and acrylic at midnight. After the sardine plunges from the third-story window of The Tides Institute, revelers rush to give the fish a salty kiss in the belief this will bring good luck in the coming year. However, the festivities begin even earlier. At 11 p.m., a four-foot-wide Maple Leaf is dropped to honor Maine’s northern neighbor — Canada. They just love to drop things.
A giant 18-foot brightly lit sausage drops at midnight in the center of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Elmore, Ohio. Other events throughout the day include a sausage eating contest, sausage tossing, and a “dress your dog” costume contest.
 Then there’s the city of Prairie Du Chein, Wisconsin. Residents there drop a frozen carp at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The celebration is complete with a Carp Drop King and Queen, and a football game.
Lebanon, Pennsylvania is a town that is well known for the manufacturing of bologna, so each year the townspeople drop a giant bologna stick during their countdown to midnight.
This one is a little more exotic for Ohioans. On New Year’s Eve, the streets of Pensacola, Florida will be full of people for fun and games in honor of the New Year with three stages of live entertainment. At 8 p.m., a “Bubble Stomp” invites children to jump and jive across a vast expanse of bubbly mailing wrap to mimic the clamor of fireworks. The real star of the show, a giant 14-foot pelican, makes its 100-foot descent at midnight. Celebrations will conclude with a dazzling display of fireworks and colorful confetti.
Europeans are more interested in other events. There, it seems they have quite a few unusual New Year’s Eve traditions.
In Spain it is customary to wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve. The small town on La Font de la Figuera has taken this tradition one step further — a New Year’s Eve run wearing just red underwear. People of all ages participate in this event.
When it comes to strange New Year traditions, Germans and Austrians are true champions. “Lead pouring” is an old tradition which includes using molten lead like tea leaves. The lead pieces are poured into a bowl full of water. The lead forms some shape in it and predicts what’s going to happen during the next year. For example, a ball means luck throughout the year, an anchor means eventual need for help, while a cross means death.
While the Spanish wear red underwear, people in Bolivia have to buy a yellow underwear piece and wait for midnight. When it arrives, they just run to a place to change into it and believe that their luck will change as well.
On New Year’s Eve in Ecuador, picture burning is celebrated. The locals gather together with pictures that represent something from the last year and burn it. That’s the way they rid themselves of their past. Throughout the country, the night is lit up by all these fires.
Maybe it wouldn’t be pleasant if you find thrown dishes on your doorstep in the morning, but if you’re in Denmark, that’s a good thing. People there keep old dishes throughout the entire year. Then they throw them on their friends’ doors on New Year’s Eve. When homeowners find the dishes on Jan. 1, they know that they have many friends. But who cleans that up?
 However you celebrate the arrival of the 2013, I wish you much health and happiness!
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12/21/12
Really different Christmas traditions
It’s just four days until Christmas and all of us are busy with last minute stuff. Many families have a tradition of getting together to eat and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Christmas is celebrated in countless ways around the globe. Some decorate trees, hang mistletoe and drink eggnog while others go out to the movies and eat Chinese food. Here are some of the world’s strangest and most interesting Christmas traditions, some of which might really scare the children!
For example, in Austria, if you thought that being on Santa’s naughty list was the scariest thing to happen around Christmas, you’ve never heard of Krampus Night. Krampus is Santa’s evil twin whose job is to beat and punish all children who have misbehaved. Can you even imagine this going over well in the U.S.? On Dec. 6 men dress up in some of the scariest devil-like costumes you can imagine and drunkenly run around town hitting people with sticks and switches. The Krampus legend originates in the Germanic alpine regions and is widespread throughout Hungary, Bavaria, Slovenia and Austria.
On Christmas Eve, unmarried Czech women practice a traditional fortune telling method to predict their relationship status for the upcoming year. If you’d like to give this a try, here’s how to do it: Stand with your back to your door and toss one of your shoes over your shoulder. If it lands with the toe facing the door it means that you will get married within the year. If it lands with the heel facing the door, you’re in for another year of unmarried status.
Norwegian legend says that on Christmas Eve witches and evil spirits come out looking for brooms to ride on. To thwart the witches, all brooms in the house are hidden and men go outside and fire a shotgun to scare the bad spirits away.
For many Japanese, traditional Christmas dinner is Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is so popular and well marketed that reservations may have to be made to eat at a KFC on Christmas in Japan.
In Caracas, Venezuela, church-goers attend an early morning mass between Dec. 16 and Dec. 24. It is a mostly Catholic population. What is unusual about this practice is how everyone gets to church — on roller skates. The streets are blocked off to vehicular traffic until 8 a.m. Children, the night before, tie one end of a piece of string to their big toe and hang the other end out the window. As roller skaters go by the next morning, they give a tug to all the strings hanging out the windows.
In Ukraine, Christmas trees are decorated with all typical kinds of ornaments except one that is unusual. An artificial spider and web are hidden in the tree and good luck is given to the one who finds it. A Ukrainian folk tale says that a poor widowed mother could not afford decorations for her family’s Christmas tree. One Christmas morning she awoke to find a spider had beautifully decorated the tree with its web, making for a very happy Christmas.
If you would like your Christmas wish to come true in Great Britain, all you have to do is take a turn stirring the Christmas pudding. Traditional Christmas pudding is made of dried fruit and nuts, similar to fruitcake. It is often doused in brandy and flambéd in a dimly lit room for a dramatic effect.
In some parts of Wales a person hides under a horsehair sheet to celebrate Christmas. The person and his friends go into the streets with a horse skull on a stick. The covered person goes around “nipping” people with the horse skull and those people must pay cash fines. This seems really weird to me.
In Portugal they celebrate with a huge meal, or consoda, on Christmas morning. That’s not so unusual. But, they also set place settings for the dead, offering them food as well. Their belief is that this custom will bring blessings to the family in the following year.
In Yugoslavia the Christmas celebration begins two weeks before ours. The festivities are completely different. Two weeks before Christmas, children rush into their mother’s bedroom on that morning, tie her feet to a chair and begin to chant “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day, what will you pay to get away?” Mother then gives the kids gifts to let her go. A week later, they do the same thing to Dad. Guess we do that here in some form, but maybe all year long!
In Lebanon, Christmas is celebrated early with the planting of chickpeas, lentils and beans. They are then watered every day until Christmas, at which time they have sprouted, and the sprouts are used to surround the manger scenes.
Then there’s Greenland. Kiviak is a treat that most Greenland natives consider delicious. Have you ever heard of an auk? Have you ever eaten one? If you’re from Greenland you have. The raw flesh is wrapped in seal skin and placed under a rock until it’s well into decomposition. It’s been described as tasting like old, bleu cheese, and has a strong odor and taste. I love bleu cheese, but would not try this!
For the few Christians in Iraq, this is their tradition: A child reads the nativity story while family members hold lighted candles. When the story is finished the family starts a bonfire. After the fire has dwindled everyone jumps over it three times and makes wishes. This could end in disaster!
 However you celebrate the birth of our Lord, I pray it is healthy and happy for you and your family!
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12/14/12
The blizzard - 35 years ago
The recent storms on the East Coast and upper Midwest brought back memories of the blizzard of late January, 1978, in Marysville.
Sometime during the night the rain changed to ice and snow, which made wet flakes stick in quantity to windows. We woke up about 5 a.m. hearing the wind blowing precipitation against the house, and when we tried to look outside, our windows were solid white. Dan and I knew this wasn’t going to be good.
He insisted he had to go quickly to the Journal-Tribune and see what the situation was there. I insisted he needed to stay home. It was a blizzard outside, after all! Within 30 minutes I realized I lost the argument and he was on his way. Just a  half mile from our house he was blown off the road on St. Rt. 38 and stuck in a ditch. He walked to the nearest house, owned by Pearl and Sue Blumenschein who invited him in for breakfast. He called the newspaper to say there was no way we could print that day. The weather was too bad and no one would be able to get to work.
Bob Cotter, a Marysville school teacher moonlighting as sportswriter for the J-T, answered the phone. He was one of only a few people there. Dan told him his situation and Bob said he would be right out to get him so they could get the paper out. Pearl had offered to take Dan into town, but when he saw that his garage was covered with heavy snow all the way to the roof, he realized he would not be able to get his car out.
Bob’s trip out Rt. 38 from town was not easy. He remembers he couldn’t see in the near whiteout situation and to make matters worse, his defroster didn’t work, so he drove his car with the door open, hanging out the side. Thick drifts covered Rt. 38 near today’s Timberview Golf Course. Later, the road would be closed by the heavy snow.
Bob finally arrived and picked up Dan. After an equally harrowing drive to the Journal-Tribune on N. Main St., Bob proceeded to pick up society editor Clara Miller and also Alma Ebright. They lived in town and could help produce a paper that day. Now the team had decided they could get the job done. (As it turned out, the Marysville Journal-Tribune was one of only a few newspapers in central Ohio to publish that day.)
Then the scrambling began for the small staff to put a paper together with stories and pictures of the storm. At that time, photos were developed by a much slower procedure than today, but the press was on site. There were no computers as we have now to streamline the process.
Eventually the Thursday, Jan. 26 edition was printed. Now it had to be distributed. Dave Johnson had a snowmobile, so he helped deliver the papers to the carriers in town and to local newsstands. Some of the youngsters were able to deliver their routes in waist-high snow. Others had to take them around the next day.
The heavy snowfall stopped in mid-afternoon, but the 70 mph winds continued and caused more problems. Snowplows couldn’t begin to clear all the city streets and since we lived in Timber Trails just outside town, it was two days before we saw a plow.
It was also two days before my two sons and I saw Dan again. Cars could not negotiate Rt. 38 with its six-foot high snowdrifts, thus he stayed in town at his parents’ home. Aaron Story also had a snowmobile and along with helping others, he finally brought Dan home.
There were many acts of heroism, helpfulness and kindness during the days of the blizzard. Many of the hospital personnel just stayed on site to man the facility and others were delivered for work by the many snowmobile owners around town. Several stranded people were also rescued from cars stuck in large snow drifts.
This was 1978. There were no cell phones, which would have helped greatly in this situation. But, of course, we had a wonderful community that came together to help when so many needed it.
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12/7/12
A crazy time to remember!
For my friend, who wants to remain anonymous, it was a tough Thanksgiving weekend and so crazy that she has just now decided to share those events with me. To begin the story, I should say we might first implicate her husband, John. You see he had shoulder replacement surgery the Friday before Thanksgiving.
What a time to do it! His wife stayed with him the first of two nights in the hospital. She was able to sleep only a few hours in the chair provided. Let’s say that was the beginning of the craziness. She must have been somewhat sleep deprived for several days.
Then two days later was her husband’s birthday, but he was still recovering from effects of anesthesia, so he couldn’t enjoy the ice cream cake she had for the event. In fact he was still in sleep and pain pill mode that day.
She then prepared for the arrival of the family from Indiana on Wednesday. To back up a bit, she has worn wrist supports (to help with the pain of sprains) all summer long while recovering from a fall in the spring. Her movement has been complicated by Achilles tendonitis for which she required a large black boot for several weeks.
All that said, she looked for help with housework and from that, a second problem of the holiday involved the one-day-a-week house cleaner. She was told by the lady she would be there at 3 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving, much later than her usual time to clean. She should have known then, there might be a problem. Her family was to arrive at the same time, but, oh well, the job would get done. No, I guess not. The phone rang about noon. The house cleaner said she was too tired and had taken on other people that day and would not be there!
“What,” said my friend. “I can’t believe it!” What else could happen? Then she just decided to start laughing about the situation. You see, between caring for her husband, still impaired from his shoulder replacement, and her wrist pain, this wonderful cook had even planned to buy Thanksgiving dinner from a local restaurant. It was an unheard of thing for her, but the family decided it was necessary this year.
Then friends started to stop the day before Thanksgiving and wanted to wish the family well and hope to see that her husband was recovering. That’s when the frozen birthday cake came in handy. As they kept coming in the door, she served cake.
Just a few hours before the Indiana family arrived, my friend realized she had to run a few errands so began her trip around town at the gas station. There, she inserted her card, filled the tank and continued on to a car wash in another location. Her cell phone rang and it was her husband, who asked if she had gone to the gas station? Then he reported that the police were at the front door saying she stole $35.40 in gas!
She told him she used her card. The police directed that she go back to the station and pay, which she did. They ran her card saying it didn’t register the first time. The officer had also told the gas station employees that he knew this family and they are good people. She decided to laugh about this, too!
I want to know , how would anyone know it did not register if you use your card at the gas pump? It’s something no one wants to go through. Her husband said that when he appeared at the front door with his repaired shoulder supported in the air, he simply said, “Whatever it is officer, I sure didn’t do it!”
The interrupted car wash never happened. The house was just not in the best condition. Her husband slept while still in recovery. The Thanksgiving meal was purchased. It seemed nothing was right, but the family was all together and thankful for each other. So all was good in the end! Christmas should be better.
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11/30/12
Is it a miracle?
He did not say it was a miracle, but I think his recovery from an unbelievably tragic accident is considered a miracle by his many friends and parishioners. About six years ago, Marty Sheckler was in his late forties and senior pastor at the Marysville Christian Church when the accident happened. He was headed home from church on his motorcycle without a helmet. It was so dark he could not see the dog that ran in front of him and to this day does not remember the approximately five months which followed in a coma.
He was taken by helicopter to Ohio State University Hospital and after a while transferred to several long-term care facilities, finally at Heartland of Marysville. At first he
didn’t know it, but his church stepped up to be his family and support. Someone from his church was with him all the time he was in the coma. No recovery was expected from his traumatic brain injury. His family was told he would only be a vegetable.
Thankfully Marty remembers none of that horrible time, but about five months after his injury he opened his eyes and there was parishioner Marie Woodford, who along with her husband Joby would be his rock during recovery. Marie and Joby made it their job to help Marty along with many other members of their church.
Marty’s story began in Markle, Ind. in 1959. He grew up there as the great-grandson of the pastor of Markle Church of Christ. After high school, he went to welding school and worked at the job for about seven years, finally heading off to college at Cincinnati Christian University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biblical theology and soon found himself pastor of the Church of Christ in Buchanan, Mich. Later he served churches in Indiana and eventually went back to his home church in Markle just before coming to the Marysville Christian Church in 2004.
Immediately it was a good fit for Marty and the Marysville Christian Church. He loved his job and the people and all was going so well for him when the accident happened. It seems he must have been doing a very good job because as soon as he needed them, church members were there for him.
His recovery was slow and there were times of utter despair not knowing if he would ever be able to think the way he used to or walk. Physical therapy began and he used a wheelchair, then a walker, then a cane (Joby walked down the halls with him every day holding on to him), and eventually he could ride the recumbent bike. You know what that is — the kind where you lay back a little bit and peddle. Well, Marty knows it well. He actually had four sets of tires on the first one which he just recently retired and then received a new bike from his former church members. The bike was a great help in his recovery because he now walks without aid. He said his gait is slow, but added quickly, “that's better than no go!”
His brain is back working fine, too. He is a dedicated reader, writing sermons (15 hours a week) based on his reading, and is now preaching at the Somersville Friends Church on Sunday. He has also been asked to preach in many churches around the area talking about his experiences of love and how God has helped him.
Being in a coma and living in a wheelchair for months was hard on Marty’s body and he gained a lot of weight. Riding the bike helped him lose weight along with his new dedication to Weight Watchers eating, again led by his friend Marie. She helped him get started and has opened up a new world of eating for him. He has lost 85 pounds over the last three years.
About his eating, he does most of it at McDonald’s. Two to three times a day he’s there eating with the same friends and he’s figured out a way to make McDonald’s fit into his diet. There’s also the socialization there. Marty says he’s met many new friends who are regulars, too, and expect to see him every day. He is, for sure, a people person!
Marty’s accident changed his life and he knows that God has changed him, too. He’s more patient and insightful and has learned a lot about life. He gained friends and now his body is in better shape than ever. Also he has met many wonderful people during his recovery and in the churches he’s been able to serve.
Now he’s making use of all that has happened to him as a job coach with the Union County Board of Developmental Disabilities. He has just moved into a new home, thanks to 11 people with four trucks — all members of the Marysville Christian Church! They also bought new kitchen appliances. He said it is an honor to know them and feel their love.
This saying appears on the wall of his new living room: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
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11/23/12
Dayton Power & Light  to the rescue
The basic necessity of electric power in our homes is taken for granted today and when it’s gone, we suffer greatly. Such was the situation on the East Coast nearly one month ago following Hurricane Sandy. At this point, most of the outages have been restored and much credit goes to local teams who just returned a few days ago.
Dayton Power & Light Co. sent a team of 29, first to Cleveland, and then on to Bergen County, New Jersey at the request of First Energy. Included were four from Marysville, Steve Hall, R. C. Fleshman, Joe Hickman and Ty Burrough. These men volunteer for this tough duty, working 16 hours a day. In Cleveland there was also snow and rain while the crews worked from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., eating dinner together, discussing their day’s work and then falling into bed.
When the crew of DP&L workers arrived in Cleveland, they were met by the First Energy coordinator to show them prints of electrical layouts, discuss safety procedures — the most important thing — and show them the affected neighborhoods. While in Cleveland some crews were provided police escorts in high crime areas. All residents were glad to see them with the routine question being “When will our power be back on? Mostly they could answer, “Later this evening.”
In both Cleveland and New Jersey, residents were so grateful that they provided coffee and doughnuts (purchased from a business that had power) and sandwiches, and one woman even baked three cheesecakes after her electricity was restored, then delivered them to the crew. That made a big hit! Also, on one day the crew was having lunch in a nearby restaurant. When they asked for the check (about $100 total they think) it had already been paid anonymously by someone in the restaurant.
After about a week in Cleveland the DP&L crew moved on in a convoy of 17 trucks with 24 linemen, four crew chiefs and one mechanic. While proceeding through a toll booth, one truck had a flat tire. So, everyone had to circle round while the mechanic changed the tire. Then they had to go through the toll again.
The bucket trucks they took with them boost a lineman 55 feet in the air. That’s great when you can get close to the problem. When you can’t, the young linemen have to climb. I had the chance to speak with Marysville area residents R.C. Fleshman and Joe Hickman, both experienced, qualified linemen. (You must be fully qualified to go on these trips. That means six years of training — three in the classroom and in the field and then three years in the field with a mentor.)
Joe explained, to go up the pole the men strap on an item called a gaff which has a spike and aids in climbing. There are also safety straps that attach to the tool belt and go around the pole. Afterward, the climb begins.
It seemed to me that they could go up 55 feet in the bucket truck, then transfer to the pole, but those guys both said that’s not allowed for safety reasons. More than anything else, it’s safety, safety, safety in their company.
Also, on their way up the pole it’s considered very bad to forget a tool on the ground. Sometimes it can be sent up with a rope line and other times not. That means a trip down.
When the crews arrived in Bergen County, New Jersey (about 25 miles south of New York City) they saw beautiful, affluent communities with the same sad problems — no power and giant trees 10 feet in diameter on the ground, laying on poles and crashed onto pricey cars.
Residents of Whippany, N.J., were also glad to see them and served food plus many “thank yous.” There, crews also experienced four inches of heavy snow as they worked during the second storm, a nor’easter which whipped through the area.
The team did not wait in long gas lines as we saw in the news media. At one station, police actually moved everyone aside so the trucks could come in and fill up. Unleaded gas was easy to find; diesel was more difficult.
The company is proud of these men who volunteered for this trip. Thankfully, there were no safety incidents with this experienced team.
Crew chief Steve Hall said, “It just sticks in your mind that you’re really helping people and it gives you a good feeling.” He also told me that one day some kids from a home even yelled, “We love you!” as the power came back on.
It’s a heroic thing for these linemen to be 50-some feet in the air, in the snow and rain, restoring electricity, a problem compounded by the cold and darkness. I know that’s what the people of Cleveland and New Jersey think.
