Volunteering brings friends together

By TOM MOORE
Volunteering as a trainman on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in our national park, you never know who you'll run into among the thousands of passengers over the years. 

Enjoy talking with everybody and they come from all over. But it's especially great when you run into someone you know and work with.

Such is the case the other day when a lady told me that the ride was a 92^rd birthday present for her dad, who was sitting beside her.

We chatted for a few minutes while waiting for the train at the North side station and in the course of things, I mentioned I retired from the Akron Beacon Journal.

The lady said: “So did my dad.”

Turned out her day is retired printer Lloyd Bigelow, looking fit as a fiddle at his age.

We immediately began talking a walk down memory lane..coming up with names of folks we'd work with and recalling a story or two.

One he told me was about the late printer Bill Ferguson when Loyd and a bunch of printers spend vacation days in Florida at the motel owned by another former BJ printer, Bill Gorrell.

Fergie went for a swim and when he came out of the water he asked folks if they had seen his teeth. Nobody had and it turned out he had lost his lower plate in the ocean.

Loyld retired in 1992 and lives in Cuyahoga Falls. With him on the birthday trip was son-in-law Tim Hermann and daughter Becky Herman.

This isn't the first time I've run into a BJ link.

A while back in talking with a couple, the lady said maybe you knew my dad...Robert Griffin.

Bob was composing room foreman while I was at the BJ. The daughter was Joann who was aboard with her husband. I've lost my notes on the couple. I wrote them on a scrap of paper and lost it. 

I used to run into her sister, Jeannie, at Wal-mart in Cuyahoga Falls. She recalled that on auto trips, Bob would recite the poem “Cremation of Sam Magee.”

 

That led me to tell her a story about that. It was at a retiree luncheon. Bob was sitting at the head table. And at the end table sat Craig Wilson. It was around Christmas and Craig was going into his act and reciting “Night Before Christmas”.

While Craig was talking, Bob in a soft voice that could be heard by those sitting nearby, recited the cremation.... don't know if Craig ever knew this. But of all the times he came up with poem, none of the kids had a recording of the performance.

When I mentioned this at one of our luncheons, one of the printer said he had a cassette of Bob. I borrowed it and made copies and passed it on to Jeanne who has retired from her Wal-mart job.

So running into people you would probably never know when you pass them on the street and getting reacquainted is a great bonus of this volunteer job.

BJ's Aaron Burr dies at 65

Aaron Burr was a towering, yet gentle, soft-spoken leader, who rose through the ranks during his two decades at the Akron Beacon Journal.

Mr. Burr worked at the Beacon Journal for 23 years, eventually leading the newspaper’s circulation and human resources departments.

He was also a retired school teacher and assistant principal in the Akron Public School system, where he worked 15 years.

Mr. Burr worked in circulation for six years before taking over as the newspaper’s human resources director in 1996. He stayed in the position until he retired on April 1.

Mr. Burr died Thursday at his home of natural causes. He was 65.


A native of Muskogee, Okla., Mr. Burr was the oldest of five children. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education at Northeast Oklahoma State University and later his master’s degree in education administration at the University of Akron.

Funeral arrangements will be handled by

Stewart & Calhoun, 529 W. Thornton St., in Akron. Details have not been finalized.

See full story

Death came to the Oregonian on June 20

The death of The Oregonian as you know it came at 9:58 am on June 20.

That’s when reporters, editors, photographers and designers who put out the 163-year-old daily newspaper were told to “please proceed” to a large basement conference room.

Such meetings at the newspaper—especially on short notice—are unusual at The Oregonian’s headquarters at 1320 SW Broadway. But the staff knew what it was about.

For months, there had been speculation The Oregonian’s owners, the Newhouse family, intended to cut back the publication schedule of the newspaper, rely more on its website to deliver news, and make deep cuts in staff.

The Newhouses, who own 34 newspapers through their holding company, Advance Publications, had made this same move at eight of their other papers, including The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. The company’s digital division chairman, Steve Newhouse, had signaled this was the new strategy for the entire company.

Some inside the newsroom thought The Oregonian would get a reprieve. After all, the newspaper is making a profit, and Advance’s handling of the situation in New Orleans has been considered a fiasco. Maybe the Newhouses would see Portland was different.

