To all my friends who
prowled Ol' Blue Walls

We had a ball!!!

 
May 2019 be one of the greatest years in your life, you-all!

John Olesky

BJ 1969-96

 

World traveler, WVU sports fan, Florida winterizer

Former BJ correspondent Wilma Kollert passes away

Wilma Kollert, a BJ Summit County correspondent in the 1960s/1970s, passed away on Monday, December 24.

Wilma covered Richfield, Bath Township and Boston Heights.

She covered meeting by Richfield zoning board chairman Richard Backderf.

She also wrote for the Richfield Community News and Calendar newsletter along with Mary Anne Backderf.

Thanks to former BJ sports editor Ken Krause, who lives in Medford, Massachussetts, for that information.

In case you’re wondering, Richard Backderf and Mary Anne Backderf are the parents of John “Derf” Backderf, the brilliant “My Friend Dahmer” cartoonist married to another BJ escapee, reporter Sheryl Harris who joined the parade to the PD.

Derf’s dad was a Goodrich research chemist in Brecksville for 36 years. Both parents were Akron South High graduates who winterized in Hilton Head, South Carolina. University of Akron graduate Richard passed away in 2011.
 
Advertising Art retiree Mike Williams, like Ken my Retirement Reference Library source, added:

She must have been a writer, because her first mention was as a Beacon
Journal winner in an Ohio journalism contest in 1969.  She was a definite competitor because she was runnerup to Maxine Johnson in the
Ladies Bowling competition in 1968.

 Wilma’s obituary:

Wilma Kollert

Wilma J. Kollert, 78, of Richfield, died Dec. 24, 2018 at her home.

Wilma was born Sept. 22, 1940 and graduated from Norwayne High School in 1958. She had been a resident of Richfield since 1964 and had worked at the Beacon Journal and at the former L& K Motel. Wilma enjoyed doing crafts and had set up at many area craft shows.

Surviving are her husband, Carl who she married Sept. 28, 1957; her children, Cynthia (David) Rogers and Curtis (Barb) Kollert and five grandchildren and one greatgrandson.

Private family services will be held with burial in Burbank Cemetery. Tributes may be shared at www.Murray-Funeral-Home.com    

 

Former BJ columnist Thrity Umrigar has sold movie options for 3 of her novels: “The Story Hour,” “The Space Between Us” and the “Space” sequel, “The Secrets Between Us.”

Thrity added:

“As most of you may know, selling an option doesn't mean that this will result in a movie being made. But, you gotta start somewhere, right?

“Also, I will have two new children's books out in 2020. The first is called “Diwali: Festival of Lights” (Scholastic).

"The second is about the Parsis of India, a project that's near and dear to my heart. This one will be published by Running Press/Hachette, who also published by first picture book, 'When I Carried You in My Belly.' ”

As we all know, Thrity has more novels published, many with themes about India, the country of her birth.

If any of these 3 novels do well as films you just know more of her novels will become movies.

There may be a string of Thrity movies some day.

It couldn't happen to a better person.

And to think I knew her when.

Thrity also published “If Today be Sweet,” “The Weight of Heaven” and “The World We Found.” Her memoir is “First Darling of the Morning.”

Thrity began her reporting career with The Lorain Journal. Two years later, in 1987, she came to the BJ.

She left the Beacon to attend Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship, wrote “Bombay Time” and her author career took off.

Thrity also teaches creative writing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Thrity left India at the age of 21 to attend Ohio State University.

Union-busting comes to PD

The Plain Dealer is joining union-busters like Cox and Gatehouse Media.

The PD Guild said the PD will boot out 29 copyediting and designing Guild members and farm their work out to non-union Advance Local.

PD Guild members can switch to Advance Local and do the same work, but with being in a union.

Union-busting in 2018.

Gatehouse Media has some of the BJ work done in Austin, avoiding paying Guild members in Akron for doing it.

The PD Guild’s post:

The Plain Dealer News Guild

The Plain Dealer informed the Guild today it would move forward with a plan to outsource the jobs of 29 Guild and management employees who copy edit, curate and... design our newspaper.