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11/16/12
Tucker Green  goes to college
He’s only 10 years old, but has already made his first trip to college. Tucker Green is the son of Polly (Spurlock) and Kevin Green, one of their 24 adopted children, most from foreign countries and some with special needs. I highlighted this family in a column earlier this year. Tucker has older siblings in college but had never been there. So when his teacher at Fairbanks Elementary, Kayti McCarthy, talked about college during class, he had many questions.
That made her think he was the perfect guest to take back to Wittenberg University homecoming. She has been out of college for five years, teaching first in Austria. There, Kayti said Austrians believe Americans are overweight, eat McDonald’s daily and own a gun. She said that one of the students’ first questions was whether she owned a weapon.
Things are different at Fairbanks where Kayti is in her fifth year as an intervention specialist in grades 2, 3 and 4. She said Tucker is a visual learner and she knew this trip would answer many of those questions and help him see what could be in his future.
Kayti began: “When we got to campus, I took him to the student center and showed him where we would get our mail, where we ate, and where we had to buy our textbooks when I was in school. While at the bookstore, we bought matching T-shirts and he also got a hat. He wanted to wear it all right away. I was proud to have him with me, all decked out — Wittenberg style. We walked around the campus and I showed him a dorm and explained that we had to share a room with someone, and we all had to share a bathroom on the floor. He thought that was strange.”
“As we continued the campus tour, I showed him where I took all of my classes to become a teacher — Blair Hall. I explained that it is much nicer now than when I went there. There was no air conditioning at that time. And, now, not only is there air conditioning, but also in the very top of the tower, there’s a room where students can study. He instantly wanted to go up and check it out.”
“I took him through a more modern building, a place where I took classes — Hollenbeck Hall. The classrooms were small, and he was astounded by all of the bulletin boards covered with information for traveling abroad. I was able to share with him that before teaching at Fairbanks, I taught in Austria, and it was this exact bulletin board that gave me the idea and information to do so.”
Kayti continued: “In college, I dreaded eating in the common dining room (CDR), but to watch Tucker enjoy choosing whatever food he wanted from the cafeteria-styled CDR made it much more interesting. Tucker (as any 10-year-old) was thrilled to be able to load up on food making several trips and finishing with ice cream. The day ended with a stop at the football game, where Tucker saw his sister’s boyfriend (who plays for Wittenberg) punt the football.
Kayti concluded: “Since going on this ‘field trip,’ Tucker has been full of specific questions. He’s asked me how long he’d have to go to college to be a police officer, or to be in the army. His work ethic continues to be strong, and I have told him if he keeps it up, he can go to college and be successful. He now has a dream of going to college, and if you ask him where he wants to go, he’ll tell you Wittenberg.”
When I asked Kayti if her other students noticed all this special attention paid to Tucker, she said: “One of Tucker’s friends in our group/class was jealous that he got to go to Wittenberg. But I explained that I came and watched him (the other student) play soccer. I really make an effort to get out and see my kids in their lives outside of school. Once he realized that, he was OK. I’m also going to another one of his soccer games, his last one of the season, this Saturday.”
Many teachers like Kayti give so much of themselves to their students — even outside the classroom. How lucky those kids are!
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11/9/12
Long beach Island, N. J., after Sandy
One day you are enjoying your beautiful home on the Jersey Shore and 24 hours later you are preparing for the hurricane of a lifetime. Most people living on the Jersey Shore at this point had never seen such a storm.
Joan and Mike Phillips have a beautiful year-round home in the resort community of Brant Beach, on Long Beach Island. They had just recently remodeled and added a second story preparing for severe storms and possible hurricanes in the future. They felt it was built to last through a strong storm, so that’s why they stayed. It was not meant to be an act of bravery.
I met Mike last year at a newspaper convention and we struck up a conversation about Brant Beach. My husband, Dan, and I have been there to visit other friends, Dick and Jill Smith, and we know how lovely it is - an upscale beachside community bustling in the summertime. Mike said then that they had made it their full-time home. At a recent newspaper meeting I was told that he decided to stay during the hurricane.
After Hurricane Sandy, I spoke with his wife, Joan, and she explained that even though they have two teenage daughters at home, they felt safe there and wanted to look after their property during the storm. It was tough. The water came down hard at times and the wind blew at 85 miles an hour. They were not afraid, but the water rising outside was a concern. They live on the bay side of the island, which is less than a half-mile wide in some places, and the water from the bay joined the water from the ocean to cause four to five feet of a flowing river across the island.
Their cars, which are in the lower level (their home is built up 12 feet high), took a little water as 18 inches flowed into their garage at some point. When it receded, in between deluges, they moved their cars to a safer place. Sand was blown everywhere on the island - six inches thick in some places and on roads.
The electricity went out. Natural gas was shut off because there were so many gas leaks on the island, and water was off. So life was tough for a day or so in their home. As soon as it was safe, the Phillips family left the island. They had to split up sending their teenage children to stay with friends just off the island and Mike and Joan went to a family member’s home about 45 minutes away. It was a hardship to have their family split up, but everyone’s okay and the only real property damage to their home is a roof leak, which yet has to be inspected to determine the problem.
Just before the storm, they had purchased a fancy charger which gave them 100 hours on phones and computers. That that was used up quickly and it was difficult to maintain contact and know the situation except for their immediate area during the storm.
One of the worst problems and common ones, sadly, is that looters have appeared on the island even though the National Guard is patrolling the area and helping with cleanup. Looters arrived by boat from the beach and broke into homes that people had evacuated. In fact, Joan said that martial law is still in effect at night. Cell phones have remained their best way of communication.
As of this writing, about one week after the storm, the electricity is back on and so is the water (although it is not safe to drink in some areas). Several gas mains are still broken and will take time to repair. Families were allowed to go back on the island for a few hours Monday, but not permitted to stay. (They may be able to return with insurance people at the end of this week.) When Joan and Mike did so, they saw water permeating every part of their lower level, which is the garage and her studio. Large 40-gallon containers used for storage, were full of water and the wall board was very wet.
Schools were already planning a one-week break this week. That works out well for both students and those helping with the cleanup since the schools are also being used by the National Guard as base headquarters.
Everyone is safe in the Phillips family, now together in a rental home. They also feel very grateful that their damage was actually minimal compared to sites just down the street from them or in other areas, ones we see in the news.
It was bad, but could have been a lot worse, and those on Long Beach Island know that.
(To cause further problems, another storm has hit the northeast with rain, snow and high winds, but is not as severe as Sandy.)
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11/2/12
Saga of the repairman
I’ve been running a household for more than 40 years and have recently experienced some weird things with a repairman in my home. The operative word here is “man” because I believe that in all these years I have never seen a woman repair anything at my house.
When you think about it, this is strange situation, where an unknown man enters your home to do a job. Usually they have some sort of uniform on, identifying themselves and I never had any reason to do anything but trust them. Then my short string of bad experiences began.
Our television “access system” I will say (rather than name the company) wasn’t working properly. We called for a repairman and he arrived on a Saturday morning. I was home alone. He came in, I explained the situation and his frustration began. He went to the basement to look at the wiring and when he returned his face was red and he was yelling at me. His anger came from the fact he couldn’t understand how things were wired in the house and somehow it was my fault.
The guy continued to berate me and I became concerned for my safety. This continued for about five minutes, while his face got redder and redder. I decided to go on the offensive and said to him in a firm voice, “Get your equipment and get out of my house!” He looked at me quite startled and peacefully left.
I couldn’t wait for him to be gone and locked the doors behind him. Then I called the company explaining what happened. I said that never had I ever been afraid of a repairman and they apologized profusely. The next day a supervisor came to fix the problem with their television reception and all was good after that. We’re no longer with that company, but it really opened my eyes to what could happen in my own home.
Just a few months later, while I’m still remembering this incident, we had an attack of tiny ants in our kitchen. They were taking over the place, even crawling into my oven. Of course, I took care of that easily by turning the oven on. But others continued to roam around the kitchen in large armies. I called an exterminator and he arrived in a few days. He could take care of the problem, he said. Even after he was done, he said it would take a few days for all of them to die. I paid him and he was on his way. One week later the ants were still there and I called his office. He said wait a few more days. I waited another week before calling again, reminding him that we had paid him and we still had the ants.
He agreed to come back and assess the situation again, which didn’t go well. The guy began complaining about the fact that I called him twice about the ants and he couldn’t do anything about it. I reminded him that we had paid him, at which time he started to yell at me. What is going on, I am thinking, to have two service people turn on me in just a few months in my own home.
I remembered my technique on the first incident and after I saw that the man was getting more angry every minute, I told him to get his stuff and get out of my house! Even though I was afraid of him, I’m sure he couldn’t tell because I really raised my voice.
He, too, left quickly and I once again locked the doors. I know this never would happen if this had been a woman. For one thing, these men were both twice my size. I finally called another service and the ants are now gone and it was all done peacefully.
I have had people in my home working on things since then and all has gone well. I hope that short string of weird craziness will not return here at our house.
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10/26/12
Help for Haiti
They left the comfort of Ohio for the hardship of French-speaking Haiti, another world away. Sandra Eades Jurcisek (MHS class of ‘75), dental hygienist, and Carol Denman, dental assistant now retired, both of the Marysville dental office of Dr. James Cornett and Dr. Krista Rioch, have had a life changing experience.
They just returned from a week-long volunteer medical mission to the village of Callabasse, Haiti, located two and a half hours from Port-o-Prince and 90 minutes from Peytionville. That's the length of time it takes to drive on two-lane roads made of large rocks. Both said that riding on one of the public buses (called taptaps) on these roads was like riding on a donkey!
The mission was organized by a church in Newark, Ohio, which tries to do this two times a year. These visits are all the medical and dental care the people who live in this remote area have.
Sandra and Carol were joined by two nurses, a doctor and a dentist plus the trip organizer. They all stayed in the home of the church pastor (sleeping under necessary mosquito netting) and carried on their healing mission in two churches. To get to work they walked 30 to 45 minutes each way in the extreme heat.
In their makeshift clinics in the churches, the teams had difficulty with light to see. In the crude buildings made of cinder block and stone, there were only a few windows (no glass or screens - just open space) for light and electricity only ran sporadically. In fact, Sandra said that even when the light came on it was so dim you might not notice it.
She cleaned teeth (about 19 people a day) and did dental education with her patients sitting in an upright wooden chair. The dentist, with Carol assisting, did only extractions (limit two per person) with their patients laying down in the church pew with a pillow under their head. Safe to say, conditions were rough.
Carol and Sandra agreed the homes and churches were dark, cold and damp and yet the extreme heat left them soaking wet with perspiration all the time. An important note, with no running water there was no bathing or hair washing for five days!
Many of those in homes that could afford it, had a wall surrounding it with a locked gate. Then inside the gate was another locked door and finally the lock directly into the house. Security in Haiti is important if you can manage it, because stealing is a big problem in that country. In the pastor’s home, there was no regular electricity, running water or, of course, refrigeration, so food was mostly canned or fresh from the garden. There was a butane stove.
Carol and Sandra took ready-to-eat meals for themselves and politely tried some of the food offered by their hosts. Their concern was, they had no time to be sick. Drinking water in Haiti comes from Culligan water jugs and dishwashing and toilet flushing water from a cistern. There’s no type of waste pickup in this little village so the trash and garbage are just thrown outside the house in a pile and eventually burned.
The team of personnel was careful to keep their passports and money on them all the time, usually in a fanny pack or a travel belt. They took no valuables with them including watches or rings, since stealing is a way of life there.
The ladies did take dental supplies plus brushes and paste and the doctor brought antibiotics and pain medicine. The organizer of the trip managed to get 300 pairs of Crocs shoes and it was bedlam as they tried to distribute them.
When the team went home they left all their sweaty clothes plus several left their shoes. They believe the clothes will be laundered and kept or traded.
If you have some money in Haiti your children can go to school beginning at age three. Without money some children receive scholarships from U.S. churches to attend school. Otherwise, there’s no education for you.
Rabies, typhoid, parasites, roaches, rats and bats are as big a problem as the darkness in the homes. Life is hard there by our standards, but the ladies observed that people don’t seem to notice. It’s all they know.
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10/19/12
Back to Ecuador
Lori Black is a 2003 graduate of Marysville High School and is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and living in Riobamba. This is her second year instructing teachers how to teach English as a second language in high school. This means teaching anything from idioms, conversation, songs, or innovative activities that teachers are not accustomed to using in their classes.
Lori will stay there until next August to fulfill her 27-month obligation to the Peace Corps. Fortunately, she studied Spanish in college.
Lori reported: “This summer has been a whirlwind of work and play. I kicked off my summer with a two-week visit home to see my family and attend my best friend’s wedding. I spent nearly all of my time eating my favorite American junk food and hanging out with my adorable niece and nephew. I also made sure to see a bluegrass band and get a good beer, just so I could feel like I was really home.”
Now she is back at work in Riobamba. Although the schools do have summer vacation, Peace Corps volunteers do not. They are expected to continue working a regular schedule throughout the season.
Lori continued: “Once I got back to Ecuador, I went straight to work at the National University of Chimborazo where I gave a teacher training workshop to 12 professors. I taught them about different teaching methodologies and shared materials and activities with them. At the end of the summer, I was invited back to the university for a 20-hour workshop focusing on TOEFL preparation. (The TOEFL exam is the Test of English as a Foreign Language). I invited four other Peace Corps volunteers from all over the country to collaborate with me for the workshop. We spent a week with them and spoke English the entire time!”
It’s interesting the importance the government of Ecuador places on knowing how to speak English.
Lori explained, “This year, all high school English teachers were required to take the TOEFL exam and they will take it again in one year. Part of my job as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteer in the Peace Corps, is preparing teachers at the high school in which I work. Although university professors are not required to take the exam yet, they are aware that they may have to take it in the near future, which is why I was invited to do TOEFL preparation classes at the local university.”
“The universities in Ecuador are similar to universities in the U.S. The main difference is that they don’t have dorms and they don’t have nearly as many buildings (this coming from an OSU alum). In this particular university, classrooms are relatively new and up-to-date with current technologies. Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo is one of 4 universities in Riobamba. It has approximately 30,000 students who come from around the country to study.”
“The summer here in Riobamba was a ‘scorching’ 50-60 degrees with plenty of dust and wind for all. Mix that with some thick ash in the atmosphere from the minor eruption of Tungurahua or “The Throat of Fire,” and you have quite a chilly summer. I managed to escape the horrendous weather by going on a teacher’s trip to the jungle town of Puyo, to the snow line of Chimborazo, and I managed a quick escape or two to the incredible beaches of Ecuador.
“In the jungle near Puyo, we spent the day walking by the Puyo River observing the natural beauty of the jungle. There, we saw exotic flowers and birds, giant spiders, and squirrel monkeys. Walking through the jungle is always an adventure. Everything is bigger, smaller, brighter, and more dangerous. Ecuador is home to malaria and dengue ridden mosquitoes, those adorable little neon-colored poison dart frogs, and a number of deadly snakes, like the bushmaster. It is also home to harmless armadillos and a number of exotic, tropical birds like toucans, macaws, and long-tailed hummingbirds. Walking through the jungle can be as simple as walking through the Glen Helen Reserve, but if you’re not careful, your walk could be deadly. However, it is very rare that anything does happen. I take in the natural beauty; balsa, palm, and ceiba trees, bright red, yellow, purple, and orange flowers, turquoise and green beetles, and the never ending song of the jungle.”
“Another weekend, some friends and I decided to make our way to the second refuge of one of the largest mountains on earth, Chimborazo. It’s a grand sight every time I look out my window, but being face to face with this monster of a mountain is dizzying, literally. The altitude (20,000 ft.) causes nausea and dizziness while your body feels about a hundred pounds heavier. It’s strange up there and looks like the moon, with llamas, vicunas (golden highland deer) and strange desert flowers.”
Now back to work (classes began Sept. 3), Lori is working with three professors and giving three weekly teachers classes. She will also be co-teaching eight classes per week with high school juniors and seniors.
Lori concluded: “This year, I am focusing on teachers as leaders in order to make my work sustainable since I will be leaving soon and am really looking forward to see the development of my teachers and students this year. My plan is to work hard and leave them wanting to continue developing their English skills and teaching methodologies. I have a feeling my last year is going to go very quickly.”
We’ll have more from Lori before leaving her assignment with the Peace Corps.
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10/12/12
The beautiful Greenbrier
Recently I was able to cross an item off my bucket list with a visit to the Greenbrier Resort.
It all began at a warm sulphur spring in 1778 in West Virginia. The Shawnee Indians lived there and often took their sick to a spring with healing waters. So, when the family of a woman who suffered from severe arthritis asked the Indians for help, they got busy. A giant tree trunk was carved out to make a bathtub and filled with the healing waters. She was immersed and reportedly cured.
The place, which is near White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., became famous and a colony was built up around it. Five sitting presidents visited there before the Civil War. First, there were cottages (still there) built in the early 1800s. Then from 1858 to 1922 the Old White Hotel was the center of activity.
Guests would come from hundreds of miles away to escape the heat of summer in the cooler foothills of southern West Virginia at an elevation of 2,000 feet. The resort was only open June, July and August. It was a place for the aristocracy to relax.
The giant Greenbrier Hotel (with 600 rooms) was built in 1910 right next door to the Old White Hotel. It would be a year-round resort and soon become the property of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad (later CSX) which owned the 85,000-acre resort until 2009.
A lot happened during those 99 years. Three beautiful golf courses were built and the favorite (now the site of the Greenbrier Open tournament) was the Old White course built in 1913. I was able to play that challenging course — partly in heavy rain — and many of the holes are patterned after those in Scotland.
During World War ll, the hotel was closed and the U.S. Government took over, first using it for interned German and Japanese officials because of its proximity to Washington, D.C., and then making it a hospital accommodating 500 military patients. Then in 1946 it returned to a grand hotel.
President Dwight Eisenhower made numerous trips there during his presidency in the 1950s. He enjoyed the golf and remoteness of the resort. Maybe that’s how the site was chosen for the bunker.
It was the time of the Cold War and worry about the Soviet Union and an atomic bomb. People built bomb shelters next to their homes and our government decided it needed one for the president, cabinet and all of Congress.
The Greenbrier was chosen. Our government leased some of the property from the resort for more than 30 years. About 1958 construction began by tunneling 600 feet into the side of a mound of dirt underneath the west wing of the hotel. Currently there is 60 feet of dirt between the bottom of the hotel and the top of the bomb shelter, known as the bunker.
Built to withstand a moderate bomb blast, the walls are three to six feet thick. There is an extensive exhaust system, medical clinic, operating room and sleeping and dining halls. The giant exhibit hall has been used many times over the years for trade shows and meetings at the hotel and no one realized it was part of the secret shelter.
In fact, workers were all sworn to secrecy, not realizing what they were building and that secret was kept until the Washington Post published a story about the bunker in 1992.
The next day it was deemed useless, since exposed, and the process was begun to empty furniture and the extensive two-month food supply that had continually been replenished over the 30 years it was an active shelter. One story is that the names of members of Congress were on each bunk and changed with each election to be ready if needed. Maybe this type of facility isn’t necessary anymore or maybe our government has now found a new secret place for it.
The Greenbrier fell on hard times and was facing bankruptcy in 2009 when the Jim Justice Group purchased it. He set about returning the place to its former beauty with complete renovation and redecoration.
Everything is elegant and yet comfortable. Besides golf and tennis there is a complete spa (with mineral baths) and casino. Coming next year is a state of the art medical diagnostic clinic, another for sports medicine and eventually one for plastic surgery.
Just think, you can drive about five hours from Marysville and be in one of the most beautiful resorts in the world, which will soon have extensive medical options, too.