Publisher N. Christian Anderson III quickly dispelled this notion.

Anderson told his staff The Oregonian would deliver papers to subscribers on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On the remaining days, the paper would publish only a street edition, saving millions of dollars in printing costs.

Anderson also announced layoffs. By the time he and Editor Peter Bhatia were done, sources say, almost 100 of the paper’s 650 employees had lost their jobs. The cuts fell disproportionately on the newsroom: As many as 49 reporters, editors, designers and photographers—nearly a quarter of the remaining news staff—will be gone by Sept. 27.

See the full story

Also see music writer Ryan White farewell message online. “Yesterday, a lot of good, talented people—friends—were laid off, an act I always suspected wasn’t as gentle as it sounded,” he wrote. “I was right.”

ASNE census: 2,600 newsroom jobs lost in 2012

by Rick Edmonds 

The American Society of News Editors released its annual newsroom census today and found an unexpected acceleration of job losses. Roughly 2,600 full-time professional editorial jobs at newspapers disappeared in 2012, a 6.4 percent decline compared to 2011′s total, leaving industry news employment at 38,000.
That brings the number of reporters, editors and other journalists down almost one-third from a peak of 56,400 in 2000 and down 30.9 percent since 2006. The greatest losses — 13,500 in all — came in the recession years of 2007-2009. But a modest stabilization in 2010 and 2011, when losses slowed to 900 jobs over the two years, now appears to be over.

FULL-TIME PROFESSIONAL NEWS JOBS AT NEWSPAPERS

YEAR         TOTAL        GAIN/LOSS

2007           52,600            -2,400

2008           46,700             -5,900

2009            41,500             -5,200

2010            41,600               +100

2011             40,600             -1,000

2012             38,000              -2,600

Dave Hess home from hospital

Former BJ reporter Bill Hershey has an encouraging report on former BJ and KR DC bureau chief Dave Hess, who had a second stroke in March (the first was in 2006)

Dave Hess

:

I spoke with Dave Hess this morning. He is home from the hospital and recovering from his recent stroke. His voice was strong and his mood was good. He is doing daily therapy to gain strength and is moving around with a walker. Here is how to contact him:

5411 Easton Dr., Springfield, VA 22151, kpachya@verizon.net

Tom Moore still working on the railroad all the live-long day

From left are John Phillips, Tom Moore, Steve Feldstein

Beacon Journal newsroom retiree Tom Moore continues to enjoy working on the railroad, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in the national park of the same name.

Tom is a trainman who helps folks on and off the train and punches their tickets. And he tries not to fall on his face any more, as he did once stepping off the train, which made a mess of his mug. 

His companions are John Phillips, a retired mailman he met while walking for exercise at Chapel Hill Mall, and Steve Feldstein, brother of former BJ business writer Stu Feldstein.

The two Railrovers pass out literature and show animal pelts to the passengers.

Says Tom: "It keeps us off the streets and out of the bars."

Tom was born Dec. 14, 1930 in Richmond, Virginia, but was adopted by Spotswood and Virgina Moore in Tazewell, Virginia. "I didn't know I was adopted until I was 21," Tom said.

Tom's 41-year newspaper career was on the Bluefield (WV) Daily Telegraph, Zanesville News (now defunct), Lorain Journal, Columbus Citizen-Columbus Citizen Journal (both defunct) and the BJ. Bluefield, West Virginia, was where the legendary John S. Knight was born. But he left at the age of 3 when his family moved on its way to starting the (now defunct) Knight Newspapers empire.

Tom and wife Dot have four children.

Stu Feldstein left the BJ for Business Week and in 1984 formed SMR Research Corp. in Hackettstown, New Jersey, a business strategy consulting firm.

John Dotson dies

John L. Dotson Jr., former president and publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal and co-founder of the Robert C. Maynard Institute, died Friday.

He was 76.

John Dotson

He and his wife, Peggy, lived in Boulder, Colo. They had a winter home on Marco Island in Florida. They have five children.

Mr. Dotson was one of only two African-American publishers in the then-Knight Ridder newspaper chain of 29 daily papers in the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of only a handful in the country.