The Plain Dealer unit of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild for months has fought to keep this work in Cleveland because the Guild knows that having local journalists, with knowledge of the community, would produce the best newspaper.

The company had a proposal from the Guild that offered significant savings and would preserve quality. The company could not assure the Guild, other than with platitudes, that the other “bidders” would treat Guild work with the same care.

Instead, the company made its choice based on “cost savings and efficiencies.”

Plain Dealer readers deserve more than a cookie cutter newspaper.

The Guild has seen examples of mistakes in other papers using the centralized production model that concern the Guild greatly.

Plain Dealer Editor George Rodrigue told the public that all decisions about content would rest with The Plain Dealer but, based on Guild conversations with Rodrigue, that does not appear to be entirely true.

The Guild believes this clearly is a union-busting move as the company has said some non-union jobs would be offered to current employees who do essentially the same duties now but would have to work for Advance Local, which is a part of the same overall company.

Rx card sent to wrong name, wrong city !!!

Don’t ask me how it happened but my new Sav-Rx prescription card from Sound Publishing/Beacon Journal wound up with Wendell H. Miller in Canton, Ohio.

Wendell, bless his soul, mailed my new prescription card to me with a note explained that it went astray.

How the hell can a card for Tallmadge wind up in Canton!

If you run into Wendell, shake his hand and tell him you’re glad to meet an honest person. Someone else would be running up drug bills with forged ID cards that pretend to be me.

It’s good to know that I’m not the only honest person in America. Wendell, I salute you! And yes, I did text Wendell at the phone number on the card to thank him, too.

But methinks Sound Publishing and/or Sav-Rx need to be more accurate and careful with where they are sending the Rx cards.

If you don’t get your card, maybe Wendell got it, too. Or someone not as honest as Wendell.

Obituary, calling hours for Ted Schneider

Calling hours for Ted Schneider will be 3-7 p.m. Friday, December 28 at the Donovan Funeral Home on Tallmadge Circle.

Ted Schneider

There will be a Celebration of Life open house at Ted and his widow Rose’s home at 505 Letchworth Drive in Akron at 1-5 p.m. Saturday, December 29.

Ted passed away Sunday, December 23.

Ted’s obituary:

Theodore “Ted” R. Schneider, Jr., 72, died December 23, 2018.

He leaves his ex-spouse, Sally, wife, Rose, his daughters, Tanya (Erik), Renee (Rick) and Stacy (David); his son, Theodore, III (Jessica); and extended family, Jeff (Lesley) and Lauren (Fred).  He leaves a combined number of grandchildren of 14.  He leaves his siblings, Beryl (Karen) and Cheryl (James) along with three nephews, five nieces, many cousins, and friends.  He was preceded in death by his daughter, Nicole.

Ted was born in Cleveland and was a lifelong resident of Northeast Ohio. He attended Brooklyn High School.  Upon graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he honed his skills as a photographer. After an honorable discharge, he pursued his passion as a photojournalist beginning with the United Press International, The Cleveland Press and finally with the Akron Beacon Journal. In addition to photographer, he held various design and page layout positions, retiring after 38 years of service.

Three of his favorite pastimes included Monday golf, Wednesday “poker nights” and tinkering with and driving his classic British MGBs.  He served as secretary of the Northeast Ohio MG Club and the Emerald Necklace MG Register.

Calling hours will be 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. Friday, December 28, 2018 at the Donovan Funeral Home, 17 Southwest Ave. (On the Historic Tallmadge Circle).

A Celebration of Life open house will be held at Ted and Rose’s home on Saturday, December 29, 2018 from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. at 505 Letchworth Dr., Akron, OH  44303.

In lieu of flowers, family members suggest memorials be sent to the Cancer Research Institute National Headquarters, 29 Broadway, Floor 4, New York, NY 10006. www.cancerresearch.org

Ted Schneider, former BJ photographer and line- drawer and by far the best Ann Hill letter-reader ever, has passed away.