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10/5/12
More on Afghanistan
Last week I began the story of Command Sgt. Maj. Rodger Jones of the Ohio National Guard and his time in Afghanistan. I had spoken with him before he left and now in his return I can see a change in him. If you missed last week, just go to marysvillejt.com and click on Off the Hook, then on archives.
Our story continues: Rod’s men were stationed in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. This area is about the size of Florida. Many giant generators supplied power for their outposts of about 150 men each. They were often located next to an Afghan outpost for training purposes. Even Internet service was available to the troops there.
His job as command sergeant major was to move from base to base, checking on the needs of his troops and staying about two days in each place. Often he would go on patrol with the troops and sometimes encounter fire, which quickly reminded everyone — this is a real war. Often he traveled in a convoy, which was made up of four vehicles called MRAPs (mine resistant, ambush protected, all terrain vehicles). The crew compartment is armored and the vehicle sits up higher than a Humvee. Sgt. Brent Zimmerman (a North Union grad) served as his driver and personal security guard. Traveling between outposts was also done by plane and helicopter.
Rod said that even the best national highway in Afghanistan looks like Waldo Road in Marysville — two lane. If a truck breaks down (all goods are moved by truck in Afghanistan) the road is blocked and everything stops.
The worst time in that country is winter. Conditions are as bad as 20 below zero with one foot of snow on the ground. There are no snow plows and quickly ice builds up on the roads. One convoy attempted to make a three-hour trip, but it took 19 hours. Think how dangerous this is to have our troops on the roads exposed for that long. Fortunately, a gas tanker is always part of the convoy.
Rod noted that during winter the Taliban and Al Qaida are known to train in Pakistan preparing for a spring offensive, since the weather is so horrible and all roads are slippery with ice.
One of the proudest moments for Rod and his troops in Afghanistan was to build a supervised day care center for children of women serving in the Afghan police force. Up to that point, the women would just leave the kids at home, even babies in cribs, and hope for the best while they were at work.
The president has currently called for a cut in troops numbering 23,000. They are starting to move out now because only 300 can be moved out at a time and most of them will not be replaced. Then what will we have left in Afghanistan after all this sacrifice? It’s quite possible the Afghan forces can't sustain themselves without our daily supplies and help.
Rod was there for nearly a year and it was a sobering and probably life changing experience. Casualties of war, including several men who were very close to him, were not just cold statistics anymore. Part of his job was to keep his men focused on their mission even during so much sadness surrounding them.
He also reminded me that everyone who has joined the National Guard since 9/11 knows they can be called up and his unit has had two combat deployments. No longer is the National Guard just a weekend job to earn money for college. It’s the real thing!
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9/28/12
A glimpse into Afghanistan
He’s a U.S. Army ranger and now a full-time Ohio National Guard State Command Sgt. Maj. with 31 years of service in the military. Rodger Jones (MHS class of ‘81) has just returned from nearly a year in Afghanistan. He has also served in Iraq. His new position with the Ohio National Guard increases his duties from being in charge of 3,600 troops to now 11,300.
Rod sat down with me to share his experiences and appreciation of being home in the U.S. with his son Jared and wife Candy. The Afghan world is one so different from ours that it’s a difficult job for our military to teach their troops our ways of discipline and operation.
Here’s what Rod said: “Their army is so short in supply of everything. The typical recruit will be issued one uniform and sleep on the floor of his barracks because there are no beds. The AWOL rate is high, about 15 percent on any given day. When the Afghan troops line up to eat three times a day, it could take as long as two hours to get food, because the dining facility was built for 600 but serves 6,000. That means they spend six hours a day just eating.”
“The Afghans have no resupply system and no medivac, so if their soldier is injured, there is no way for them to fly to a doctor without our help. At this point their troops cannot sustain themselves as an army.”
The Afghans operate under the old Soviet system since they were trained by them. There are officers and then there are privates in that system. There are no sergeants to look out for the men. No one is routinely providing weapons, fuel, radios and protective gear. Our army is trying to teach them our ways, which are so different.
Villagers in Afghanistan live in mud huts with no running water or electricity. There is no hard wire system like DP&L or URE provides. Electricity is only available if there is a generator. Women cook on wood or coal stoves and pump water from an outside well.
The coalition forces in the northern provinces are made up of troops from Germany, Norway and the U.S. They are stationed in groups of 150 in just over 30 outposts, in the middle of nowhere. (Rod and North Union grad Brent Zimmerman, who was his driver, friend and personal security provider, traveled between these bases checking on conditions of the men.) Many of the bases are next to an Afghan outpost. Often the Afghans would come to the fence between the facilities and ask for supplies or personal needs from our troops.
So, when a soldier approached our troops at the fence, it seemed business as usual, Rod said. Sadly, that was not the case. When the Afghan soldier came to the dividing fence, he opened fire on the U.S. soldiers and wounded a friend of Rod’s. He survived the attack, but the Afghan soldier is no longer with us, shall we say. No one will ever know what made him do it. What seemed to be a friendly relationship could have been deadly.
Rod’s troops arrived in the country in October and their baptism of fire, so to speak, happened in February. There had been a burning of a Koran in Bagram, so in response, the Taliban began an offensive. This was the first experience of casualties among his men.
Rod also lost several other young men who were very close to him. He said that’s the hardest part about war. One minute they are there and the next minute they are dead. When this happens to a unit, the surviving soldiers are given a couple of days of work inside the camp and memorial services are held. Then “in the Army way” it’s back to work, out patrolling the region.
Next week I’ll have more inside Afghanistan with State Command Sgt. Maj. Rodger Jones.
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9/21/12
The heart of a woman
She’s only 46 years old and works as the practice manager for McCarthy and Cox in Marysville. In the last few months, her life has changed a lot.
Recently, Diane Hutson (MHS class of ‘84) had serious heart problems and didn’t know it. All women in particular should read her story carefully. Since the symptoms of heart problems in women are different than men, they often go unrecognized. Diane said, “I am very lucky to be alive.”
Diane begins: “Back in late January I started experiencing severe chest pains that radiated to my back and down both arms. Since I have had back issues in the past I initially thought it was back related and started going back to my chiropractor. Nothing seemed to help relieve the pain and it was getting worse and more frequent. The pain brought me to my knees on several occasions. This was several times a day. I missed a lot of work and scared my family.”
“I did go to the ER at Marysville. They treated it as a heart problem and gave me a nitroglycerine patch. I had an EKG and a stress test, both of which I passed. I was taken to the ICU for a few hours to be monitored before I went home. My heart had been ruled out and I was so happy. However, the pains persisted and were getting more frequent and worse. The next test was a scope down my throat to see if I was having esophageal spasms. That was negative. We even went so far as to have my gall bladder
removed.”
“The surgeon told my family it was the most beautiful gall bladder he had seen. The day after surgery I was resting in the recliner praying that took care of it. Just a few hours later the pains started again. By this time I was in hysterics. As soon as I would feel the pain begin in my arms I knew it was only going to get worse and would start to cry before it ever reached its peak. On the days I did try and go to work I would park in front of the courthouse and walk maybe 50 feet to our office and be in such pain that by the time I would walk through the door I had to sit in the waiting area with my head between my knees until the pain subsided.”
“Sometime during all of this I went to the Dublin ER. They ran an EKG and CAT scan and sent me home. It may be heartburn they said. I was not giving up. I knew I couldn’t keep going on like this much longer. It not only was taking a toll on me physically but mentally as well. I missed family functions, church, etc. I was a prisoner in my own home for fear I would be out and get these pains in public.”
“Dr. Badenhop wasn’t giving up either. After all my tests and surgery he sent me back to the cardiologist, Dr. Davis. He also gave me a prescription for nitroglycerin tablets. That night I had another attack and placed the nitro under my tongue. To my surprise the pain went away within seconds — great but, oh no. A few days later I saw Dr. Davis. We decided to go to OSU and have a cardiac catheterization to rule out heart disease. Much to his surprise and mine I had 98 percent blockage in the LAD, one of the main arteries in my heart that runs down the front of my chest — the Widow Maker!”
“For four months I had walked around as a ticking time bomb. Every blood test I had was normal as well including cholesterol. My cholesterol numbers were nearly perfect. It is truly a miracle I am alive.”
After a stent was placed in her artery, Diane did rehab, dieted and exercised diligently for awhile, but admits some bad habits have returned. Now she is determined to get back to the routine, fast. She wants to help other women by telling this story.
“You don’t ever think these things will happen to you,” she added. “I sure didn’t.”
An admitted worrier, her life has been filled with extra stress this year. She’s sure this aggravated her condition. Now the goal is to chill out more. She credits her employers and fellow staff members at McCarthy and Cox for help during and after her heart event.

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9/14/12
Meet Allie Diehl
You may remember a few weeks ago I featured 90-year-old Allie Diehl, who had her first in-tandem skydive at the All Ohio Balloon Fest in Marysville. To me, it seemed like a very risky thing to do, but all she could say was, “I never thought I would still be here at this stage and I’m not afraid of anything.”
Her life has been so interesting, so here are more of her adventures. She was born in Bellefontaine and lived many years in Toledo, owning her own beauty shop. She married, had two sons and her husband is deceased.
After his death, life really changed in many ways. She has been a member of the Baha'i faith since 1948. She describes her religion, which was founded in 1844 in what is now Iran, as one that took the best part of all religions and put them together. There are no clergy and the individual churches are run by a spiritual assembly, made up of an elected group from each congregation. U.S. headquarters is in Chicago and the international one in Israel.
The religion promotes volunteerism and expects its members to go out as missionaries (they call them pioneers) serving others. Allie volunteered to go to Fiji in 1999 and did not return to the U.S. until 2005. There, she served her church for no pay, but quickly noted she could live there very cheaply and was able to save some money leftover from Social Security.
When her time was up in 2004, she decided to tour as much of the world as she could on her way back and that’s when she landed in India. Her first jump was done there from a 1,000-foot cliff with a parachute. She was in her eighties.
The trip to foreign lands was not her first. Several years before, in the 1990s, she was living with her son Roy in New York State. He was single and looking for a wife. He met a young lady from China, who convinced him to marry, sight unseen, a young woman in her homeland. This was an arranged marriage and he did not meet the girl until one week before the wedding.
This gets better. The young lady, who was to be his wife, was the daughter of a general in the army of Mao Tse Tung, ruler in China. The girl could not marry unless Allie came with her son to show good faith, because the general said he knew that some girls were being sold into white slavery back in the U.S. So, Allie and her son went to China, and after a week, the young couple was married and ready to go back to the U.S. But the American consulate would not grant a visa. Allie’s son had to go back to the U.S. to his job (he's an attorney) so Allie was left to try and handle the situation. When the Chinese wouldn’t let her leave, she felt like a hostage.
While there, she got very sick with hives and finally convinced them to let her leave. Roy’s young bride followed months later.
Allie had much to say about the Chinese way of life and how things were in the 1990s. She described the “one child” rule — the population is so huge that at that time each couple was only allowed to have one child. To enforce that, women were required to take a public shower once a week, where government employees would actually observe their bodies to see if they looked pregnant. If so they were sent off to see a doctor and get that taken care of. Allie can vouch for this because, even at her age in her seventies, she was required to take such a shower.
No one in the area spoke English so she was able to communicate only through a translation book, which on one side had English and the other side had Chinese and she would point to the corresponding phrase. It also turns out that the lady her son married did not need permission to marry from her father, but from her boss, and then, according to Allie, she was fired.
Allie finally came to Marysville to live in 1999, planning to move in with a girlfriend. That didn’t work out so she bought a house on West Eighth Street. Even after a home inspection, when she took possession, there were quite a few things wrong, which to fix took all of her savings. Allie, now in her eighties, needed a job. She went to work for Interim Health Care, helping older people in their homes with anything they need such as cleaning, cooking or bathing. She considers it a privilege to be in their home helping. She said that the first thing she says when she walks in the door is, “What do you need me to do today?” She puts in 30-40 hours a week.
She said, “After all, my parents sold bread during the Depression when they needed money and even though I’m 90, I’m healthy and able to work.” Thank heavens she can!
Now she would like to be a public speaker and tell organizations about her life experiences. You can call her at 937-578-3946.
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9/7/12
Flying Darth Vader
I met him a few weeks ago at the All Ohio Balloon Fest in Marysville. Benoit Lambert is from Belgium and is the pilot of the famous Darth Vader hot-air balloon. It only flies at festivals a few times a year, so we feel honored our balloon fest was chosen.
Benoit is 31 years old and a lifelong fan of Star Wars. His native language is French, but he speaks very good English. He and his father, Michele, own the balloon together. It was Benoit’s idea to build it with special licensing from Lucas Films. In five years of existence, the balloon has now flown 120 hours of its life maximum of 400.
In the U.S., his most memorable balloon event is, of course, Albuquerque, N.M., where there are 700 balloons. There, the balloons fly only early every morning, and spectators are permitted to walk out and around all the balloons as they are preparing to launch.
That’s where the 501 Society comes in handy. This is made up of a group of Star Wars fans, who dress up in related costumes and appear just for fun, wherever the balloon is in the U.S.
At the Albuquerque event, which is 10 days long, there are about 20 to 40, 501 characters present and they are used to surround the Darth Vader balloon as it’s laid out on the ground. This is to protect it from being accidentally stepped on by the crowd. Three of the 501 members were here in Marysville for our event. One was dressed in the white uniform of a storm trooper, and the other two as Star Wars pilots.
Benoit’s most difficult balloon launch was in China. He and his father attended the first International Balloon Festival in 2009 and conditions were rough. After landing in Beijing, a totally modern city, the group of balloonists went to another airport for a flight to a remote desert area (Gobi) called Inner Mongolia, where the balloon event would be held.
In the airport, Benoit waited hours for a scheduled flight that seemed to never materialize. The passengers were promised it would be in the next hour and then three more hours passed with no further announcement. Chinese people waiting for the flight all had cardboard boxes for suitcases. After many hours of waiting they finally boarded and the flight arrived safely. The balloonists had all been very concerned for their safe arrival.
In Inner Mongolia, they were in the middle of nowhere at a horrible hotel. The beds were just wood cots on the floor — no mattresses. It was impossible to sleep. The shower in the bathroom had no lip on the floor so the water ran out into the room and down the hall. But the place had air conditioning and it was terribly hot outside.
After two days, they found another hotel. It had mattresses, which seemed good, but there was no air conditioning. That was bad since now there was little sleep because of the heat. He and his father were there for 15 days!
Benoit described the food in one word  — awful. The place where they ate served fish with eyes and his concern was that they were not located near any water. How well was this fish refrigerated? Also according to him, the chicken was scary. On the plate was the chicken’s body which included legs and claws attached.
The Chinese government told all balloonists they were not allowed to go out on their own because it was unsafe. Three times a day someone took them to the same restaurant near them. Soon the pilots, including others from Belgium and the U.S., took things into their own hands. Benoit and his father, Michele, walked two miles one day to a place they had passed in the car. It had pictures of food outside. It was like a Chinese fast food with French fries, etc. They ate and ate, then told the others when they returned. The food rebellion began and all pilots insisted to be taken there in the following days.
Benoit also learned he could never trust what the Chinese government said from his earlier airport experience to four-hour delays which were a regular event just to take them to eat.
In China, there were only 20 special-shaped balloons for this festival. No chase crews were available and there were only two fans to move the heat up into the balloons. Usually each has its own fan and chase crew. Consequently, only two balloons could launch each day, so the rest just tethered while inflated. That was fine with the Chinese since Benoit realized they could only tether their balloons. They did not know how to fly them!
You can see his flying experiences have had highs and lows. Negotiations are underway for the impressive Darth Vader balloon to return to the All Ohio Balloon Fest next year.
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8/31/12
Returning to the South!
She's interesting, animated and articulate. In addition, Caroline Ohnsman is a retired teacher, pianist, mother and grandmother. Now after 54 years of living in Marysville, she is about to move to Greenville, S.C. to be near her daughter Valerie (MHS class of ‘83) and her family. In addition to her daughter, she has two sons, Dave and Alan.
Caroline's story began in Atlanta, Ga. in the 1940s. Her world was quite different from those children who lived in Northern states. Segregation was a way of life and when she graduated from high school in 1958, her school was still segregated. But a big change would follow about five years later. Schools would be integrated and life would soon be better for minorities in the South.
For several generations before her, the women in Caroline's family were accomplished pianists and her talent emerged at about age three. Her mother always told her that at about that age, she would go to the piano and start plunking out melodies with one hand as her playing- by-ear talent became evident. Lessons started when she was in kindergarten. She loved it and was a natural.
During high school, she served as an accompanist to her school choir and when the Ohio State University Men's Glee Club visited her high school, the group performed, and then asked her school to perform for its members. When their director saw her at work on the piano (even with a broken finger), he admired her talent. On the spot he offered her a job accompany- ing the OSU group and a full scholarship to OSU. She thought he might be kidding, but soon all the information started coming in the mail and Caroline would be on her way to Ohio to a different world and a different way of life.
While at OSU she married at the end of her junior year, mov- ing to Marysville after she graduated from Ohio State in 1962. She had a degree in music and secondary education. English was her specialty.
She wasn't able to teach right away because by the time she got to Marysville she was expecting a baby and pregnant teachers were not allowed to work in schools then. In September 1963 the first grade in Broadway needed a teacher. The superintendent called her and offered her the job, saying he was desperate. The children had had several substitutes and the school year had barely begun. She reminded him she was certified in secondary education, not elementary, but remember, he was desperate.
There were 23 first graders who had not gone to kindergarten, so it was their first experience with school. It turned out OK because she loved little children and there was a piano in the room. All went well that year for those children who are now in their fifties. They still invite Caroline to their reunions once a year in Broadway.
This first year of teaching was an eye opener. Daily, she would walk the boys and girls down to the restroom and wait outside until everyone came out.
One day all the girls were ready to go back to the class- room and none of the boys had returned, which was unusual. She heard a lot of laughing going on in the restroom so decided to send the custodian in to find out what was going on. When he returned, he too had a smirk on his face and said that the boys were attempting to see how high up they could "spray" on the wall. It was a contest. She immediately called for a bucket and the boys were then required to clean up their mess on the wall. Caroline said that never happened again. It was the old "boys will be boys" thing!
She taught for many years at Marysville Middle School and later at Tolles Technical and Career Center, working as a guidance counselor. She is now retired from school.
She has been the organist at First Presbyterian Church since 1990, doing what she loves.
The South is calling her back to Greenville, which will be her new home. Early in September her grandsons Nick, Luke, Jared Ohnsman and their friends will load the moving truck and son Dave will drive to South Carolina.
This is a lady who is surrounded by love and you can see why. She's a charming out- going, caring person and certainly has conveyed that to her students over the years. It also shows in her family's response.
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8/24/12
Allie Diehl - 90-year-old skydiver
If you attended the All Ohio Balloon Fest in Marysville last weekend, you probably saw Allie Diehl jump out of an airplane from 10,000 feet above ground. She said it was money well spent and the thrill of her life. This is not the first time Allie has parachuted. While in India in 2004 she jumped off a 1,000-foot cliff using a parachute.
Allie was born in 1921 and grew up in Bellefontaine. She graduated from Bellefontaine High School in 1939. Later, she married, moved to Toledo and owned her own beauty shop there for many years. Her husband is deceased and she has two grown sons, one living nearby and another in New York State.
My first question to her was, “You are 90 years old, did you tell your sons you were going to do this?” She replied that she told the one in New York State because he wouldn’t worry and didn’t tell the one close by in Hilliard because he would worry.
The only question from the son she told was, “Are you sure you want to do this mom?” She answered: “I’m 90 and I never thought I’d be here this long. I don’t worry about me and don’t want you to either.”
Now, about the experience of her jumping out of an airplane. There was about 15 minutes of preparation time, which began with donning a jumpsuit. Then there was a harness to wear and instructions were given. The first was, hang onto the handles, then look to the sky and try to kick the skydiver (she jumped in tandem with a professional skydiver). This was the position she needed to be in when they left the airplane. They practiced this several times.