Prior to coming to the Beacon, he was president and publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera for five years in Colorado. He was one of few publishers with a strong news background — most come from the business side of newspapers. He was knowledgeable in both areas.

To read the Marilyn Miller and Stephanie Warsmith eulogy to John Dotson, click on http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/former-beacon-journal-publisher-john-dotson-dies-1.407696

FBI denies investigating Hastings

By John Nolte, Breitbart.com

According to a tweet from Wikileaks and Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of the liberal site BuzzFeed Politics, not long before his death in a one-person car crash earlier this week, left-wing journalist Michael Hastings believed he was under investigation by the FBI.

Michael Hastings

Hastings gained national attention in 2010 after exposing inflammatory comments made by Gen. Stanley McChrystal about President Barack Obama and the civilian leadership of the military.

Friday, the FBI denied it had ever investigated Hastings.

Immediately after the news of the 33-year-old reporter's death broke, conspiracy theories started to swirl claiming that the government was behind the fiery crash. The Wikileaks' tweet and Smith's apparent confirmation only served to fuel those theories.

As of now, though, the LAPD does not suspect foul play and the evidence points to speed being the major cause of the 4:30 am accident.

A toxicology report is expected in a few weeks. Hastings had a history of drunk-driving and admitted to struggling with substance abuse.

John Dunphy released from hospital

John Dunphy

Former BJ reporter John Dunphy has been released from Keck Medical Center of University of Southern California after a 15-day stay following his cancer surgery.

John is contributing editor at Southland Golf and a former reporter for the Orange County Register in California.

He was part of the super investigation team that the late Pat Englehart assembled and whipped into a Pulitzer Prize-winning frenzy for the BJ’s coverage of the 1970 Kent State killing of four and wounding of nine by the Ohio National Guard.

PD staffers facing layoffs

The Cleveland Plain Dealer plans to lay off staffers in the marketing, finance, information technology, pre-press and building service departments, according to the Save the Plain Dealer Campaign’s Facebook page.
 
Poynter confirmed the information with two sources at the paper after seeing the Facebook post but has not yet heard back from management.

The Facebook post, which has dozens of comments, says the layoffs were expected to occur Wednesday night. The Advance-owned Plain Dealer has cut home delivery, and the likelihood of layoffs has been widely reported.
The Facebook post — which says “newsroom employees will go through similar layoffs at a later date” — reads in part:

The Save The Plain Dealer campaign has said it before, and will keep repeating: These changes, which are devastating to the paper’s loyal workforce and will diminish the journalism that readers depend on, ARE NOT NECESSARY. Other newspapers are adopting innovative and far less disruptive strategies that allow them to continue to serve their readers and maintain journalistic excellence while confronting the challenges of the digital era.

Terry Egger, Andrea Hogben and Virginia Wang sent this note to staffers on Wednesday:

In September of 2012 we announced that we would begin the process of designing the best business model that would safeguard the future of this enterprise, ensure our leadership in the market, uphold our journalistic standards and continue our mission to serve the Northeastern Ohio community for years to come.

As we announced in our prior communications on April 4, 2013, to ensure that we are positioned to remain Northeast Ohio’s number one source for news and information in the ever-changing media environment, the Northeast Ohio Media Group will be launched later this summer and the Plain Dealer Publishing Company will adopt a new home delivery schedule for the newspaper.
These changes require a redesign of our operations that will result in a realignment of the workforce. These are difficult decisions, but are necessary.
From approximately 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. tonight, certain employees in the following departments (Advertising, Marketing, Prepress, Finance, Information Technology and Building Services) will receive a phone call informing them that they are being separated from employment. Employees who are not notified this evening should report for work at their next regularly scheduled time.
Employees who are called will be provided a time to meet tomorrow (June 20) with a Human Resources representative at the Tiedeman Production and Distribution Center. At that time, each impacted employee will receive a copy of his/her severance information and will also be given transitional details, including meeting with a representative Right Management, a company that specializes in transitional programs.
We will go through a similar process with employees in the remaining divisions at a later date.
We sincerely regret having to go through this process and we thank all who are impacted for their years of service and wish them all the best for their future.