That’s the word from Ken Krause, former BJ editor who lives in Medford, Massachussetts, who added:

“I had heard from Mike Herchek that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer in November.”

Ted left the BJ in 2008 at the same time as reporter Charles Montague, aka Chasm, and photographer Lew Stamp. Ol’ Blue Walls lost 38, 38 and 37 years of experience, respectively.

Ted not only regaled Guild members with his Ann Hill skits, including one with Ted dressed as a nun, but he took a trip to California, tracked down Ann Hill and told her what a legend the Ohio State grad was at the BJ for her “I didn’t come here to write about shit” memo to managing editor Bob Giles.

Ann was given the Pat Englehart shock-troop treatment and sent to cover a Canton sewer meeting. Hence the appropriate terminology in her memo.

Ted tried to entice Ann to return to the annual BJ Christmas parties that featured a reading of the Ann Hill letter for three decades, and to read herself on the 25^th anniversary of the writing of the scathing memo, but she declined. So Ted did the gig in rap that time.

Last I heard, Ted’s daughter Tanya lives in Oregon, Renee in Wooster, Stacy in Florida and Ted III (the baby in Ted, Jr.’s arms with Jim Ricci) in Akron. 

The woman in the photos with Ted and the babies is his wife, Rose.

Peace. Love. Joy.
God bless us, everyone.

Deadliest year for journalists

Jamal Khashoggi 

 

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year are journalists killed or in prison for doing their job.

262 journalists were imprisoned in 2017 because national leaders didn’t like the way they wrote or spoke the news.

That’s a record!

And a sad commentary at a time when America’s President labels the media “the enemy of the people,” which is what all dictators call the media.

Read the article at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/time-s-2018-person-year-killed-imprisoned-journalists-n946311?cid=eml_nbn_20181211&fbclid=IwAR1FrzbATcR07BVw5bqTNryAcgL8H_pjjHXJUsGEiBYVTwdX8x5G0p3OhBA

A target in a scary way

We live in a world where journalists have to worry far more about being physically attacked for doing their jobs.

President Trump’s labeling the media “the enemy of the people” has unleashed those who would do physical harm.

People have always gotten angry at what they read if it didn’t match their opinion. But they resorted to writing a letter to the editor or muttering under their breath.

Now they take a gun into a Maryland newsroom.

Read the article on the Poynter web site at https://www.poynter.org/news/stakes-are-higher-women-charge-safety?fbclid=IwAR38NNTAY94Y6NlYEmyhFhLooTXb8K2F_BMFIxerEDDseSzceTqYrnIzbyY

 

As a side note:

 

I've told this story before, but Bill Hershey was covering roving United Mine Workers pickets at non-union mine sites. He was discussing his findings so far when he said, "I have to hang up."

 

Later, he called back. "A (union miner) guy pulled a gun and me and asked me what I was doing," Bill said.

His response: "People are telling lies about you and I'm hear to learn the truth."

The gun-toting union supporter said, "OK, come along with us."

Bill is an excellent writer. That night, he was a quick thinker.

And he got the story to the BJ on deadline from his southern Ohio stopover.

BJ still knows how to party hearty

I’ll give Mary Steurer Hernandez this.

She knows how to throw a party. Even for a BJ party it was pretty awesome.

I’m not in the photo because I left before the group photo was taken. I copied the photo from Nikki Ward Hawk's Facebook post. Thanks, Nikki.

John Olesky with Paula

Someone will have to identify the people in the photo and the BJ department they worked in. Email me at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com with details like clothing color, row, etc. and your BJ department history and I’ll add the information to this story.

Among those I know, because they’re old enough:

The guy in the back row with the white shirt is Bob Dyer, Ohio Columnist of the Year a zillion times because he earned it. We ate lunch together in the Blue Room at the BJ for about 20 years. I once edited his column and only changed one word, just to see him come roaring from his desk to demand why!