Then it happened. She was firmly strapped to her partner, and they were sitting on a bench in the plane. Allie was on her knees on the floor and she knew he was with her. There was never a doubt of her connection to the skydiver, whose name she can’t remember. The words were, ready-set-go and he pushed off and there they went.
It was a short freefall time and she had been warned the wind would be strong. At 10,000 feet, it was also cold. Her partner/skydiver kept saying, “You’re doing great, you’re doing great.” Then the parachute opened with a small jerk. It was just about like being on a swing and she was not afraid. She looked around on her way down to pick out points of interest and enjoyed the nearly 10-minute trip to earth.
Allie’s attitude was, she could have already been gone by now, she doesn’t worry about her death or about other people and she doesn’t want them to worry about her. She made it clear that she makes her own decisions and thinks she actually shocked the flight crew because she did so well. After I talked with her, I can see, she is an in-charge lady and understand why she arrived in one piece.
There’s much more to the life of Allie Diehl, including the fact that she drives the hot yellow stick-shift car that police have stopped three times. She thinks they believe there’s a teenager inside. They always let her go.
In a few weeks we’ll have more about Allie’s interesting life, which includes time spent in China, Fiji and India. Her latest plan is to be a local speaker and she would like to share her experiences with Union County. You can reach her at 937-578-3946.
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8/17/12
Nigeria to London to Marysville
A sign in the window at McKinley Grill in Marysville says “Best Breakfast in Town” and I can agree that the food is good. My husband, Dan, and I are regulars for breakfast on Saturday mornings.
The chef and owner is Gus Obayemi, who came to Marysville from Lagos, Nigeria, via London, England.
His father, who recently passed away, was a civil engineer and contractor in Lagos and wanted his children to be educated and successful. So Gus was sent to England to culinary school for one and a half years, and then came to the U.S. to visit a relative. He looked around and said to himself, “this is where I want to live.” Now a proud American citizen, he wishes his native country would adopt our way of life.
He’s sad to leave his family back there, but they don’t want to live in the U.S. Once he was in this country, Gus could see how much better life can be. Nigeria was colonized by Great Britain and English is the official language. But over 200 other languages are also spoken.
Gus recently returned from Nigeria where he attended his father’s funeral (he usually only visits Lagos about every three years) and was quickly reminded of the turmoil in his country. Lagos was the former capital, but now the more centrally located Abuja is the seat of government. Gus believes that in just about two years his Nigeria will split into two new countries. The north is mostly warring Muslim people promoting homegrown terrorism and the south is made up of Christians, who are victims of repeated church bombings from the north.
The government there resembles ours with a president and congress, but Gus believes the elections are fixed and the current president is weak. Factions around him dictate to him and corruption in general is a way of life. You must know someone to get a government contract and afterward and there is a kickback expected. Those in control just seem to get richer.
Gus also says the roads are terrible and one hour driving requires a Tylenol for one’s aches and pains because of the bumps and bruises received. Most people who have electricity, have a generator. If you can’t afford that, you don’t have any service. Many people have old fashioned wells for water that are actually dipped with a bucket. In other words, the government seems to provide little to the people.
Some in power are rich and get money not only from kickbacks, but also from oil resources. Gus says Nigeria is number eight in the world in oil production and provides 6-8 percent of the U.S. oil imports. Sadly, the poor in Nigeria just seem to get poorer. His wish is that the U.S. would intervene more to change Nigeria, because the country has the potential to be a good nation.
Gus loves the U.S. and repeatedly told me how happy he is to be here with his wife and three sons. He works hard, but that’s OK. They are able to have a much better life here.
He also loves Marysville, a town that has been good to him. At McKinley Grill on East Fifth Street, he serves breakfast and lunch plus dinner on Friday night. One of his joys is cooking and serving good food to his patrons.
America has been good to him and Gus said in his parting words, “God bless America!”
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8/10/12
GOLF - gentlemen only, ladies forbidden
For some years I have thought of myself as a tennis player who dabbled in golf. I never dreamed I would claim the sport of golf or say I am a golfer or enjoy the difficult and frustrating, plus time-consuming sport.
In my early days of playing, women were not always welcome at every course. In fact, some courses still have “no women” days. I have played for many years. I took large breaks in the action for years at a time, undoubtedly to regain my sanity after hitting too many balls in the water or the woods.
Now I have to admit, I am playing the best golf of my life and am sometimes enjoying it - a strange thing to say about a sport that costs so much to play and can cause so much stress. Recently at various events, I have been able to win some new fairway clubs to which I credit my improvement. They came at, shall we say, a good price.
So at this point in my life, I realize I may not improve anymore, but sadly, start going downhill. With this depressing thought I am now trying to savor any good moment on the course. There are good shots followed by horrible ones. As my friends say, “Long drive meanith not, if you screw up the second shot.” I did clean that up a little for you!
Remember, there are lots of golf courses quite close by where you can enjoy the same frustration as the rest of us! If you are a beginner, borrow some clubs and give it a try. My golfing friends have shared some questionable golf wisdom with me and I want to pass it on to you, even if you’re not a golfer.
Caddies, at most courses, are a thing of the past and I have only played one round with a caddy. I know from watching golf on TV how helpful they can be, but here are examples of how funny they, too, can be.
Golfer: “Think I’m going to drown myself in the lake.” Caddy: “Think you can keep your head down that long?”
Golfer: “I’d move Heaven and Earth to break 100 on this course.” Caddy: “Try Heaven, you’ve already moved most of the Earth.
Golfer: “Do you think my game is improving?” Caddy: “Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now.”
Golfer: “Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?” Caddy: “Eventually.”
Golfer: “You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.” Caddy: “I don’t think so, sir. That would be too much of a coincidence.”
Golfer: “Do you think it is a sin to play on Sunday?” Caddy: “The way you play, sir, it’s a sin on any day.”
Golfer: “That can’t be my ball, it’s too old.” Caddy: “It’s been a long time since we teed off.”
Laws of Golf
No matter how bad your last shot was, you should have inner peace knowing that a worse one is yet to come. This law does not expire on the 18th hole, since it has the supernatural tendency to extend over the course of tournament, a summer and eventually, a lifetime.
Your best round of golf will be followed almost immediately by your worst round ever. The probability of the latter increases with the number of people you tell about the former.
Brand new golf balls are water-magnetic. Though this cannot be proven in the lab, it is a known fact that the more expensive the golf ball, the greater its attraction to water. Expensive clubs have been known to be partly made with this most unusual natural alloy.
The higher a golfer’s handicap, the more qualified he deems himself as an instructor.
The last three holes of a round will automatically adjust your score to what it really should be.
Golf should be given up at least twice per month.
Since bad shots come in groups of three, your fourth consecutive bad shot is really the beginning of the next group of three.
It’s surprisingly easy to hole a 50-foot putt when you’re lying 8.
Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.
It’s not a gimme if you’re still four feet away.
You can hit a two-acre fairway 10 percent of the time, and a two-inch branch 90 percent of the time.
Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make a double or triple bogey to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.
Don’t buy a putter until you’ve had a chance to throw it.
___
Since I shared these thoughts with you, whether you are a golfer or not, I’ll bet you feel a little more of the pain of those who play. You may also be wondering why I do it. Mostly, it is because of the camaraderie of the great people I play with and the fact that lunch will follow the ordeal!
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8/3/12
A beauty on E. Fifth St.
I was driving on East Fifth Street and noticed this beautiful garden in front of the home at 428 E. Fifth St. I immediately thought of wanting to share the beauty of this yard with everyone who reads this column. It’s a good model for all homeowners and particularly looks perfect in front of an older home. I spoke with the owner, took a picture and decided to feature it this week.
Then, after some investigation, I discovered the garden is entered in the Marysville Beautification Contest. Winners are yet to be determined and will be awarded at the City Council meeting on Sept. 13. This year there are 20 entries in the contest’s many categories. The homes or businesses can be nominated by the resident or by an observer who just appreciates all the hard work done. The awards are large engraved yard stones.
Donald Boerger is the resident gardener at the East Fifth Street home and works hard at his job. He had this to say about the home:
“I have lived here since 1999. It’s the former home of my great-grandparents, Leo and Nora Boerger who stayed here most of their lives. The home was built in 1908 by the secretary of the Marysville Cabinet Co. Then in September of 1941 my great-grandparents brought it for $8,785.”
“I still have the videos from the 1940s of how Fifth Street once looked with the large oaks that once lined the streets. The streets were still bricked and Chestnut was a one-lane road. The homes at one time were gorgeous.”
“My grandparents always loved the house and their son Robert Boerger always loved plants so I like to say my passion for plants and history is in my blood. After my great-grandmother’s death in 1998, my aunt, Linda Maier, bought the house to keep it in the family. I will always be grateful for her doing that as I was too young at the time to value historic architecture. When I moved here in 1999 there was not a single flower, only old cedar and juniper bushes. There are a few Marysville residents who have witnessed the change over the years.”
“I still live here with my mother and two sisters. We all are in college now and we want to make Marysville our home. I have expanded my knowledge and free time to help Joe Tracy and Chad Morse by pruning trees and shrubs within the city. I have also been donating trees to them to do my part in making Marysville a little bit greener in order to refill our nickname our community got in 1886 as Shade City USA. I also want to bring back my home to the original 1908 state.”
Donald sets a good example for all of us. Look around your property and see how you can also make Marysville a nicer place.
Downtown flowers
For the last several years I have commented on the beauty of the downtown hanging baskets. I think each year they could not improve on them the next season, but they do. “They” are those employed by the City of Marysville who water every other day and fertilize and prune the flowers.
It all starts with a $10,000 donation from Memorial Hospital of Union County for the flowers and their care. There are 32 baskets. The large pots scattered around are planted by the Master Gardeners and the city also cares for them. They make our downtown a prettier place!
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7/27/12
The Lawler Triplets

Paula and Kevin Lawler have four children. When their son Zach (now an Army National Guard specialist stationed in Afghanistan) was only four years old, he suddenly had three sisters ... all at once. Paula had triplet girls 18 years ago and immediately there were four children in their house.
The multiple birth wasn?t a surprise, because when Paula was just two months pregnant the ultrasound showed three babies in three separate sacs. Her doctor is quite a joker, so she thought he was kidding at first! Then the evidence appeared. Kevin was pressed into service and other help came from grandma and an aunt. Finally, a routine was established and the babies were lined up like an assembly line for feeding and changing.
The girls are fraternal, but Amy and Lindsey look like twins. Crystal says she is happy to be different and is the more sane one. The other two are gigglers.
In fact, Amy and Lindsey think they share a brain, too. Both are finicky eaters and can tell when the other is hungry and what she might want to eat. Other times they may say the same thing at the same time.
The girls were raised to be independent of each other, rarely dressing alike. For the most part they were also in separate classrooms during their school years.
Many times their classmates did not realize they were triplets. A common question to Amy and Lindsay was, ?Are you twins?? Of course, they answered, ?No,? and laughed. Remember they are the gigglers. The three have just graduated from Marysville High School. By their senior year the school system finely started sending notices and grade cards in one envelope. After all, triplets are an unusual occurrence.
The girls don?t know any other life except that of a triplet. For all their lives they?ve had two other people in the same grade and living in their house. That also means there are girls who can help with homework and share clothes.
It looks to me like their dad, Kevin, has handled it all well. He is now the only man in the house and the girls admit they gang up on him. He is a man of few words and they take advantage of that.
The family has enjoyed camping together for many years, even in this summer?s hot weather. The girls are all working this summer, but in three different places.
In the fall, all three will head off to college. Amy will go to the University of Toledo and major in pre-med. Crystal will be at Shawnee State University with a major in education. She wants to teach math. Lindsey will go to Ohio Christian University in sports ministry.
It?s one thing to leave your parents, but another to leave two other sisters. This will be an adjustment for the girls. Paula and Kevin, on the other hand are definitely looking forward to the quiet in the house.
So, the fall will bring big changes for this family, not just one but three kids going to different colleges. Another bonus, however, is that their brother, Zach, will be arriving home from Afghanistan in September.
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7/20/12
Who needs a Blackberry? I do
I would say my electronic life is usually good. In fact, my computer and Blackberry cell phone have generally made both my personal and business life easier. It’s great to have the convenience of e-mail on my phone. I use it for work almost every day writing my columns.
All that said, I was wacko last Saturday. My Blackberry had a problem. Actually it involved the scroll pad, which made operation and use of messages more difficult. The only thing that saved me was the touch screen. I could still make a call and after all, that’s what a phone is for.
I went to my favorite Verizon store and was put in touch with a Blackberry tech person. Her name was Monica, and she had a Spanish accent so thick I could hardly understand her directions (and I speak a little Spanish). But she was polite and knowledgeable.
Finally I asked, “Are you in the U.S.?” She answered, “No, I’m in Central America.” Oh, great, I thought. She activated a program which let her see my computer screen and together, for 1 1/2 half hours, we loaded another program which might have fixed the problem on my phone.
During this process we got disconnected on our phone call and I was afraid to hang up on my end, just in case. Then as I’m wondering what to do with my phone, a message, written in what looked like red marker in large hand-printing, started to appear on my screen. It said, being written very slowly across the screen, “Melanie, please hang up your phone.” Oh my gosh, that was weird. Of course, I hung up the phone and Monica called back and we restarted the process.
I don’t know what happened there, but I learned something else the computer screen can do. After all that frustrating time, Monica was unable to fix things. So Verizon agreed to send me a new phone at no charge. OK, that sounded nice, but what a giant pain it was!
The phone arrived in two days and the stress began. It came with directions — just four simple steps — for the changeover process from one phone to the other. How ridiculous was that! Now, I think I have some ability and work daily on my computer and smart phone, but really this was too hard. Maybe the phone is smarter than me. I read the short directions, but didn’t understand them, so I headed back to the Verizon store. They must just love me there!
So, my new best friend, manager Tom Downey, began to help me. I must have looked very needy and then his disclaimers began. He didn’t know Blackberry very well since he’s a Droid user and said Blackberry is on the way out. Well, not at my house. They just sent me a new phone. I know how to use it and generally love it ... when it works!
Tom started asking me questions to get into my Blackberry account including a Blackberry password. Of course, I didn’t know what it was. I was proud I did know the Verizon password. That was one bright spot. There were more of those to follow of which I had no idea. Pretty quickly he transferred my info from old phone to new one (it took about 45 minutes), but then other problems arose.
Finally he called tech support for more help and was sent to level two, I imagined for huge problems. I sat there for more than two hours while Tom calmly made updates and changes to set up my phone. Then he needed more of my passwords to my e-mail accounts. I only knew one. Then he needed a Blackberry pin number, but again I had no idea. How could I not know this stuff? I could feel my blood pressure rising, but no problem, I take medicine for that.
A few days later, after all passwords were retrieved (now all are stored in my memory which means they must be written down somewhere), the phone is functioning normally.
I asked, why does this have to be so hard? How could a company have expected me to set up this phone when the experts had trouble? I just know there are plenty of people less tech-savy than me.
I have repeatedly thought how simple my life was before cell phones and computers, but admittedly the convenience overrides it all.
So, who needs a Blackberry? I do for now, until I go to my iPhone. Then I’ll probably have another column to cover that!
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7/13/12
Public servants - ready to help
My friends and I have played tennis at Lewis Park on Grove Street for many years. We have seen the courts deteriorate over time and be resurfaced for just general wear and tear, and actually have lived through several of these procedures.
When the courts start to get bad two or three years after the resurfacing, large cracks develop, some about two inches wide, all across the court. It becomes a little bit of a hazard to play on such a surface, plus the ball bounces in a strange manner. We don’t need anything to make the game tougher.
As we all get older, we are more conscious of catching a foot in a crack. It’s been quite a few years since major resurfacing was done on these courts. Recently one of the girls spoke to someone at the city about their condition. The reply was, “There’s no money to fix them this year.” So we were disappointed, knowing that it would be another year before they would be improved.
Then just recently I ran into our mayor, John Gore, at an event and decided to ask him who I could speak to about getting the courts resurfaced. I barely got the question out of my mouth, when he started mentally taking notes and asking me questions about the courts. He told me he would have someone look at the problem the next day. All I wanted to know was who to call. But John took over. What a nice surprise.
The next day he told us the courts would be patched this year and resurfacing would be scheduled for next year. Problem solved, situation handled. How nice that was and how impressive that John took a special interest in such a small matter, but big to us. The work was completed in less than a week!
John still works for the county in addition to his job as mayor of Marysville, but he loves both jobs and says this is the best time of his life. How often do you hear someone say that? How refreshing and how great to know that someone who has this attitude is our mayor. I’m totally impressed!
Mayor Gore has an open "coffee with the mayor" on the third Saturday of each month at City Hall. The public may attend and any topic is fair game.
It must have been my lucky week because just a few days later I was at Eljer Park with my three-year-old grandson, Berkley. We noticed a large slice in the middle of the big vinyl slide. It was the kind that could cut a child’s leg, so thankfully, Berk didn’t go down the slide.
A few minutes later Police Officer Eric came riding through the park on his bicycle. I didn’t know that was his name, but Berk looked up and said, “Is that Eric?” I said, “No, Berk.” Then the policeman turned around and said, “Yes, I’m Eric.” Now I am stunned!
I’m not quite sure how they know each other, but that’s how we started our conversation. I showed him the slide and asked who I should get in touch with to have it repaired? He walked over and tried to push it back together and then said, “ I’ll take care of it for you.” He was going back to the city building and said he would handle it - another city employee who wanted to be helpful.
I’m telling you it was my lucky week and I’m really glad that they are in Marysville. These are little things that add up to big ones. It’s still a special kind of town with caring people. We’re lucky.
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7/6/12
Clugage and his gold
Doris Story of Marysville (Allen Center High School class of ‘39) has a sister, Crystle Peterson (MHS class of ‘54), who lives near Medford, Ore. Crystle recently sent an interesting note about the death of a man named James Clugage. Now, he didn’t die recently, but in 1886. So, of course, no one is alive today who knew him. No one is here to tell his true story.
The connection between Clugage and Marysville is unclear, but he is buried in our Oakdale Cemetery. His gravesite is marked by a large monument and surrounded by many family members. It seems, however, that he was famous for being the first man (along with James Poole) to stumble over a gleaming nugget of gold in 1851. This happened near Medford, Ore. at Rich Gulch.
The Clugage-Poole gold discovery has several versions, modified over the years, according to the Oregon Mail Tribune. The most popular version goes like this:
The men operated a packing business near the Willamette Valley and Yreka, Calif. For safety, whenever they camped in the valley, they left the main trail and set up camp along the foothills known as Rich Gulch. Faced with potential danger from California vigilantes scouring the trail for horse thieves (especially vigilantes who were often as lawless as those they pursued), it was safer for Clugage and Poole and their string of mules to camp in a secluded spot.
One morning the men discovered Indians had stolen some of their mules. After searching into the afternoon they dismounted for some food and a drink of water. One of them apparently plunged his face into the creek for a drink and saw a glittering yellow nugget of gold.
There are other versions of the discovery, but as Mark Twain said, “The most important thing is to get your facts first — then you can distort them as you please.”
We don’t know how Clugage ended up in Marysville, but there is also a second James Clugage buried in Oakdale, possibly his father. According to Doris Story, the Clugage monument is the largest and tallest in the cemetery located in section C — no doubt purchased with Oregon gold.
Hope Center needs furniture
The Hope Center opened just a few months ago in the building on Chestnut Street which formerly was the East School. It houses the Clothes Closet, Personal Needs Pantry, Community Kitchen and Family to Family Furniture Bank.
Since its opening in April, the Furniture Bank has helped 49 families. Linda Rinehart and Janet Harbold are coordinators. They need furniture and ask for donations of beds (currently 38 families waiting), sofas, refrigerators, tables and chairs and new mattresses. All small appliances are needed, too.