Gen. McChrystal reporter dies in car crash

Michael Hastings

BuzzFeed journalist and author Michael Hastings, 33, died Tuesday in a Los Angeles car crash.

Hastings gained national attention in 2010 after exposing inflammatory comments made by Gen. Stanley McChrystal about President Barack Obama and the civilian leadership of the military.

A witness said he saw Hastings speeding down the road in his car when it jackknifed, slammed into a tree, and burst into flames.

Remember fathers

The photo is of Beacon Journal newsroom retiree Tom Moore and his late father in Tazewell, Virginia.

Tom Moore & his father

Says Tom: “He was stern and kept me on the right road and he was kind and a great dad. He's been gone 50 plus years, but I still miss him. That's a real dad to you.”

Notice that young Tom wore bib overalls, which the legendary Fran Murphey made famous in Ohio decades later.

BJ reporter Jim Carney’s mother was born in Honaker, Virginia in 1921, which is 25 miles from Tazewell.

John S. Knight was born in Bluefield, West Virginia, which is only 20 miles from where Tom grew up in Tazewell. And where Tom worked on the Bluefield Telegraph after he grew out of the bib overalls.

Both JSK and Tom wound up at the Akron Beacon Journal. Jack Knight got there about a half-century before Tom.

Gannett will buy 20 Belo TV stations

Gannett will buy Belo for $2.2 billion. That will increase Gannett’s TV stations from 23 to 43. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2013.

Belo spun off its newspapers, which include Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal and Riverside, California Press-Enterprise, as a separate company called A.H. Belo in 2007.

This acquisition comes not long after Media General announced plans to merge with the New Young Broadcasting Company. The combined company will own 30 stations.

To read the article, click on http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/13/191281967/gannett-to-buy-tv-station-owner-belo-for-2-2-billion

Marilyn Miller's story on Ted Walls

By Marilyn Miller 

Beacon Journal staff writer

LAKE TWP: Former Beacon Journal photographer Ted Walls was passionate about photography and used his skills in his missionary work even after he retired.

Mr. Walls, 82, of Lake Township, died Tuesday.

Ted Walls

He retired from the newspaper in 1992 after 35 years of service. He continued taking pictures — both stills and video.

He was active in missionary work at Open M in Akron and with his church, Uniontown United Methodist Church, helping with an orphanage in Russia. He and his wife, Nancy, made seven trips to the Kursk region of Russia, about 320 miles southwest of Moscow.

The orphanage, located outside the village of Belica, was home to children abandoned by society. The children had a variety of disabilities and medical conditions.

“I saw conditions I couldn’t believe,” Walls once told a Beacon Journal reporter about his visits. “They were kids who had been tossed aside.”

He said children were confined to beds that were falling apart and the air reeked of the stench of human waste.

Walls wondered how you could see something like that for two weeks and then live the rest of the year normally. He exposed their living conditions in a Beacon Journal article in 1999. Readers responded and donated more than $20,000 to help the orphanage.

Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Hecker Funeral Home in Uniontown. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Uniontown United Methodist Church.

Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.

To read Ted's original obituary in the BJ, click on http://bjretirees.blogspot.com/search?q=Photographer+Ted

Traveling twosome only ones at BJ retirees lunch

BJ Advertising Art retiree Mike Williams (BJ 1968-2012), fresh from trips to Ecuador and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and newsroom retiree John Olesky, fresh from a trip to New Zealand and Australia, were the only people who showed up today at the monthly BJ retirees lunch at Papa Joe’s Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension.

They discussed places that both have been, such as the Seneca Rocks and Blackwater Falls area of West Virginia, many of the countries of Europe and some in South America.

And people whose paths they have crossed, such as former University of Akron football coach and extraordinary fundraiser Jerry Faust. Mike ran across Jerry on a raft or small boat near Beckley, West Virginia. John, who’s known Jerry since Jerry’s father was athletic director at Dayton Chaminade High School, ran across Jerry a few years back at a doctor’s office while they were there for their female partners’ office visit.