The second guy to the right of Bob, behind the woman in red, is Mike Williams, who was Johnny Grimm’s Advertising layout handmaiden till Mike got into IT. Now he vacations in Mexico every couple of months, or so it seems, with his wife, Jane. They used to prowl Ecuador till the tremendous heights got too much for Jane. They’ve been married for almost three decades.

Mike’s sister, BJ information technology retiree Linda Williams Torson, is married to Akron-Summit County Metroparks retiree Tim Torson. Linda was with the Beacon Journal for 42 years. 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.

To the right of Mike, her head barely visible and sandwiched between and behind the lady in red and the guy in black, is Susan Miller. She's a former BJ graphics designer who lives in Canton.
 
Sue was at Ol’ Blue Walls for more than 25 years when she left the Advertising Art Department in 2009. She is a graduate of Canton Lincoln High School and Miami of Ohio in Oxford.  

Far left in the second row is Doug Oplinger, who was a babyfaced kid from Green and Akron U. student when he first wrote for the State Desk under its editor, Pat Englehart, with Harry Liggett and I as Pat’s assistant henchmen. After retiring as BJ managing editor (after 46 years at Ol’ Blue Walls) Doug is prowling around to see what the medical profession is up to as part of Your Voice Ohio, funded in part by the Knight Foundation. Opiods comes up a lot when you chat with Doug. Bad, bad problem that cuts across racial and economic lines and city, suburbs and rural areas. Equal opportunity killer.

 

Doug, the little guy in the John Deere cap when he arrived bubblingly at the BJ, was inducted into the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Hall of Fame.

 

The woman in right in the front row is Diane Lynch, who went from BJ Finance Department to Librarian (where I first met her during my 26 years at the BJ). She told me about the time she was hiking in Yellowstone Park and ran across Tim Hayes, once in the BJ editorial department. Small world, huh?

 

In the Reference Library with Diane were chief librarian Cathy Tierney, assistant librarian Vick Victoria, Francis Crago, Marge Davis, Paul Gna, Tanya Parnell and Dick Vidergar.

 

Two to Diane’s right in red is Karen Chuparkoff, BJ general counsel for its legal department.

Karen, Doug and I had some interesting conversations about today's world.  

Dave Scott, like me, left before the photo was taken but not till after we took turns spilling drinks on Bob Dyer. Bob's shirt must be a wine magnet.

Dave was BJ regional issues reporter and deputy Business editor before he joined the 2014 BJ buyouts exodus to spend more time with his wife, Jane Gaab Scott. 

I’ve been retired 22 years so some of the people there probably were still in school – hell, maybe kindergarten – when I left 44 E. Exchange Street for good in 1996. It was 26 of my best years in the newspaper profession, which covered 43 years and seven newspapers in West Virginia, Montana (don’t ask), Ohio and Florida.

And Thursday night at the Silver Run Vineyard and Winery at 376 Eastern Road in Doylestown proves that North Carolina native and novelist Thomas Wolfe was wrong in his 1940 classic. You CAN go home again.

 

Even if it’s only for a couple of hours at the bar with old friends (but none, I think, as old as me, at 86).

 

A lot of people in that room seemed like kids to me, age being a relative thing. And with the BJ family, everything is relative.

 

Too bad Paula Tucker, who was my reporter in the 1970s when I was assistant State Desk editor under Pat Englehart and has been at my side for the last 14 years, was vacationing in Florida while I was going to Mountaineer Field to watch my alma mater, WVU, play football in October and November.

It would have made the evening perfect.

 

Maybe for the next party? If Paula and I are not in Florida or traveling around the world.

With another BJ party looming at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, November 29 in the Silver Run Vineyard and Winery at 376 Eastern Road in Doylestown, it seems like a good time to unfurl again the legend of Patrick T. Englehart.

For those who were not at Ol’ Blue Walls in 1969-96, as I was privileged to be, a history lesson:

Pat is the #1 person responsible for the Beacon Journal receiving the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1970 murder of four Kent State students and wounding of nine others by the Ohio National Guard, themselves about the same age as the students they fired upon that horrible May 4 day.