Linda said, “If everyone in Union County having a garage sale would consider donating unsold items to the Family to Family Furniture Bank and the other groups at the Hope Center, we might be able to achieve our goal of having enough furniture to supply the needs the same week they ask and eliminate our waiting lists.”
Donations to the Furniture Bank are accepted Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and tax deduction forms are provided upon request.
Anyone interested in being a volunteer at the Furniture Bank can register at the Hope Center office.
Other volunteer opportunities are also available at the Clothes Closet, Personal Needs Pantry, Community Kitchen, and in the office at the Hope Center, 212 Chestnut St. Phone number is (937) 303-4209.
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6/29/12
A new Dutch connection
They have visited Marysville many times before. In fact, they are owners of three acres near Honda in Union County. Dicky and her husband Joop (pronounced Yop) Van Lottum live in Garderen, Netherlands, and she is the sister of Marysville area resident Gerrie Van Dam. The Van Lottums are staying with Gerrie and her husband, Wils, for a few weeks.
It’s been five years since they have been here as the trip from Holland to the U.S. is expensive and somewhat complicated. They tell me that to come to the U.S. they need a visa, as well as a passport. I was surprised since we don’t need a visa to go to Holland.
The process goes like this: The Dutch can access a visa application online and after applying, the answer — yes or no — is received in about five minutes. Once they have an OK, they can go to a booking agent and get tickets.
Boarding the plane is a little different for them, too. Usually passengers in Europe do not have to remove their shoes. Dicky and Joop disliked this, but realize it is just part of travel to the U.S. now.
When they arrived in Detroit, their customs check was much more extensive than for a U.S. citizen. Bags are more likely to be searched and the Van Lottums were photographed and fingerprinted there. Then there was a short wait for the OK to enter the U.S.
They love America and most everything that goes with it. The feeling began for both of them when they were young children. Both of their fathers lived through World War II and were so grateful to be liberated by the Americans that they passed that feeling on to their children.
Joop’s father was so loyal to the U.S. that he only bought American cars after the war, even though they were more expensive. He said, “No German Mercedes for me.” Also, while on a family trip after the war, he got out of the car and refused to enter Germany.
Gerrie and Dicky’s father served in the Dutch army in World War II, afterward receiving several medals from the queen.
Even now, on May 5, the Dutch celebrate “Freedom from Germany Day,” but the two countries have a good relationship at this time.
The Van Lottums once thought about coming to the U.S. to live. They spent 10 years on the list seeking application to move here, but were never chosen.
When we talked, they were just semi-excited about the European soccer championships. The Dutch call it voetbal. Almost all of Europe is in an economic mess, but the countries are concentrating on the games anyway.
The semi-excited part about the games is that at first the Dutch looked like a winning team. Recruiting seemed to be good. However, some good players went to other countries at the last minute. At the time of the interview, the team had lost twice.
To play for a country, you must be a citizen, but many players have dual citizenship and take the best offer. While the games are going on, many Dutch homes are completely wrapped in orange plastic (representing the queen’s House of Orange — in Dutch, Oranje-Nassau) to support a team. Of course, this is much like us in the fall sporting scarlet and gray during football season.
Because Wils and Gerrie have 130 acres in the country, Joop says he feels like he’s at a resort. Holland is a tiny country and has lots of people, so many of their homes are attached to each other. The only people who have acreage are farmers.
They enjoy eating out in our restaurants and Bob Evans’ coleslaw is a favorite. In Holland, food portions are much smaller (I often wonder who we are trying to feed here with our giant portions), and the server doesn’t expect a tip. Salaries for servers are much larger there, but Joop said they are not as nice to their customers.
So, even though it was a complicated trip, Dicky and Joop Van Lottum are happy to be here now!
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Last week’s column included a trivia question, what four colleges produced both a U.S. President and a winning Super Bowl quarterback? The answer: Michigan - President Gerald Ford and quarterback Tom Brady (New England Patriots); Navy - President Jimmy Carter and quarterback Roger Staubach (Dallas Cowboys); Stanford - President Herbert Hoover and quarterbacks John Elway (Denver Broncos) and Jim Plunkett (Oakland Raiders); and Miami of Ohio - President Benjamin Harrison and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers).
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6/22/12
The Miami reunion
Some had not seen each other for 47 years, but for four years of their lives in the early 1960s, they were not only friends and family, but also brothers.
 The occasion was a reunion of the Sigma Nu fraternity brothers of Miami (Ohio) University in Oxford. My husband, Dan, was a member of the class of ‘65.
In case you haven’t been there, I have to tell you that Miami University is one of the most beautiful college campuses I have seen. All the architecture is Georgian with the typical red brick trimmed in beige. No building on the campus is over four stories tall. Miami is a big part of our family as both our sons are graduates, too.
So, the organizer of the reunion began his effort to reunite everyone about two months ago with emails. The group grew each day with connections to new people.
As usual with any class reunion, members seem to revert to their college days. Trash talk began in the emails and continued all weekend with great stories of the college craziness years ago. I noticed (yes, some brave wives went, too) that everyone had a nickname. There was Slick, Chip, Z, Inch, TA, and Beh, and also Rum and Slats.
I also noticed no one was safe from chiding, which bordered on ridicule. Dan says it could be anyone’s “turn in the barrel” any time during those college days.
Even though the reunion group was composed of physicians, attorneys, other professionals and those with postgraduate degrees, they were kids again! That leads me to what you might call a bad start with the university president, David Hodge. I guess this goes under the title of “boys will be boys" no matter their age! President Hodge was included in several emails as the organizers sought to set up a guided campus tour and a meeting with Hodge at his beautiful home on campus.
One class member, a Cincinnati attorney, decided to be cute and said something like, “Sure we are invited to the president’s house, but we all better bring our check books.” He added some more thoughts I can’t share with you here. Then, as we all may have done at some time, he hit “reply to all.” Not only did the brothers receive it, but President Hodge did, too. The apologies began before we even arrived on campus.
So there we are touring the campus with the group noting all the changes and ending at Lewis Place, home of the president. He and his wife, Valerie, were charming and gracious hosts, talking about the university and their beautiful home which was built as a private residence in 1838. It was leased by Miami in the early 1900s for use as the president’s home, and was purchased by the college in 1929. Hodge is the 10th president to reside there. It was extensively remodeled recently.
Thankfully, David Hodge has a great sense of humor. He said first, “Welcome to all - except Andy” (author of the crazy email), adding that he wished that was the worst thing that ever happened to him in academic life.
President Hodge left us with a trivia question - what four colleges have produced both a U.S. President and a winning Super Bowl quarterback? Hint - Miami is one of them. The answer will be next week.
All in all, the weekend was great and plans are in the works to do it again. But all agreed it had better be soon - these guys are getting old!

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6/15/12

Father’s Day
Father’s day is Sunday. My own father died nearly 30 years ago and I still miss his warmth and humor — all the family does as we often speak of him. What more could someone wish for than to be remembered so well and truly have made a mark on the lives of others?
My dad, Melvin Tharp, was a self-made man. He worked in the newspaper business all his life for the same paper in Columbus, starting as a paperboy and retiring as executive vice president of the company.
In between those newspaper years, he served in the Army during World War II as part of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) which was the forerunner of the CIA. For the most part, he wore civilian clothes and was basically a spy, serving several months in China in 1945. He was also recalled for the Korean War.
Back in Ohio, he was a much sought-after public speaker and also the one we all went to for advice on everything. What a guy! He was only 66 when he died in 1983.
My dad was a typical father in the 1950s and 60s. He worked hard to provide for his family and left the child-rearing job to my mom, who didn’t work outside the home. Dad was consulted on all major matters and also in those situations when we, as children, didn’t like the answer or edict from mom. Usually his first question in those cases was, “What did your mother say?” He was smart to keep his marriage intact that way!
My husband, Dan, is also a good father, involved in his sons’ lives even as adults. I can see though, that he has true skills as a grandfather. We have three grandchildren and I know he loves them a lot. Two of them live in Cincinnati and now our youngest, nearly three years old, lives in Marysville. His name is Berkley and he owns Dan, who has even acted as baby-sitter for Berk without me! I am floored by that fact. In Grandpa, Berk has not only found someone who will throw the ball with him, but one who likes to watch “Blues Clues” and the “Forte Giant” on TV.
There are fathers, grandfathers and then there’s my friend, Homer Viers. He may be the only great-great grandfather I know. That baby is only two months old and he also has seven great-grandchildren. He claims it’s all the same whether grandfather or great-great grandfather. You love them all. He’s just a little older each time.
This new century has also brought an entirely unique-to-me style of parenting by dads. For one thing, young couples take their children everywhere. In my day, we thought baby-sitters were important for necessary mental health time.
You often see young fathers feeding their children and even changing diapers — what? They seem to evenly share much of the child-rearing duties with their wives. Both our sons fit into this mold. I have run into young dads in the grocery with babies and toddlers — alone — no mom around. That did not happen often in my years of rearing children.
It’s wonderful to see young fathers so involved and I think this is a trend here to stay. So, happy Father’s Day to all you guys whether fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers or even great-great-grandfathers, no matter what your parenting styles are!
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6/8/12
Remembers former teacher
I did a story about John and Sharon Merriman sometime near this past Valentine’s Day and received a note recently from one of John’s students, Lynne Ledley. (If you missed the story, just go to marysvillejt.com, click on Off the Hook and then on archives.)
Lynne writes: “I was in Mr. Merriman’s first class at Richwood (5th grade). We were 10 years old and he was actually 19 years old when the school year started and then turned 20 in December! They had a shortage of teachers and so he could go to college for a couple of years and then teach before graduating. He was a wonderful teacher. I have fond memories of that year.
“For our Christmas party that year, we went to the theater in Richwood and saw ‘Heaven Knows Mr. Allison’ — we felt so grown up. For our year-end picnic we went to his home on Cradler-Turner Road, which had ponds, and we had a great time. The boys of the class got to camp out overnight. He has had a huge impact on many lives during his teaching years!”
John’s wife, Sharon, had this to add: “The kids who were in John’s first years always talk about the different things he did to teach them — they produced a radio program, for instance. A lot of teachers in the Claibourne building were older and John came in with these innovative ideas. The kids loved it. And he was so young. He made points with the other teachers by taking playground duty and points with the kids by actually playing with them.”
John Merriman’s life has been in education. He has made friends everywhere and touched the lives of many. He is nearly retired now, but serves as truant officer for Marysville Schools and also as assistant tennis coach for the girls high school team. He spent his last full-time years in education as a principal in Marysville.
Local people behind NICCE
Matt Smith (MHS class of ‘88) helped form the Nicaraguan International Coalition for the Children and Elderly (NICCE) in late 2010. The group recently completed its first trip to Nicaragua to supply 50 children living in poverty with the supplies they need to attend school and receive an education.
Matt explained: “In Nicaragua you can’t attend school without a school uniform and the necessary supplies. If your parents live in poverty, as many do in Nicaragua, the children have no opportunity to receive an education, the fundamental cornerstone to a better life. Improving a child’s access to education is a key ingredient needed to break the cycle of poverty. NICCE is committed to providing opportunities to those who have nothing.”
Co-founder Jose Martin Aracia is a native of Nicaragua and worked at Scotts Miracle-Gro. As the years passed, Jose never forgot his own personal struggles growing up in an impoverished third-world country. When the opportunity arose, he decided to travel back home to help others.
Last December group members took the $3,000 in donations they have received since forming their nonprofit organization, and traveled to the dusty village of Los Fierros to deliver school uniforms and supplies to 22 needy children. The second project was in the village of San Isidro, where an additional 18 children applied for and received aid. The third project was in the Managua barrio of Loma Verde where an additional 10 children received assistance. The fourth and last project of the trip was to offer two college scholarships based on merit to students with “A” averages and excellent attendance ratings. Both of these students will be attending the University of Managua for the 2012 school year.
NICCE has a second trip planned for June 26, 2012. The group will assist more needy children, as well as tackle basic needs such as providing access to clean water for the children to drink. Those looking to support NICCE can contact Matt by visiting www.nicceonline.org. Donations can be made via Paypal. According to Smith, NICCE is a 501c(3) organization and all donations are tax deductible.
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6/1/12
St. John’s church - people helping others
St. John’s Lutheran Church in Marysville is the heart of a wonderful operation that they call Loving in Actions and in Truth. It stands for Christian-centered, prayer-involved people helping people. The effort began with five people in about 2001 under another name, Member Mission Outreach. Over the last 12 years, more than 500 have been involved including the youth of St. John’s.
Church member Gary Jobe was the recipient of a donor kidney from his pastor, Tom Hackett, of St. John’s, and after that, life changed a bit for Gary and he wanted to give back through helping others. In early 2001, he and other church members began repairing people’s homes. He was not a trained carpenter, but said it was a matter of “getting your hands dirty for Christ and living your faith.”
Then, through Lutheran Social Services in Caldwell, Ohio, many “over the top” needy individuals needing home repairs were identified, and church members plus their friends got busy. Some had construction skills and others learned on the job. Many farmers were also involved when they weren’t in the fields.
In the last few years another church member, Don Werling has taken charge. He is 75 years old and a retired mechanical engineer. Don learned construction from his grandfather and later had his own construction company in Indiana. Gary says Don has a heart of gold. After his first trip to southern Ohio, all Don could say was, “When do we go again?”
Through Don’s leadership the effort has grown. Last month, alone, the men built wheelchair ramps and did home modifications in 33 different homes in Union County. They are known for doing the impossible. For example, they were told a home couldn’t be fixed because the upstairs floor was sagging into the living room and the side of the house was bulging out and had pulled away from its base. They could see this was the only home these people had and there was no alternative for them. So after a huge effort, their home was repaired and is now quite livable. Don said they really want to help those who can’t help themselves. He works with several local agencies to help identify needed projects.
The group has two trailers which are equipped with any tool needed for home repair and hauling furniture. They are ready for action when needed!
There is never a charge for their work, but sometimes the homeowner is able to pay for materials and that is encouraged. That’s where Home Depot has come in to help. It has offered a good discount for materials as its way of helping in this project.
It’s all a good example of love for one’s fellow man.
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5/25/12
Lori Black in Ecuador
Lori Black (MHS class of ‘03) is serving two years with the Peace Corps in Ecuador. She majored in Spanish in college and now teaches English there.
Last month she started working at a school for children with special needs in her spare time. Lori said: ”The school is small and welcoming with a few hundred students, some very charismatic teachers, and some university students who act as co-teachers. Students can start attending the school as soon as the disability is apparent and can study until the age of 21.”
“They have a basic education curriculum and students study from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. I usually visit the school on Mondays and Fridays during their recess hour to play soccer and help with craft projects, and I love it!”
“Recess is my favorite time. All of the kids get to play soccer, even the students in wheelchairs. A few weeks ago during a game, one student pushed another student and he fell down. I rushed over to help him up but the head teacher said, ‘No, no, Lori. Here, we can pick ourselves up,’ At that moment, I knew I made the right decision in volunteering there. I was thrilled by the independence that was given to the students, the normal treatment they receive, and the love and care at the faculty for the students. I felt like I belonged. Every week, I look forward to going back.”
In her English classes, she has been busy preparing students for the end of the year and teachers for their upcoming TOEFL exam (test of English as a foreign language). There have been mistakes in some pronunciation. She said, “I’ll allow you to imagine how these words sound with a Spanish accent — focus, cooking, beach, and hail. Some of them have turned me red in the face, and believe me, that’s a task.”
During most of the month of March, they were on something called “Standfast.” That means an alert where there is a possible emergency in the country and they are not allowed to travel anywhere outside of their own cities just in case some sort of emergency does happen. The Peace Corps called this emergency because of a 500-mile march, called La Marcha por el Agua, Vida, y Dignidad (The March for Water, Life, and Dignity).
The march stretched from the southeast portion of the country in a province called Zamora-Chinchipe to the northern part of the country to Quito. The majority of the participants were indigenous Ecuadorians protesting construction of a copper mine that will be built by a Chinese company in Zamora-Chinchipe.
Protestors stated that the development of this mine would destroy pristine, untouched areas of the Amazon jungle, poison their water, and illegally take their land. They had scheduled dates when they would stop and peacefully protest in city centers, where they educated people about the mining project. They stopped in Zamora, Loja, Cuenca, Riobamba and Latacunga, and collected thousands of peaceful protestors, who all gathered in Quito on March 22. On that day, leaders from around the country met with the government. Although the mine will still be built, protestors did come to an agreement with the Ecuadorian government.
Lori related: “In April, I came off of this giant mountain I live on, swirled down tree covered hills, and I took my first real mini-adventure to the jungle. I went to a little town, not too deep into the jungle, called Misahualli. This little gem is known for its sandy riverbanks and its park filled with friendly, but thieving, capuchin monkeys. The monkeys live on the riverbank, but come into town just in time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The locals seem to know them by name. Patricia is a town favorite. She is known for being one of the ugliest of the clan, with bushier hair than the rest, and a couple of spots on her face. But all of them are known for being trouble-makers. They steal hats, lighters, food, keys, cameras, you name it. Whatever is in your hands will be in their little hands before you know it! I must admit, I got robbed by monkeys.”
Lori and her boyfriend also went on a jungle walk. A local man, Carlos, owned a large piece of land about an hour outside of the town on a dirt road and he invited them to plant some trees with him. On the way there, they visited a gorgeous waterfall and a tree that had a trunk that Lori said was the size of a house in Mill Valley. Along the way they also passed banana trees, streams, small communities and a group of people panning for gold in the river.
With new friend Carlos, they ventured into the jungle to find bright red mushrooms, giant aqua blue butterflies, leaf cutter and army ants, and six-inch-long green and yellow millipedes with fiery red legs.
Lori continued: “Between planting 15 trees and leaving them with prayers, we learned about some of the healing and harmful properties of plants and animals in the jungle. We tried strange fruits and berries, but the strangest thing I have eaten in a while, was ants. That’s right, I ate ants. And you know what is even crazier? They were delicious! They were tiny little guys, shiny, and black as night. They were sweeter than any fruit I have ever tasted. Would you believe I took seconds? I guess I wouldn’t do too bad living in the Ecuadorian jungle. The jungle was a beautiful and relaxing place and I can’t wait to go back.”
Lori will be in Ecuador with the Peace Corps for about another year.
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5/18/12
Forty more pounds in 100 days
On the day I spoke with him, his goal was to lose 40 pounds in the next 100 days and it seems quite possible since he’s quite experienced at weight loss. (The reason for this goal will be discussed later.) Journal-Tribune reporter Mac Cordell has already lost 214 pounds!
Mac’s story of weight problems goes back to his freshman year in college. He was excited to play football for Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania. Halfway through the season he injured his knee and was out of the sport. The college didn’t meet his expectations in many other ways, so he transferred to Shippensburg University, where he later graduated.
His activity level went way down because of his injury, but he continued to eat in the same manner. Thus, he put on 80 lbs. in the first year of college. When his injury healed, he was so overweight that working out was tough. So, there was less weight-loss activity and so on.
Last year, Mac found himself at 6’2”/488 pounds and only 35 years old. Life was hard. When it became time to buy a car, the first consideration was whether or not he would fit in it. The only clothes he could buy were at a big man’s shop where everything was quite expensive.
One of his biggest worries was that he would tear his clothing at work and not be able to go to a store nearby to replace it. His third problem was activity. At nearly 500 pounds, walking anywhere was tough. If he was covering a meeting at the County Building on West Sixth Street, he would drive from the J-T, which is located just three blocks away.
Now, down nearly 220 pounds, life has changed. A world of driving vehicles has opened up and clothes can be purchased anywhere since he wears an XL (down from 6X). Recently he walked from the J-T to a meeting on Chestnut Street.