Mike Williams (left), John Olesky
Elephant riding on front of shirt; tiger petting on back

Mike and Jane, who found the altitude in Ecuador difficult to handle, have two sons, independent trucker Nathan Williams (they keep track of where he is via SmartPhone’s locator) and chemical engineer Trevor Williams. Mike retired in December 2012 after 44 years, including coming under John Grimm’s wing in 1976.

Mike’s sister, BJ information technology retiree Linda Williams Torson, is married to Akron-Summit County Metroparks retiree Tim Torson. 

Another sister, former clinical dietician Cindy Williams Chima, worked in the BJ classified phone room in the 1970s and writes fiction novels for young adults.

Olesky wore his shirt with a scene from elephant riding alongside Paula in Thailand in 2012 on the front and petting an uncaged tiger in Chiangmai in northern Thailand on the back. The waitress took front and back photos for the lonesome twosome at the lunch.

The BJ retirees lunch, or what’s left of it, is 1 p.m. second Wednesday of every month at Papa Joe’s Restaurant in the Merriman Valley.

Photographer Ted Walls dies at 82

Theodore "Ted" Walls, 82, passed away at his home on June 11, 2013.

Born March 5, 1931 in Wilmington, Delaware to Lindsay and Naomi Walls, he was an area

resident most of his life. Ted, a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, was a Navy veteran, serving his country in the Korean Conflict. From the time Ted was a teenager he knew he wanted to be a "spot news photographer". He pursued his dreams and worked for the Akron Beacon Journal for 35 years. Ted's creativity was not only shown in his photographs but also in his fine woodworking, landscaping, and in his passion for missions work which he displayed both locally, at Open M in Akron, and during his seven trips to Russia. He was a member of Uniontown United Methodist Church.

Preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ann; infant brother, Charles; brother, Robert; and son-in-law Dennis Squire; he is survived by his loving family, wife of 52 years, Nancy; children, Sharlene (Malcolm) Brotman, Teresa Squire, Bob (Andre'), Bill (Brenda), and Tom (Lois); brother, Edward (Elaine); sisters, Helen Carnell, Joyce Ann Walls, and Dorothy (Tom) Ferrell; brother-in-law, Dan Boger; seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and many other dear relatives and friends.

Visitation Thursday, 4 to 7 p.m. at the Hecker Funeral Home in Uniontown. Funeral services will be held Friday, 11 a.m. at the Uniontown United Methodist Church with Rev. James P. Nolte officiating. Burial at Uniontown Greenlawn Cemetery where veterans services will be conducted by American Legion Post 44. Memorials may be made in his name to Open M, 941 Princeton St., Akron, OH 44311, or Uniontown United Methodist Church, 13370 Cleveland Ave. NW, Uniontown, Oh. 44685.

Hecker, 330 699-2600
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Wednesday, June 12, 2013, page B5, col.5]

John Dunphy from ICU after surgery

Former BJ reporter John Dunphy was moved from ICU to a regular Keck Medical Center University of Southern California Hospital bed Saturday after his surgery to combat his cancer. That's wife Rebecca Allen with John.

Current, former BJ staffers win Ohio newspapers awards

The Beacon Journal racked up a ton of Press Club of Cleveland awards among Ohio newspapers and three former BJ writers got first places as Plain Dealer staffers.

BJ columnist Bob Dyer won Best in Ohio again. So did photographer Ed Suba Jr.

Dyer also won first place for a general news column on a Mogadore dispute and a single essay on the PC push.

Suba also won three second-place awards for general feature, studio photography and personal/portrait.

Feature writer Mary Beth Breckenridge won first-place awards for a general news story on the toll war has taken on military families, and in lifestyle, for her column on re-gifting.

Photographer Karen Schiely won first place awards for general news and general feature.

Editorial page editor Michael Douglas won first place for an editorial on the health care contradictions in Gov. John Kasich’s administration.

Crime reporter Phil Trexler won first place for his stories on Akron Municipal Judge Joy Malek Oldfield.

For multiple page design, photo director Kimberly Barth, assistant news editor Richard Stallsmith and photographer Mike Cardew won first place for their layout of “Chaplain lifts spirits.”

Barth, Schiely and news editor Mark Turner won a second place for multiple page design for “Matters of the heart.’’

