Another BJ restaurant reunion for Art & Char



From left: Steve Love, Doug Oplinger, Mitch
McKenney, Charlene Nevada, Art Krummel

There was an unintentional BJ reunion in a Green restaurant Saturday night.

Retired BJ reporter Charlene Nevada explains:

John, 

Dinner at a small Italian restaurant called the Bistro in Green turned into a bit of a BJ reunion Saturday night. Art and I were there with Steve and Jackie Love, when we were spotted by Doug (and Diane) Oplinger. Then Mitch and Kim McKenney came in.  Mitch is an assistant prof at Kent. Steve is writing a book about Don Plusquellic. Doug is still at the Beacon and Art and I are very, very retired.

Doug Oplinger is managing editor at the BJ, a long way from his days as a State Desk part-timer under the watchful eyes of Harry Liggett and DeNobil cigar smell of the late Pat Englehart.

Steve Love is a retired BJ columnist. He co-authored “Wheels of Fortune: The History of Rubber in Akron” with David Giffels,  wrote “The Golden Dream” with former Notre Dame football coach Gerry Faust, and books about Stan Hywet Hall and the Holden Arboretum. In 2007 he became Director of College Relations at Hiram College.

Mitch joined the Beacon Journal in September 1998 as a deputy metro editor. He’s been teaching at various Kent State campuses over the years, even while at the BJ. Mitch and Kim live in Hartville.

Charlene and Art divide their time between their home in Garden City, South Carolina, which is 85 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, and their Tallmadge home. Art was the BJ’s chief artist, following in the shoes of the late Bud Morris and Joe Grace.

Russ Chambers and Roger Stewart run Bistro of Green at 3459 Massillon Road, off I-77’s Exit 118. It has a Uniontown mailing address, but it’s in Green. Pat Englehart used to drive State Desk reporters batty if they listed Uniontown as an address, insisting that they look up the directory to see which political subdivision it actually was in. A Uniontown mailing address meant the business or home could be in maybe a half-dozen different political subdivisions. That directory was well-worn by State Desk reporters.

Char and Art are accustomed to unexpected BJ reunions. In 2010 they were vacationing in the Garden City Beach area with now-retired newsroom administrative assistant Sue Reynolds and her husband Roger and former BJ editors Roger Mezger and wife Ann Sheldon Mezger. The sextet went to a hamburger place in Murrell’s Inlet called River City and retired printer Dick Latshaw, who lives in nearby Pauleys Island, popped in for a bite.

Ann once was in charge of the BJ Features Dept. Roger Mezger was among about two dozen BJ folks who switched to the Plain Dealer.