His weight loss is due to gastric bypass surgery, where the stomach is cut in half and the small intestine is bypassed with a connection to the large intestine. His stomach is just about the size of an egg now.
The surgery usually requires two days in the hospital, but Mac had complications, so four days were needed. He was back to work just two weeks later, mostly because he said he loves his job!
Eight months later his life is really good. He has learned to eat tiny amounts and drinks a protein shake each day. At first he felt sick after eating, not realizing when to stop. Just one bite too much can cause a big problem. Finally he learned that the “full” feeling is different now. In fact, Mac has done so well that his wife, Melissa, has just had the surgery, too.
As you can imagine, their food bills have decreased greatly and all this has had an effect on their six-year-old son, Jonah. He likes having his dad coach his t-ball team. They can also run together and Dad can finally win! Mac is amazed at his new energy level.
Mac says people who haven’t seen him in awhile approach him tentatively, not quite sure if it’s really him.
Now for the explanation about losing 40 pounds in 100 days. One of his dreams is to jump out of a plane (wearing a parachute, of course) and that may happen this August at the All Ohio Balloon Fest in Marysville. To qualify, he must weigh 235 lbs. Mac is a goal and numbers guy, figuring he only has to lose 2.6 pounds a week to be ready for the event.
The world is so different now for Mac Cordell. He has gone from a guy who had to be weighed on a giant scale at Memorial Hospital of Union County to one who has a motorcycle license and will have a “bike” by the end of the summer.
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5/11/12
The world of purses and shoes
Just in case men don’t realize, women enjoy purses and shoes. My grandmother called purses pocketbooks. In years past, the two were supposed to match each other, but the current trend is no matchy-matchy. Now you know the facts and here are the stories.
Kathleen really liked her new purse. It was a medium-size blue and green plaid made by a famous designer. She had saved her money to purchase it and we both admired her choice as we entered the restaurant, an Italian place which smelled of garlic everywhere. That would come back to haunt her.
Dinner was good, but portions were huge. Kathleen took most of her garlic, butter-coated pasta home with her. It had been packaged into a square styrofoam box and we still smelled the garlic as we walked outside.
Then it happened. The new purse was unzipped and the curb was uneven – she tripped, the box opened and the buttery garlic noodles went into the purse. Oh my gosh what a mess!
Kathleen was staying at my house, so we went home, dumped the noodles and began recovery work on the purse. There was soap and water scrubbing and then the application of lemons to break up the butter and the strong garlic smell. She even left lemons inside the beautiful, beige, leather interior overnight. The next morning there was a big improvement, but on the third day the garlic smell returned.
By the time she left to return to her home, it was apparent that what used to be this new special purse would never be the same. She had liked it so much, but had to retire it very early. It was just two smelly.
Shoes have always been my soft spot. Like most women, I enjoy them and you might say I collect them. They certainly don’t have to be expensive, just cute.
My desire for shoes began early on. When I was in high school, girls had some dyed shoes (heels). Those were done to match our formals. Yes, on several occasions during the year we dressed up for special events, which included shoes dyed to match the dress. So, in my defense I had several of these shoes in boxes.
I remember one day my father was looking at the shoe boxes lined up on my closet shelf. Then, suddenly, he began to count, ending at 22. He said, “What are you doing with 22 pairs of shoes and only one set of feet?” He had a great sense of humor! I was wondering where this was going. Will I have to get rid of some or quit buying them altogether?
Nothing really came of that except my father’s occasional jab with that same line. Then about five years later that line resurfaced when he and my future husband, Dan, were having lunch. Dan was asking my father’s blessing on our future engagement and Dad said, “Do you realize she has 22 pairs of shoes?” I wondered if that was supposed to be a deterrent to marriage.
Well, we married, and I took my shoes with me adding a few more over our 45 years together.
Gentlemen, we women like our purses and shoes. Things will go smoother if you just remember that.
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5/4/12
Matt Nelson leaves Germany
Marysville High School grad Matt Nelson is a student at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and has been studying in Wittenberg, Germany, this semester. This is the third in a series about his time there.
Matt has studied German and traveled around the country. He also has an interest in music, so has served an internship with a German instrument maker.
Matt relates: “My internship has been really great. Even though it is a music workshop, my intern leader, Herr Jörg Dahms, has many small side projects his friends have given him that he has me work on. Those are, repairing an antique rifle that had severe worm damage on the inside, making “antiqued” wooden wheels for a friend’s cart for markets and restoring a 150 year-old sailing compass. As far as instruments go, I have put a very old bar piano back into working order. That included shaving old felt off the hammers, polishing the keys, repairing the tuning pegs, tuning the piano and finally, adjusting the dampers.”
“In addition, I have been working on fixing an old acoustic guitar. It now only needs a few layers of varnish. I also helped him with building a French Herdy Gerdy that he is making for a customer, as well as patching a hole that was punched in an acoustic guitar by a little kid. The guitar is not really worth repairing, but the customers insisted that it was important. He also had me destroy a guitar with an ax, which was quite fun and made for an interesting picture.”
Matt has become quite fluent in German, but that skill was not necessary with Jorg, because he speaks perfect English. Matt now understands why it costs so much to get hand-made instruments, because of the amount of work and time to complete them.
He heads home this weekend and admits to some homesickness. Ohio will look good to him, but about his time in Germany, Matt had this to say - “I hope that my adventure here in Germany has inspired others to travel, whether to Germany or other places. It’s a lot of fun and a great learning experience.”
If you missed the previous stories about Matt, just go to marysvillejt.com and click on Off the Hook, then on archives.
The new intersection
It has been done now for several months and I want to comment on the huge improvement of the intersection at Stocksdale Drive, Maple Street and Milford Avenue. It took a long time planning and building, but how nice to see green grass in the divider and to no longer have that crazy old intersection. For most of my 42 years in Marysville, I had to negotiate it almost every day. Congratulations to the City of Marysville for a job well done!
Cannon Brothers 50-year reunion
It was just about 50 years ago that three guys from Marysville High School formed a folk band named the Cannon Brothers. They were Bill Hoopes (MHS class of ‘58) and brothers John Bumgarner (MHS class of ‘59) and David Bumgarner (MHS class of ‘56).
In the 1960s, the Cannon Brothers toured the country from New York to California singing folk music in clubs, much like the Kingston Trio did. Now they are reunited and will be performing old and new songs on July 7 at the clubhouse of Timberview Golf Club. The admission is free and includes hot appetizers, but it is also a fundraiser for the Wounded Warriors Project. Seating will be limited to the first 100 people.
This is sure to be a great event. You’ll want to put it on your list of things to do! Look for more info in the Journal-Tribune in the weeks to come.
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4/27/12
 Oh those drive-thrus
I admit it — I love fast food and often stop by those establishments for a snack or especially a diet cola. In some places you can even buy an extra large soda for only $1 … sometimes.
The best part is the drive-thru factor — no finding a place to park, no getting out or having to lock the car, just a wonderful convenience of food and drink right at the car window.
My friend, Kathy, also loves a good fountain drink at a drive-thru. Lots of interesting things happen to her there, but the latest event wins the prize, if there is one.
Recently, she found herself at a drive-thru on Rt. 31 and just before getting in line to order her usual giant diet cola, she saw a very interesting site. There was a woman pushing a baby stroller in line for the drive-thru. As Kathy took her place in line, the employee said over the speaker, “Welcome to my McDonald’s,” and Kathy ordered. The line didn’t move, so the cars stood for some time. Then she heard the greeting again, “Welcome to my McDonald’s.” After still not moving, the message came over the speaker, “Is your car broken?” Kathy answered, “No, I just can’t move. I don’t know what going on.”
Finally the line proceeded forward and Kathy saw the possible problem — there was the woman with the baby stroller just leaving the drive-thru window. Kathy thought it was an odd thing for a mom to do. Why didn’t she walk inside with the baby?
As her car moved up, it became obvious. A head was then protruding from the stroller and it was tiny and hairy, not like a human! Oh my gosh, she thought, what was that? It was a ferret in an animal stroller and it was peaking out its little pointed head, hence the reason to not go inside. The animal might not have been welcomed there. This really gave Kathy something to think and talk about for several days!
No damage was done there, but in another direction, this is my most disgusting drive-thru story. I was headed south on I-71 to Cincinnati with my friend, Cissy. We were thirsty and decided to stop at Wendy’s drive-thru for a diet cola, as usual. I ordered and drove forward. A young man opened the window and out came our colas.
I handed one to Cissy and as he handed mine to me the top popped off and spilled down on me and the interior of the car. The young man said, “s—t,” and slammed the window shut.
What a cold mess we had! I immediately pulled over to a parking space to clean up both me and the car, thinking someone from Wendy’s would be right out to help. But that didn’t happen. After we used every napkin kept in reserve in my car, we were still wet.
That was it. I had had it. I went inside asking for the manager and this child appeared. He must have been 18, but looked 12. He seemed to have no knowledge of what happened, nor did he seem to care, even after I explained that no help came. I could see this was going nowhere, so I grabbed mucho napkins and returned to the car. We were now late for an appointment in Cincinnati and it sure gave me something to talk about. As you can see, I’m still doing it.
I didn’t hold this fiasco against the company, just the local management. I still enjoy fast food, and fortunately as the menus continue to grow, we still have the convenience of the drive-thru. I think it is here to stay!
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4/20/12
Rescuing those with four paws
When I was growing up, my family had several wonderful cats that brightened our lives. When I was married with children, we had two dogs. They were both little poodles and we loved them like our children. Theirs was a life of luxury and they rarely needed anything, if you know what I mean.
Not so for many of those with four paws. There are thousands of animals who are unwanted and end up in shelters with the potential of being euthanized. Of course, that’s just a fancy word for ending their lives.
Here in Union County, our Humane Society is pleased to say only about 10 percent of the approximately 1,200-1,300 animals there each year end up that way. The statistics are much worse in large cities such as Philadelphia and apparently in rural areas like Southern Ohio.
Kristin Smith lives in Eastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. She and her family have volunteered as “foster parents” for animals and their experience has been fantastic. She also has much to say about the Almost Home Group.
Kristin says: “We have had five foster dogs, all of whom have been absolutely wonderful and hard to give away! They are all dogs who were pulled from shelters in the South or from rural Ohio. That rescue group is called the Humane Society of Ohio Valley. All five dogs have gone to wonderful families who have made it a point to stay in touch and keep us updated with how things are going.”
“I had no idea what a labor of love and how big an impact these rescue groups are making in the lives of both the dogs and their future families. These volunteers give countless hours and work so hard to save as many dogs as they can. Unfortunately, in some areas there is just not a big spay and neuter culture so there are just so many homeless animals.”
There are rescue groups all across the county which network with rescue coordinators at the humane societies or shelters. They then coordinate with a network of volunteer transporters, who either fly or drive the dogs to their destinations. From there, foster families take over and care for the dogs until they are adopted.
The rescue group absorbs the expense of the shelter fee and all vet bills until they are adopted. This includes spaying or neutering. There is a huge emphasis on matching the right dog with the right family. Personal references and vet references are always checked along with a home visit. The Almost Home Group makes it a point of letting new families know that if they cannot keep the dog for any reason, to please make sure to come back to the group in the future. It is committed to these animals for life.
Kristin added: “It has been incredibly rewarding for our family. The kids have really been involved with caring for our foster dogs, as well as helping to train them while they are with us. That includes everything from house training to basic obedience commands. Almost Home Dog Rescue has been in existence for four years and I believe has saved over 1,500 dogs, as well as, enriched the lives of countless families along the way.”
When an animal has to be taken long distances, a group called “PilotsNPaws” gets to work. If shelters are full, the rescue network goes into action and dogs are taken to other cities for adoption. Sometimes, for long distances, private pilots fly their own planes at their expense to transport animals to their new homes. I find this amazing.
Pilots register on the website looking for their next volunteer effort and these people fly all over the country taking dogs to a place where they might find a home.
Our own Union County Humane Society also has a fostering program. About 20 families are involved at this point, but others are always welcome. In fact, animals in Union County which are unwanted have a second chance at a decent life. Right now, Humane Society Director Steffen Baldwin tells me they can house 27 dogs and with the planned addition, that will increase to 42. The cat room size (cage free) will increase by 30 percent. Groundbreaking for the $360,000 addition, which only needs another $20,000 to meet the goal, will be in late spring at the present site on County Home Rd.
Because over 1,200 animals pass through the system in Union County each year, those 20 foster family volunteers are needed to keep dogs and cats (some even house farm animals) up to several months until their adoption.
When an animal is adopted, it has been spayed or neutered, had shots and also has a one-month health insurance policy. All animals have an embedded microchip to help find them. The cost for adoption is $70 for cats, $150 for puppies, $110 for adult dogs and $70 for a senior dog.
Animals might be euthanized because they are sick or aggressive, but not because they are old. I was pleased to hear that the Ohio Reformatory for Women offers a care program for seven to eight dogs at a time and three important spots are permanently saved for old dogs to live out their lives there.
If you would like to volunteer or adopt an animal, go to the website which is www.uchspets.org.
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4/13/12
The clothesline
Nothing smells better than clothes and sheets which have dried on a clothesline! Recently a friend sent me basic rules for clotheslines (a lost art) and the poem that also follows later in this article. I started thinking about the days when my mother had a clothesline, but mostly about my grandmother.
Many people by the 1950s had clothes dryers in their homes along with an automatic washer, but my grandmother wasn’t that lucky.
I remember my Grandmother Grace’s clothesline. She hung the wash outside in the summer and inside in her cellar in the winter. I spent many times at her house when she would entertain me, but first the wash had to be done. Usually it was on Monday.
Grandma Grace lived in an old house at 57 West Como Ave., in the Clintonville area, which is located in the north end of Columbus. The house seemed very old to me, but in reality it was only about 50 years old at that time. It is still standing.
Her cellar was just as you would imagine — tiny and dark, made of rough stone. The entry was from the back porch by lifting up a section of the porch floor and putting a hook on the latch to keep the door open. Then the stairs were exposed to the cellar. They were small, wooden and open. On each side of the stairway there were also open spaces where my grandfather stored extra wood and large shovels plus other garden tools. When I went down those rickety stairs I always thought there were monsters in those spaces too.
Tall people entered her cellar carefully because the clearance was low. So was the ceiling. In that underground space, Grandmother Grace stored her canned goods on shelves and in the corner was the wringer washer. It had a water-fed tub with a short wash cycle. When the clothes were done each piece was methodically run through a small wringer on top. It had a hand crank, but later was motorized.
That was the extent of the drying procedure. Clothes were then still wet and were hung to dry either inside or outside depending on the weather.
Just getting to the cellar and all the rest of this procedure were especially tough when the winter was cold and snowy. My grandma was a very hardworking lady who did all her own washing, ironing and cleaning, and cooked everything from scratch.
She died in 1966 at 72 years old never having worn a pair of slacks or obtaining a driver’s license. Needless to say, she never played tennis or golf or had a job outside her home. Those were the times. How different her life was from mine!
Here’s the note that sparked all my memories:
Remembering Mom's Clothesline
The basic rules for clotheslines:
You had to wash the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes — walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
Wash day on a Monday! Never hang clothes on the weekend, or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!
Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle.
It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather ... clothes would "freeze-dry."
Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!
If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.
Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
Ironed? Well, that's a whole other subject!
And here’s the poem:
A clothesline was a news forecast to neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep, when clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link, for neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by, to spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets," and towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths," with intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth, from folks who lived inside,
As brand new infant clothes were hung, so carefully with pride!
The ages of the children could, so readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed, you'd know how much they'd grown!
It also told when illness struck, as extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too, haphazardly were strung.
It also said, "On vacation now," when lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, with not an inch to spare!
New folks in town were scorned upon, if wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows, and looked the other way.
But clotheslines now are of the past, for dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home, is anybody's guess!
I really miss that way of life, it was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best ... by what hung out on that line.
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4/6/12
Matt Nelson in Germany
Matt Nelson (MHS class of ‘10) is a student at Wittenberg University in Springfield, majoring in music composition and classical guitar. Now he is studying for a semester in the Wittenberg program in Germany. One of the wonderful advantages of studying abroad is the availability of travel to many cities. During his 10-day spring break, he first went to Bamberg.
Matt reports: “This is not a typical tourist spot, but is where my parents lived for three years in the ‘80s while my dad was stationed in Germany. It is a very nice, little, stereotypical Bavarian town, and I went there at the recommendation of my parents. It was very cool to see the old apartment where they lived.”
“Bamberg is on seven hills, like Rome, and the old city is built on an island in the middle of the Regnitz River. There I saw the Altenburg Castle. It was a huge hike up one of the big hills and was quite tiring, but it was very worth it. The castle is awesome, and I ate lunch in the restaurant in the castle. I had the ‘Bamberger Bratwurst’ which is a signature dish of the city where three brats are served smothered in the Bamberg Raucherbier Sauce (Smoked Beer Sauce), which comes from one of the seven local
breweries.”
Matt then moved on to Munich and the areas around it. Being a typical college student, he, of course, visited the Hofbräu Haus, which is a world famous beer hall based in Munich, but has an operation in Cincinnati, Ohio. Matt had already been there.
He added: “It was quite a party, with one liter bier steins (I didn’t try it), giant portions of classic German food, and a live polka band. It is one of my favorite things I have done since I have been in Germany.”
“I also went to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is a beautiful palace on the edge of the German Alps that inspired the Disney artists for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. (This was also recently featured on TV on the Amazing Race.) I went up the side of the mountain to the castle in a horse-drawn carriage with my girlfriend Casey, who is also on the trip. It was a lot of fun, but getting there was quite a struggle.”
“We had a difficult time with the Deutsche Bahn Train service. Everything was going well until about halfway through when we stopped at a station. We weren’t supposed to get off there, but the train attendants told us we had to. It turns out there was another train broken down further down our track.”
“So they shoved about 70 people onto a bus (free of charge) that was only designed for 40 people or so. You could imagine it was a tight fit. From there we were bused to another train station a half hour down the tracks, where after a long wait we had a train come to take us, or so we thought. It only took us another half hour of the two hour original trip, and we were kicked off again.”
“Everyone was confused, especially the Japanese people who couldn’t understand a word of German. So I acted as a translator between them and the attendant (who only spoke German). It made me proud that my German classes paid off. After a while we had a bus come to take us the rest of the way. Even though a two-hour trip turned into a frustrating five-hour train ride, it was totally worth it.”
Matt has been in Germany about two months and now even has a favorite soccer team, the FC Bayern Munich. While in Munich he was able to get a tour of their home, Allianz Arena, including the locker rooms, and found out that the stadium is the most technologically advanced sports arena in the world.
They moved on to Berlin. There was a soccer game in Berlin’s famous Olympic stadium, where Jesse Owens won the historic track events in 1936. It is called Olympiastadion.
Matt said: “Because we were in Berlin, my favorite team, Bayern Munich was the away team. Germans are serious about soccer though, especially Munich fans as Bayern Munich is currently second in the league. The environment of the game was amazing. Everyone had jerseys of their favorite players, and soccer scarves, which are a big deal here. There were also large sections of the stadium where both teams had flags, horns and smoke bombs with team colors. It was deafening.”
“Soccer is so much bigger here than in the states, or even football in the U.S. The game was a blast because I could see all my favorite players, and the crowd was so much fun. The game was a total blowout with Munich winning 6 to 0.”
Matt’s next trip is to Eisenach and the Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther hid for a number of years from the Catholic-hired authorities hunting for him while he translated the Bible from Latin to German. This was a major part of the Reformation.
Matt concluded, “Germany is an exciting place and I’m very glad to have the experience of spending an entire semester here.”
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3/30/12
Crazy things my friends do
In the past, I have written several times about the crazy things my friends do. My friend Jill provides another wonderful example. She is my neighbor in Naples, Fla., when I am there during the winter months, and I have known her for about 10 years.