Turner also won a second place for page design for the America Today/Civility project.

Other awards were:

Second place, digital media, breaking news, reporters Rick Armon, Stephanie Warsmith, John Higgins, “Restaurant owner dies hours after meeting President Obama.”

Second place, single essay, managing editor Doug Oplinger, “We’re hurting each other,” a summary of the America Today/Civility project.

Third place, public service, staff, America Today/Civility project

Also as part of the America Today/Civility project, third place, general news, multiple stories, Carol Biliczky, Betty Lin-Fisher and David Knox, about student debt.

Two third-place awards for food writer Lisa Abraham, food writing. Third place, general feature, Paula Schleis. Third place obituary, reporter Marilyn Miller, “Local Vietnam hero.”

The Plain Dealer was chosen best large newspaper in Ohio and Cleveland.com the best newspaper web site in Ohio. 

Among more than two dozen PD first place winners were former BJ reporter Sheryl Harris for a business column on funeral homes, former BJ sports writer Terry Pluto as part of a 4-reporter team reporting on Jimmy Haslam buying the Browns and former BJ columnist Regina Brett for her radio show.

To read the articles, click on http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/beacon-journal-staff-wins-multiple-journalism-awards-1.404467 and http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/06/press_club_honors_plain_dealer.html

The list of Bob Dyer's national and Ohio awards makes you wonder how the BJ is able to hang onto this treasure. Disclaimer: Since Dyer and I were Blue Room lunch partners for a decade or so, I may be a bit prejudiced.

But check out Bob's awards list:

Best Columnist in the Nation, National Society of Professional Journalists, 2008.

*One of lead writers, Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, 1994.

            *Contributor, Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting, 1987.

            *Nominated for Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, 1993 and 2004.

*Finalist, Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary/Column Writing,   American Society of News Editors, 2012

*Third place, General Commentary, Society for Features Journalism, 2011

*Third place, Herb Caen Award, National Society of Newspaper Columnists, 2010.

*Third place, Multiple-Topic Columns, National Society of Newspaper             Columnists, 2009.

*Third place, General-Interest Columns, National Society of Newspaper   Columnists, 2008.

*Fourth place, Multiple-Topic Columns, National Society of Newspaper

 Columnists, 1996.

           

REGIONAL HONORS

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Associated Press, 2012.

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Press Club of Cleveland, 2012.

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Associated Press, 2011.

            *Best Essayist in Ohio, Press Club of Cleveland, 2011.

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2010.

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Press Club of Cleveland, 2010.

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2009.

            *First place, Political Commentary, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2012.

            *First place, Consumer Reporting, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2012.

            *First place, General-Interest Column, Press Club of Cleveland, 2011.

            *First place, Newsmaker Profile, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2011.

            *First place, General-Interest Column, Press Club of Cleveland, 2010.

            *First place, Personality Profile, Press Club of Cleveland, 2005.

            *First place, Feature Writing, Ohio Associated Press, 2001.

*First place, Feature Writing, Press Club of Cleveland, 1993.

            *First place, Arts/Entertainment Writing, Press Club of Cleveland, 1987.

            *First place, Arts/Entertainment Writing, Press Club of Cleveland, 1986.

            *First place, Investigative Reporting, Women in Communications, 1986.

            *First place, Newspaper Series, Women in Communication, 1986.

           

            *Second place, Best Columnist in Ohio, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2012.

            *Second place, Media Criticism, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2012.

            *Second place, General-Interest Column, Press Club of Cleveland, 2012.

            *Second place, Essay, Press Club of Cleveland, 2012.

            *Second place, Column Writing, Ohio Associated Press, 2008

            *Second place, Newsmaker Profile, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, 2005.

            *Second place, Personality Profile, Ohio SPJ, 2000.

            *Second place, Public Service Journalism, Ohio SPJ, 1998.

            *Second place, Sunday Magazine Human Interest Story, Press Club of Cleveland, 1995.

            *Second place, Arts/Entertainment Writing, Press Club of Cleveland, 1990.

            *Third place, Best Columnist in Ohio, Associated Press, 2010.

            *Third place, Feature Reporting, Ohio Associated Press, 1993.

Wow! Just wow!!!