Jill has many good qualities. She is an accomplished artist and is also punctual and addicted to a daily routine in her life. She is predictable and a good friend. All that said — she loses things!
Her cell phone has been the major culprit. At first, when she got her flip phone (now ancient which she still has — no four G iPhone for her), she did know where it was because it was in her car.
You see, she had a charger in her car and that’s where the phone was most of the time. There was no use calling her unless she happened to be driving!
Then after much harassment from friends and family, she started keeping it with her to possibly answer it. That may be when the problems began.
Jill came late to technology, just learning about the computer and e-mail last year. It was a learning experience we spent a couple of hours on. She’s had plenty of time to learn, as she’s been retired forever. Remember, she’s the arty type, not technology oriented.
I think back to when I first became aware that she loses things. It was the day after we played golf and she said, “I can’t find my phone.” Then I asked the usual questions like — When did you last have it? Have you called it? Apparently she had already been through all this with her husband, Dick, who is great at looking after her.
I believe the phone was missing for several days at that point. As a last resort, she finally looked in a friend’s car, where she had been a few days earlier. It didn't seem to be there, but then Jill called the phone and heard the Penn State fight song, which it plays when a call is coming in. (Yes, she went to Penn State.) There was the phone invisibly wedged under the seat. Of course, this was good material for her friends because all had been looking for her phone for several days.
Since that time there have been other “Jill losing things” incidents. Let’s see, there were golf clubs, car keys and more involving phones. All of these times have come back to memory recently since she’s at it again.
She said to me the other day, “I found my phone.” I said, “You mean it was gone again?” This time it had been missing for about 12 hours. The usual hunt was on and husband, Dick, was also involved. Where could it be?
Eventually, Jill recalled the phone might have been on the stack of papers which were taken to the recycling bins. At the condo building in Florida, items for recycling are placed in six large four-foot tall bins with lids, but by the time they narrowed down the flip-phone’s whereabouts, it was pickup day.
 Jill’s husband came to the rescue again. Armed with his ultra up-to-date iPhone, he proceeded quickly to the bins. Fortunately the recyclers were late and Dick began dialing while standing outside the six bins, hoping to hear that Penn State ditty. Then, success. He heard a ring and dove in, halfway down — Ugh! There it was. Remember, this is not garbage, but paper, bottles, plastic containers, and used cartons not always washed out — Ugh again! Once again the flip phone was returned to Jill. What a guy!
I know she’ll have that thing until it dies, because she knows how to use it and find it. Now she has branched out to an iPad. That’s pretty big to lose, but I look forward to her next entertaining event!
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3/23/12
Irish luck
As the Irish say, “If you’ve found a four-leaf clover, you have too much time on your hands.” Just a few days ago, all my Irish friends celebrated their favorite day of the year. Of course that was St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, everyone becomes a little Irish on that day. Jim Mullane, however, happens to be legitimately Irish, and recently had some of that luck working for him.
He just told me this story which took place just before St. Patty’s Day and you’ll see what I mean by Irish luck. Jim had an appointment to get the oil changed in his car. He’s extremely punctual, he wanted me to know, so he was speeding just a little bit — 41 m.p.h. in a 25 zone. That’s 16 miles over the limit. But he didn’t notice since he was on a mission.
Just as Jim pulled into the service station to deliver his car, he noticed right behind him a police car with its lights flashing. Jim thought, oh no, I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong. Then the policeman came to his car and a discussion began about his speed.
He asked for Jim’s license, registration and insurance card. Jim opened his wallet with the embedded special deputy badge gleaming in bright gold just next to the documents he needed. As he handed his license over, the policeman asked, “What is that badge in your wallet?” Jim explained that it was a special deputy badge and it actually had his name on it.
Now remember, Jim was in Naples, Fla., at the time, but the badge was from his friend and sheriff (three sheriffs ago) in Lockport near Buffalo, N.Y. Jim is now retired, but had a Chrysler dealership there.
The patrolman continued by asking how he got the badge. Jim said it was a gift from the sheriff because he had donated several cars from his Chrysler dealership to help out the department. With true Irish humor, Jim told me that he fortunately made a lot of money on the service of those donated vehicles.
The officer appeared quite impressed and then noticed the blood donor card. Jim replied he is a 12-gallon donor. That did it! All this must have been too much for the patrolman. He said, “You seem like a good guy so I’m going to give you a warning, and, so you know, you just missed a ticket that would have cost you $250. Please drive more slowly.”
Jim breathed a sigh of relief, left his car to have the oil changed and thought, this is my lucky day. So goes the luck of the Irish.
Because Jim Mullane is a full-service Irish friend, he also shared some Irish humor with me. Here it is:
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn’t find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, “Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!” Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, “Never mind, I found one.”
___
 Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal and asks the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?” The man said, “I do, Father.” The priest said, “Then stand over there against the wall.” Then the priest asked the second man, “Do you want to go to heaven?”
“Certainly, Father,” the man replied. “Then stand over there against the wall,” said the priest.
 Then Father Murphy walked up to O’Toole and asked, “Do you want to go to heaven?” O’Toole said, “No, I don’t Father.” The priest said, “I don’t believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?” O’Toole said, “Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.”
___
 Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney.
“Did you see the paper?” asked Gallagher. “They say I died!” “Yes, I saw it,” replied Finney. “Where are ye callin’ from?”
___
Here’s wishing you the top o’ life
Without a single tumble;
Here’s wishing you the smiles o’ life
And not a single grumble;
Here’s wishing you the best o’ life
And not a claw about it;
Here’s wishing you the joy in life
And not a day without it.
May the luck and laughter of the Irish always be yours.
Life is too short for negative drama and petty things. So laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly!
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3/16/12
Lori Black - Peace Corps teacher
Marysville High School 2003 graduate Lori Black is serving in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and this is a continuation of her adventures. She lives in Riobamba and will be there for about another 20 months. She teaches English in a Spanish-speaking school. She was a Spanish major in college so she has put her education to the test. This is a continuation of her story from last week.
Lori reports: “The food is not bad here, but as an extremely picky eater, there are few things that interest me on the Ecuadorian menu. (She has even said that she rarely asks what something is because she might not want to try it, so there is much mystery food for Lori!) My favorite Ecuadorian cuisine is the coastal food, which is very different from the food in the sierra or the jungle.”
“Ceviche’ is hands down, the best food in Ecuador. It is a mixture of lemon juice, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, other herbs, and the seafood of your choice. It usually comes with plantain chips on the side. My personal favorite is shrimp ceviche. I am also a fan of something called ‘balones.’ They are giant, smashed balls of plantains mixed with marinated pork.”
“I find the food in the sierra to be somewhat dull. It usually consists of meat, rice, beans and a form of corn called ‘mote’ or ‘choclos.’ They also eat guinea pig as a delicacy. Most Ecuadorian food is topped off with an onion, tomato, and chili sauce called ‘aji.’ Believe it or not, I eat more rice here than I ever did in Asia.”
Lori in the kitchen - “In my spare time I have been working a great deal on my culinary skills. When I came into this I knew how to make spaghetti, tomato juice (that’s right, tomato juice), ramen noodles and anything else you warm up in a microwave.” (You may remember Lori does not have a conventional oven in her apartment.)
“Lately, I have been using other volunteers in the area as guinea pigs to test my new concoctions. Most recently I stirred up some delicious tomato basil soup and mozzarella sticks. But I can’t tell you how much I miss Wor Su Gui from Jerry’s House of Hunan and Donatos Pizza in Marysville."
Grocery shopping there is much like it is in the states, only much cheaper. You can go to either an open air market or a supermarket. Lori can buy most fruits and vegetables in the open air market, while her meats are purchased from supermarkets that have them refrigerated and not from an open air market where you would find a full slaughtered pig hung out in the sun on a giant hook.
Most fruits are grown organically in Ecuador and the tropical fruits are plentiful. You can find passion fruit, taxo, chirimoyas, and dragon fruit. Lori can buy two pounds of blackberries for a dollar and a pound of ground beef for $1.50. If you know where and how to shop, you can live on as little as $20 per week.
Lori continued: “I recently traveled to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, for something called a technical exchange. I went there to help a fellow volunteer set up and learn how to teach an English class in his community. His community was much different than mine. It was very similar to a shanty town you would see in the movie ‘City of Gods.’ The poverty was shocking. There were children running around barefoot in streets filled with broken glass, open sewage, and gangs.”
“After passing through the post-war like streets, we finally made it to the organization at 9 a.m. Children were lined up outside in the rain for our English classes that started at 9:30 a.m. Mothers were excited to see a new ‘gringa’ or foreigner in town and they had plenty of questions. Within five minutes, I had an offer for ceviche at one woman’s house and fish soup at another’s.”
“We taught our English classes successfully. The kids were thrilled and not one missed a single class during my week there. We also took some people up on their delicious lunch offers. Beyond all of the poverty that I saw in that community, I have never seen such a hard-working, motivated people, willing to make changes for the better. This was the most tight-knit community that I have seen in my travels. Everyone knows everyone and you can’t walk more than two steps without getting an ‘hola’ or ‘buenas dias’ from someone. They work hard to keep their community as safe and as clean as they can and provide hope and education for their children and youth. This is the reason I joined the Peace Corps.
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3/9/12
Lori Black in Ecuador
Lori Black is a 2003 graduate of Marysville High School and is currently serving two years in the Peace Corps in Ecuador. She has been there for eight months and is living in Riobamba. Her day begins around 6:30 a.m. when she starts a 30-minute walk to work.
Lori reports: “I hustle in with the students to be sure to make it in the gates before the 7 a.m. bell that sounds more like an air raid horn. Classes begin at 7:10 a.m. Classrooms full of 25 to 45 students stand up to greet the teacher and wait for permission to be seated. Classes last from 50 minutes to an hour and a half.”
Lori works with four different teachers for three to five hours of classes per day and they teach the classes together. The students are generally well behaved and eager to learn English. After class, Lori and another 71-year-old volunteer from New York collaborate in teacher training classes for the teachers. This means teaching anything from idioms, conversation, songs, or innovative activities that the teachers are not accustomed to using in their classes.
“We develop authentic materials that the teachers can use in their classrooms with the students when we are not there,” she said. “Right now, the work is extremely challenging and we have not had enough time to see any real change, but I’m not too worried, I only have about 20 months left here!”
She now lives in her own apartment in downtown Riobamba, which she describes as a roomy two bedroom place with wood floors and wireless Internet, but no oven. It has an amazing view of the mountain, El Altar, the currently erupting volcano, Tungurahua and Chimborazo, the farthest point from the center of the Earth. She lives a little over 9,000 feet above sea level and very close to the equator. The weather is typically mild, very much like mid-fall or spring in Ohio, which Lori describes as perfect sweater weather.
She recounts: “During the first few months here, my Spanish skills improved dramatically. I was often in situations where I was forced to speak the language. Now that I am living alone and teaching English, the majority of my time is spent speaking and thinking in English, but that is to be expected when you are an English teacher. In my own time I still practice, but I came to Ecuador as a Spanish major and it is more than sufficient to get around and communicate.”
“The holidays were a blast here. I spent Christmas with some close friends who invited me to spend the holiday in their home with their family. As the tradition goes, we ate dinner at midnight. We filled ourselves with turkey, rice, and something called “raelleno.” I still have no idea what it was or even if that is actually what it’s called. Sometimes I find it best not to ask what I am eating because I’m afraid of what the answer will be. After dinner, we sang karaoke until our vocal chords couldn’t handle it anymore.”
Lori spent New Year’s on the coast in a town called Tonsupa. She continued, “New Year’s is quite different from what we’re accustomed to. We went into town to see what all of the excitement was. Almost immediately, we were stopped by drag queens dancing in the middle of the street who asked for money in order to pass. Each section of town had its own drag queens. The highlight of my night was when a car full of nuns was stopped by a man in pink high-heels, a skin-tight black dress, and a pink wig.”
“We moved on to see the “munecas.” These are life-sized, paper mache dolls, usually politicians, that represent the old year. Ecuadorians also make dolls that represent themselves that they burn at midnight to get rid of their old selves. The dolls could also be found in each section of town, with a large block party not too far off. Once we were finished checking out the celebrations in town, we went back home for another midnight dinner. After dinner, everyone went out into the streets to burn their dolls to have a fresh start for the New Year and enjoy the fireworks that lit up the sky in all directions.
More from Lori next week.
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3/2/12
Nelson takes Wittenberg to Wittenberg
He is a Marysville High School grad - class of 2010. Usually he is a student at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, majoring in music composition and classical guitar, but now he is on assignment, so to speak. Matt Nelson is studying for a semester in the Wittenberg in Wittenberg program, which takes him to Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, a city an hour south of Berlin. It is the town where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Catholic church door.
He lives in the privately owned Colleg Wittenberg dorm with one student out of the 12 who came from his school with the program. There are also Germans living in the building. From his window he can see the famous church, so important to the Lutheran religion.
Last week Matt stayed with a host family that lives about a half hour away by bike from his college. They spoke only German so it was a real challenge to communicate.
Matt said: “I speak only ‘ein bisschen Deutsch’ (only a little German) after taking a year at Wittenberg in Springfield and my classes are all taught in English except for an intensive German language class. I really enjoy Germany! We are in a very historic area of what was once East Germany, so now that the country is re-united, everyone is very excited to talk to Americans. Although not everyone has good English here, they are good at communicating as long as you attempt to speak German to them. They are also very understanding if your German is not so good.”
He has only been there a few weeks and has already seen the cities of Leipzig, Halle, and Hamburg. He will soon see Berlin, Munich, and Wörlitz.
Matt added: “I have seen the birthplace of Georg Friederich Händel (famous for “The Messiah”) as well as the church where J. S. Bach played every week. I love the music history here. I have also been able to train with the local Fubball team (the German word for soccer) FC Grün und Weib as they are preparing for their upcoming season. That was fun, though it was extremely cold (5 degrees Fahrenheit), and the coach didn’t speak English. It really gave me an appreciation of the dedication Germans have for their sport.”
“The German food, despite what people say, is very good. There is a lot of meat and potatoes, and the desserts (pastries, cakes, chocolate) are absolutely delicious.”
“Part of our program is also to participate in an internship while we are here. Because I am a music major, I have a very unique and exciting opportunity as an internship. I get to work with Jörg Dahms, an instrument builder in Wittenberg.  He builds and repairs all kinds of instruments such as mandolins, Herdy-Gerdys, guitars, violins, didgeridoos, and recorders. I was a bit nervous to work with him because I have very little woodworking experience, however from the moment I met him, he put me at ease with many jokes and things. I am very excited to learn how to repair mandolins, and possibly, as a final project, hand-build my own electric guitar. Germany is a great place! I am loving every minute of it and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in anything. There’s something here for everyone.”
As you can see, Matt is another good example of the success of the Marysville School System. He just reminds me how many times I have communicated with our grads about their lives and am always impressed with their writing and maturity.
We will hear more from Matt as his semester abroad continues.
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2/24/12
Growing up in the 1950s
This is part two about my experiences in the 1950s. Growing up in central Ohio was wonderful and a very different place than today.
In the 1950s, my family was very middle-middle class, with little extra money for a vacation. Once, my father was able to acquire a thing called a “due bill” through his work at the Columbus Dispatch. That meant a motel would advertise in the newspaper and trade the cost of the ad for a stay at their place of business. There was no exchange of money. We could go and stay there for a week in Miami, Florida. Those perks for newspapers are long gone.
So, we drove to Miami in March of 1955. None of us had ever been there. I was in the fifth grade and my brother in the first and we were out of school for about two weeks. I'm sure my parents had no idea how hard three days on the road (each way) would be. There was no Interstate 75 or 77 to Florida at that time. The highway was two-lane roads with stop lights and traffic all the way there — at least 30 hours driving time compared to about 18 hours now. We had a four-door Buick with no air vents for the back seat and no air conditioning. My brother and I took turns riding shotgun in the front seat.
This part will horrify everyone. My brother and I would take turns sitting on my father’s lap driving at 50 to 60 miles an hour pretending to be steering. As I told this story to friends, some also remember doing a similar thing. No one ever got hurt, as far as I know, but it is actually unbelievable that we could’ve done that in those days. Of course there was no such thing as a seatbelt!
The worst part of the trip was the time spent in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. That seemed to be endless. We drove on the twisting and winding two-lane roads and so much curving made both my dad and me car sick. We often had to stop and exit the car quickly! To pass the time, we sang songs and played games, like looking for cows in the field or a special color car. There were no electronics in those days.
When we were ready to stop for the night, it was always tough to find a place. Tiny motels were located sparsely along the highways. We all looked hard for a vacancy sign, and then hoped there were two rooms left for us. These were what you would think of as the original motels — tiny cabins which seemed to be just the size of the bed. Motels in the mountains were always more rustic and musty smelling. They were very plain and we just hoped they were clean. The floors were linoleum and the beds had noisy, squeaky springs.
There was one bad experience on the road near Tipton, Georgia. It was a speed trap and my father was caught in it. This was his first and, as far as I know, only traffic citation. Cars were lined up to be given their tickets and cash was demanded at the nearby courthouse, where there was also a line to pay.
I remember my father was embarrassed and told us we would just have less money for our vacation. There were no credit cards then as we have now. I believe the area around Tipton is still operating a famous speed trap!
After the torturous trip ended in Miami, we stayed in this “free to us” motel just about two notches up from ones on the highway. We did have a pool, however, and swam all day, every day. Of course in the 1950s there was no sunscreen and my brother and I would have terrible burns, including blisters. It was so hard to sleep in that condition. My parents tried to help by applying Noxzema. It was white and had an herbal smell, but didn’t really help. Those were the times!
Besides the days spent in the sun, I remember a trip to a Seminole Indian Village, where we actually saw alligator wrestling involving a Seminole Indian. I don’t know if that goes on now, but it would probably be considered too cruel.
I also remember that all in all it was a wonderful adventure. Of course Miami was much less developed in 1955 and was nothing like today. I also learned to play gin rummy on that trip. My dad never let me win, but after learning the game, I finally beat him. That skill has served me well on many occasions.
As I look at today and compare it to my early years, I wonder how anyone grows up safely. There are things like Facebook, where kids exchange info and even bully each other. There are so many drugs and people stalking children! We have to guard them so much more closely now. But, thankfully, most have good lives, just much more complicated than the simple and somewhat naïve times of 50 to 60 years ago.
If you missed the first part of growing up in the 1950s, just go to marysvillejt.com and click on Off the Hook then on archives.
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2/17/12
Growing up 50 years ago
Many of the stories I have written recently about how things were in Marysville 40 to 60 years ago, have reminded me of my own time growing up in central Ohio.
The 1950s and ‘60s were a much different time. It was considered safe for children to be out playing in the neighborhood all day long in the summertime, maybe only coming home for lunch. Parents knew their elementary-age children were somewhere around, but probably not exactly where. Would we consider that safe behavior now?
The 1950s were my elementary and early junior high years. There was very little eating out in restaurants in those times. If my parents went somewhere on the weekends, usually to someone’s home, my brother and I were served those awful first TV dinners - frozen and plunked in the oven. The ones we usually had were supposed to resemble turkey and gravy, peas and mashed potatoes. For some reason my mother also thought we liked those frozen fish sticks, made of mystery pieces of something resembling fish.
There was no fast food then except for White Castle, but in the early 1960s Sandie’s Burgers also appeared in Grandview. I went to Upper Arlington High School and we had open lunch. I believe they still do now. The whole school ate during the same 45 minutes. That meant in the spring we could hop in the car and go down Northwest Blvd. to Grandview, get quick burgers and very good fries, and then gobble them down on the way back to school. All this was done hoping the 15-minute trip each way would involve no traffic problems. I don’t think we were ever late getting back.
Eating in cars was also big in those days. A drive-in consisted of a parking place around the outside a restaurant from which the car hops would emerge. The girls would take your order, and then in a few minutes the food would arrive on a special tray. It was attached to the window lowered halfway down, and then the driver would pass the food to those in the vehicle.
This reminds me of the unusual ritual for our family. My dad loved cars and we had several in later years which could have been considered “nice.” Uppermost in my mind was a cinnamon-colored 1961 Buick convertible. We had a tradition that when dad bought a car, often a surprise to me and my brother, we all hopped in and went to the drive-in to eat in the car! I remember my friends thought this so odd because of the potential for spillage. I don’t actually remember anything major in that category, however.
The drive-in also served another purpose on weekends. For teenagers in cars, it was a meeting place. We often drove through to see who was there to determine which girls were dating which guys.
People were suddenly in love with cars, so those were also the years of another type of drive-in — the movie. Usually it was a place to go with a date and scary movies like “Psycho” were popular. Every once in a while a group of girls would go to see a movie there, but even if there were four, only two paid. The other two were in the trunk! Actually this shocks me when I think back on it. I am so claustrophobic now!
These were times when women were much more financially and socially dependent on men. Very few mothers worked outside the home in our neighborhood.
Someone described the 1950s as the “Father Knows Best” years. My mother stayed home, too. Often before my dad came home, she would change her clothes to something nice saying, “He is with women in business all day who look very nice and I want to look good, too. Those were the 1950s.
More next week about the 1950s (traveling 30 hours on the road to Florida).
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2/10/12
A Valentine story
In just a few days we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Everyone knows what this means — buy a nice card and give it to someone you love, which we all started doing in elementary school. I remember choosing all those very special little paper cards for boys whom I thought were so special. Then they were lovingly placed in the hand-decorated boxes at the school Valentine’s Day party.
Now that I’m an adult, I have even more family members with whom to share my special cards.
At this time of year I look for an interesting love story ... one that has endurance. So I share with you the story of Sharon and John Merriman, who have now been married for nearly 49 years.
Sharon graduated in 1958 from Northwestern High School, which was in Raymond. She started working at Dayton Power and Light Co. in Marysville the day after graduation. John was a Marysville High School grad and part of the class of 1955. He was already an elementary principal when they met in 1962.
Sharon said she had a good friend who was a guy and willing to teach her to play tennis. She told him she would bring a girlfriend along so he said he would find a fourth. They were to meet at Elwood Sawyer’s court on W. Fourth St. (the only tennis court in town) on Sunday afternoon. There was no one else there when she and her friend arrived, so they waited a while and then started back down the driveway to the street.
There she saw John, leaning against his red convertible, reading a book. He was the fourth for tennis. At that time, he was principal at Magnetic Springs Elementary and working on his Master’s degree at the Ohio State University.
Sharon said, “Maybe it was love at first sight for me because a voice in my head said, ‘You’re going to marry him.’” Eventually the other guy arrived and John attempted to teach her some tennis fundamentals, including keeping score, where love is nothing.
The four of them got together a few more times and Sharon found out later the other guy (just her friend, she thought) had told John to leave her alone because he was dating her. Sharon said that was never going to happen!
After a few weeks, she and John started dating. Six months later John proposed and they were married six months after that on July 12, 1963.
John’s proposal is a bit of a classic. Sharon tells it this way: “On Jan. 24, 1963, we had a heavy snow and I couldn’t get my car out of the driveway to go to work at DP&L, so a co-worker took me to Marysville. John wandered into the office in mid-morning on his way to school even though it was a snow day. He said he would take me home at the end of the day, but my supervisor told me to go ahead and leave since the snow would cause a slow work day. We stopped for lunch at Dutch’s Restaurant on St. Rt. 4 and while we were waiting for our meal, John said, ‘The control on my electric blanket is broken. Why don’t we get married?’ I gave him some kind of smart answer and we talked about something else.”
“We went on to the old school building at Pharisburg, which was being used while the new school at Magnetic Springs was constructed. The two of us spent several hours packing books and office materials for the move to the new building. When we were ready to leave, John reminded me that I hadn’t answered his question and asked me again to marry him. I’m not sure if I ever answered him, but it will be 49 years this summer.” “Forty-nine years of schools, kids — our three and thousands of others — teachers, coaching almost every sport, and tennis — always tennis. In tennis, love may be nothing, but that’s surely not true in a marriage.”
The Merrimans have three children, Leigh Ann, Mark, and Steve plus four grandchildren. John has served the school districts of North Union, Fairbanks, Triad, Upper Scioto Valley and Marysville. Currently, he is attendance officer for Marysville and assistant tennis coach for the girl’s team. He has been involved in tennis coaching for 54 years.
 Sharon is still at Dayton Power and Light.
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2/3/12
Kansas City by rail
When your children move to Kansas City with your grandchildren, what do you do for a visit? Of course, you hop on a passenger train in the middle of the night for Kansas City and arrive 17 hours later. That’s what Tim and Helen Norris did recently to see their family.
Both Tim and Helen are children of railroad employees, so even though this would be their first trip to Kansas City, why not take the train, right? After all, it would be something great to experience. It was different, alright, and something they probably would do again, but the hours of travel sound tough.
They determined the best place to get on the train was Sandusky, Ohio. The only problem was, the train left at 4 a.m. So, they took off in the middle of the night from their home in central Ohio, arriving in the cold and dark at the train station. I use the term train station loosely since Sandusky is just a whistle stop.
There is a sign on the window of the station which says, if you need to go inside, call the police department and they will open the door. You can’t buy tickets there, but can do so from a travel agent or on the train.
Since they could park their car only about 30 feet from where the train would arrive, they stayed there. Remember it was cold and dark. They already had their tickets and were anxious for the adventure. When the train pulled up, the conductor stepped out and asked, “Who’s going to Chicago?” With that, Tim and Helen took their luggage (only one piece allowed per person) and got on with no security check.
They quickly discovered the best place to sit on the double-decker car was on the lower floor. It had the least movement in the car and there were only 12 seats as compared to some 60 up above. Also in the lower area, there were convenient restrooms and less traffic walking through.
There was less traffic because to walk from car to car you do so only on the second floor by pushing a button to open the door. Then you step into a section with a little movement, which is enclosed by the accordion style equipment that you sometimes see on extended double buses. There’s a handlebar to hold onto and Helen said you better do it because you get jostled around just a little bit. Then you push the second button to open the door to the next train car.
Their seats for the 17-hour trip were comfortable, reclining chairs with electrical outlets available for computers, etc. It was all reasonably clean, too.
There was a dining car where passengers could sit down at a white tablecloth-covered table and choose from three entrees. They had to share a table with another couple.
There was also a bar car and an observation car with glass all around providing lots to see once the sun came up. Sleeper cars were available with beds, bath with shower and reclining seats. Food could also be delivered there.
Arriving in Chicago about five hours later, they planned to use their layover for shopping along the Magnificent Mile of downtown Chicago, but the wind and rain were torrential so they reconsidered. The next five hours were spent inside the train station, apparently an interesting place with a few things to do.
Once back on the train to Kansas City, it was another seven hours of a semi-smooth ride — not the clickity-clack way we think of on the old trains.
A few days later heading back to Ohio, they encountered some delays because of track problems. Tim pointed out that working trains have the right of way over passenger trains. Eventually though, they were back in Sandusky at 1 a.m. with a two-and-a-half hour drive home. The hours are tough, but Tim and Helen say they would do it again!
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1/27/12
The return to Switzerland
My friend Kathy Cotter has now turned into a world traveler. She and her husband Bob took their first European trip this last April to Switzerland and Italy. The real reason to go was to visit their son Kevin and daughter-in-law Andrea, plus their granddaughters Emma and Sydney, in Konolfingen, Switzerland. They are there for about two years with the Nestle Co. Kathy thought that might be her only trip to the beautiful country, but no, she had to make a very quick one recently.
Andrea Cotter was having surgery in a Swiss hospital and the family needed help with the children, so Kathy was on her way again. She had much concern about traveling to Europe alone, driving in a strange country with two little girls in the car and dealing with a place where almost no one speaks English.
To begin with, her plane trip was uneventful, arriving in just seven hours in Zurich, Switzerland, about two hours from Kevin’s home. She took this as a good omen that all would be well.
Her duties included driving her grandchildren to school at the International School of Bern, actually located in Gumlingen. The school has children from all over the world who don’t seem to notice each other’s differences.
Not only do the names of the cities sound strange, but also Kathy says very few people speak English in these small towns. In fact, even if you speak German, it may not be understood there since this area of Switzerland speaks its own separate dialect. I remind you that Kathy at this point speaks only English.
In order to drive Emma and Sydney to school, she had to go through many small towns with roundabouts. Even though she had practiced driving with Kevin, she was quite afraid of getting lost with the little girls in tow.
In a roundabout, you must also negotiate around the people walking in front of you and bicycles clogging everything up. The Swiss ride their bicycles everywhere, rain or snow. She did make one wrong turn and got a little lost, finally stopping to ask for directions. As anticipated, the person didn’t speak English, but when her destination was mentioned, the person pointed in the proper direction. Gas is $8 a gallon in Switzerland. The trip to school was supposed to take her about one half hour each way, but it seems Kathy allowed an hour for problems. She considers driving this route two times a day her biggest accomplishment.
After dropping the children off at school, she went to see Andrea in the hospital. That meant parking in a hospital lot located a 15-minute walk from the hospital. Even though Andrea had great care, the family felt the hospital was dreary, since the walls of the rooms were all unpainted gray concrete block. It looked like a basement.
Everyone complained about the quality of the food and there were no televisions in the rooms. It would all be in German anyway and most of the hospital staff did not speak English. But the doctors did, and Andrea’s doctor was the head of the department so they called him professor.
When at home, Kathy had to have lessons in operating all appliances in the kitchen and laundry room because everything looks different. When cooking, she had to convert the temperature from Celsius listed on the oven. Then there was the toaster. It operated by twisting a knob and pulling out the rack. There was no popping up.
In their apartment building, each family has a separate tiny laundry room in the basement. The washer and dryer don’t look anything like the ones we have. That’s where Kathy met the neighbor, Sylvia. She ran into her there quite often. Sylvia spoke no English, but freely conversed in German and Kathy would just continue to say, ja!
This is considered a very safe part of the world, one where even young elementary children can ride a public train 10 minutes or so to school. Stores close at six in the evening and nothing is open on Sunday. The exception to that is a 24-hour market where customers just take what they want and leave the money in the unattended store.
All in all, Kathy’s mission to help her family was accomplished!
___
The hand of fate
Their seven-day Western Mediterranean cruise started on Dec. 4, 2011. The tragedy occurred on another cruise but the same ship with the same captain nearly one month later.
Don and Roberta Coder have good timing and fate was with them, so to speak. Their cruise was on the Costa Concordia, the same ship now lying on its side and mostly under water in the Mediterranean Sea. Local attorney Dave Allen and Lynne Bauman were also on the cruise.
Don describes the ship: “The Costa Concordia was a huge ship at 16 stories tall and over 900 feet in length. As we entered the ship, it felt more like entering a city. There were multiple restaurants and lounges throughout, including spas, small shops, and even a casino. The rooms were spacious and nice. It was difficult not to get lost, and we did on many occasions. It was also very difficult to evaluate this enormous ship without thinking that it was truly “unsinkable.”
Don continued: “It is hard to believe this wonderful ship floundered on the rocky ledge of an island in the Western Mediterranean. I am thankful not to have experienced this terrible event while on our trip. Our memories are all good, and we will remember this huge ship, the Costa Concordia.”
Thankfully these four passengers from Marysville chose to travel in December and not January!
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1/20/12
From Russia with love
Faye Cox, a local attorney and partner in the firm of Schulze, Howard and Cox, and her husband, Jim, a financial planner and partner in McCarthy and Cox, had nearly everything. They were two professionals with a young son, Kaleb, now 3. All they needed was a daughter to complete their family.
They decided on adoption from the country of Serbia. That wasn’t going smoothly, so the whole operation was shifted to Russia. There they eventually adopted a daughter, Caroline, who is now 1 and home with them in Union County.
The course of foreign adoption needs a guide and theirs was an agency located in Cleveland. That made the whole experience a lot easier. They help by providing the way through mounds of paperwork and also by providing drivers in the foreign cities and interpreters in court. Apparently lots of patience is also required of the family.
Then there’s the expense. A Russian adoption requires four trips to the country. Each of those means 11 hours flying from New York City to Moscow, hotels, food and court costs.
Their daughter, Caroline Elizaveta, was adopted from an orphanage in Tver, Russia, located about three hours northwest of Moscow. Little English is spoken there and the Coxes felt like real outsiders.
Jim pointed out that signs in the city and on businesses gave no hint to what goes on inside, since the alphabet is unintelligible to Americans. Then there was the one restaurant that had a sign, which said chicken house sandwiches in English. They went right in and chose something from a picture on the menu, because the sign was all the English there was. What arrived was a not-so-good pressed vegetable sandwich!
Caroline is a child of the Roma-Gypsy culture. This is a group of people who are looked down upon by Russians as less than desirable. Faye and Jim, on the other hand, are so glad to have her. She is a beautiful child with lots of dark hair and dark eyes, typical of her heritage.
Faye described the scrutiny of their income, health, home and family as quite intrusive, but eventually worth it. Oh yes, a health certificate for their dog was even required.
One of the four required trips to Russia involved a court hearing. The female judge didn’t speak English, so the interpreter was a necessity. There, they were again questioned about their lives and occupations. The court had much trouble understanding Jim’s financial planner status. He thinks it may be because Russians are just learning about money management.
Under communism, the government even owned your home, so there was no incentive to improve it and many are quite run down. Just recently the people have begun home ownership.
With regard to women, Jim and Faye agreed many are beautiful and wear expensive designer clothing. They saw them dressed in that apparel coming out of the most deplorable housing, and determined all of their money must be spent on the “look.” Men, on the other hand, were more simple and casual in their dress.
According to the new parents, Russians are not warm and fuzzy and in particular those over 30 even sneered at them when they were in public with Caroline. Maybe that’s because they realized she was being adopted.
During the time spent in Moscow, they saw extreme pollution, enough to make you choke. They also noticed everyone smoking, and learned beer is not considered an alcoholic beverage because it’s not high enough in alcohol content.
There were 80 children ages 0 to 3 in the orphanage where Caroline lived and in the Tver region there are three such orphanages. Foreign adoption is much needed.
Jim and Faye feel Caroline is now right where she should be as their daughter and Kaleb’s sister.
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1/13/12
One giant diverse family
I’d say this couple exemplifies the term “super parents.” I’m sure they would disagree. They are just busy building a normal family. They’re not looking for accolades or a TV show, but may hope to inspire others to adopt.
Polly and Kevin Green had two sons and in 1988 wanted to adopt a daughter. That’s the start of how their family grew to 24 adopted children. The last two of these are twin girls, 14, from Liberia, and their final adoption is pending. There are 22 children in the house now and two others in college.
By 1990 the Greens had their first adopted daughter from Korea. Then they wanted her to have a sister and so on. Most of the adopted children are foreign and many have special needs, including a cleft lip and palate, Down’s syndrome and heart problems. One daughter needed a kidney transplant and that was eventually provided by her adopted brother already in the family.
It’s not just the health problems, but the number of children that make Polly very tired at night. Even so, she’s happy about it! When asked about viruses, she said they seem to be pretty immune except when the H1N1 was contracted. The family took a big hit with 16 sick at a time.
When they go to the doctor, Flu shots mean everyone lines up in one exam room and then the shots are just given right down the line. At the dentist, 17 go at a time with all hygienists coming to work that day.
Those from international adoptions are from Cambodia, Liberia, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Korea and the Philippines. Some spoke only a little English when they arrived, but Kevin said within a month they usually communicated well. The family lives in the Fairbanks School District and all attend there except for two who are home schooled.
Polly is a master shopper who searches for bargains on everything. She is chief cook and a few of the girls like to help, but that isn’t required. All of the children are responsible for their one job, which is some small cleaning chore during the summer and on Saturday. No child is responsible for another one. Kevin and Polly made it clear, they are the parents and are there to take care of the children.
They agree the big problem in the house deals with food. It can be an arguing point since it takes a lot to convince some of the children there will be enough for them. Many have not had that luxury before becoming a Green. Many times they didn’t know where their next meal would come from and can’t quite get over that. Those same kids are almost always found in the kitchen when Polly is cooking because of an almost obsession with it.
Kevin is the grocery shopper. He’s the king of coupons and every Saturday at 4 a.m. (because there are no crowds then) he heads out with a few of the kids in tow to buy groceries at four different spots.
The Green family lives in a beautiful three-story brick home on several acres. They have four floors of usable space, but only three and a half bathrooms. It forces the youngsters to plan their bathroom time. There are seven bedrooms upstairs and the third floor is a dorm-type area for five. That’s how the kids wanted it. The lower level has two large bedrooms and a family room. They travel in two large vans — each with a capacity of 15.
Once a year a vacation to the beach is a must and includes the rental of several condos. At home, there are no private date nights for Polly and Kevin, but on each child’s birthday they are taken out with their parents for dinner.
The Greens are active members of the Church of the Nazarene and prayer is an important part of family life. They feel prayer is what led them to each of their children. Those living in the house now range from ages 20 to 5.
Polly and Kevin cherish their time to talk to each other. It’s at 5:30 a.m. over coffee! Theirs is a life they sought and one they love along with their 26 children.
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1/6/12
Marysville 60 years ago - Part 2
Last week I told you about 60 years ago in Marysville from the viewpoint of Marysville residents, Kae Zorman and Linda Trees, members of MHS class of ‘58. They were born in 1940, just before World War II started and were together at East School for many years. The story continues.
Kae’s mother, Belva, owned a beauty shop at the present site of the Union County Chamber of Commerce on W. Fifth St. The family lived upstairs. Linda would come to spend the night and the girls would sit in the window and watch bar patrons from Awanda’s Tavern stumble out late at night. This served as an early education for them!
Kae remembers ice skating on Plum St. That is to say, the streets weren’t cleared well in the winter in the 1950s. In fact, Linda said in the country, roads were plowed from each side making a huge wall of snow right down the middle. It was impossible to see the cars on the other side of the road.
About Linda living in the country, by sixth grade Linda and her family had moved to a 50-acre farm in the country. She considered it a fate worse than death ... worse than stating your life on the east side of town! Living in the country was so limiting and she felt really out of the action. Even worse than that, the family had one chicken, one rooster, one pig, etc. She would start to know them and then the animal would be missing, but later show up on the table in some form for dinner.
The girls moved on to junior high. Kae has an ornery side now and apparently got her start in those years. It seems some students (there were only about 70 members in their class) loved to pull pranks on study hall teachers. Kae was the expert with itching powder. It seems she would make a quick pass behind the teacher and dump some on his neck and down his shirt. Then the class waited for the extreme reaction. It never failed to produce!
The organized “study hall rowdies” would also, on cue, begin the roll of the hard gum balls. They were released all at the same time from the back, rolling down the rows to the front. The particular teacher then just picked all of them up. No repercussions. How would that go today?
Linda was a majorette in the high school band and remembered every Friday after the home football games (played at the field on Grove Street now Lewis Field) the band would march down to the high school on W. Sixth St. (now the Union County office building) with students and friends following them! She said it was such an innocent time it didn’t take much to have fun.
Linda remembers the town was so small that kids couldn’t get away with anything in the car. Everyone knew who you were and what your car looked like. They would be glad to report to your parents if necessary. That, said Kae, was a terrible event. If you were in trouble in school or in the community, the punishment at home was worse.
All this said, Kae and Linda can’t imagine growing up in a better place and that feeling has been echoed by their children. They’ve seen other parts of the world, but this is where they chose to stay.
If you missed part 1 just go to marysvillejt.com click on Off the Hook and then on archives.
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