Bob Giles and Al Fitzpatrick pulled Pat away as State Desk Editor, leaving assistant State Desk editors Harry Liggett and I to handle those day-to-day chores, and turned the Kent State coverage over to Pat, who damn near filled the BJ storage room to the roof with photos and notes about that horrendous event in American history that helped end the Vietnam War amid public outrage.

And drove his cadre of Kent State reporters mad.

That was how Pat worked.

His quest for the truth and information was unquenchable. Those who cussed him for cracking his verbal whip also loved him for his dedication.

Pat smoked that damn DeNobil cigar that made you feel like you were inhaling the polluted air of China or the blinding smog of Los Angeles. And drank Rolling Rock beer like no man I’ve ever seen.

But he was the best damned editor I ever worked under in my 43 years on newspapers that included the St. Petersburg Times with legendary owner/publisher Nelson Poynter; the Charleston Daily Mail, West Virginia’s premier newspaper; the Williamson Daily News; and the Dayton Daily News, in a Cox newspaper chain that hated unions and fired those who pushed the union cause beyond their tolerance level (I am proof of that).

Fantastic writers like John Dunphy, Jim Ricci, Bill Hershey – all also legends at the BJ – swore by him and at him. Pat was a leader who would snarl at you to do better (so you did, because he did even more than he expected you to do) but then have a beer with you after work and laugh alongside you.

Pat’s laugh was as impressive as his quotes, such as, “You sound like a man with a paper asshole!” when he disagreed with someone.

That competed with columnist and everyreader's friend and columnist Francis B. Murphey’s “Go to Hell!” compliment (you had to be there) among my golden memories.

When management came to the State Desk to chide a reporter, Pat stepped between them and defended the reporter. When the management representative left, Pat would chew out the reporter and tell him or her how to do it better.

This created the most incredible loyalty that I have ever seen on any news desk in my 43 years in West Virginia, Florida and Ohio newspapers.

We would run through a brick wall for Pat even though, at times, we felt like throwing a brick at him.

For those at the Silver Run Winery who never met Patrick T. Englehart, you missed one of the most astounding and remarkable legends in BJ history.

And St. Peter welcomed wife Marge Englehart with open arms and a “how did you live with that man?” greeting.

Lovingly, Pete, just like Pat’s co-workers did.

Reminder

BJ party Thursday !!!!

Silver Run Vineyard and Winery, 376 Eastern Road, Doylestown.

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Host Mary Steurer Hernandez.

Cheryl Scott Sheinin is involved, too. Expect Neil Sheinin, a former BJ staffer, since he’s married to Cheryl, who retired after 45 years in the BJ Finance Department.

Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/244575336238208/ to see who’s a sure thing, who’s a maybe or to add your name to the growing list.

Save an hour of waiting

To see if you still can use your pharmacy

I got my new AARP MedicareRx letter and card. I went to the website given in the letter to find out which pharmacies I can use in 2019 (like most companies, Black Press puts vending up for bids every year to get a lower cost for them).

Online, I couldn't find a way to find out which pharmacies I will have to use in 2019.

So I called the United Health Care phone number given to me on the online web site. The computer voice told me that my wait time would be ONE HOUR AND TEN MINUTES !!!!

Sure hope no one with an emergency has to wait that long.

So I went to

Locate a Pharmacy | UnitedHealthcare® - AARP

At
https://www.uhcmedicaresolutions.com/health-plans/aarp-pharmacy.html#/Pharmacy-Search-English



and found out that my Walgreen’s Pharmacy on Howe Avenue still is on the list.

And I saved 1 hour and 8 minutes of time by not waiting for the United Healthcare “help” phone line.

 

I'll make it easier for you. Just click on

https://www.uhcmedicaresolutions.com/health-plans/aarp-pharmacy.html#/Pharmacy-Search-English

 and check out your pharmacy.

This could be the BJ party of the century!

Somewhere between 38 and 134 people will be there!

Host Mary Steurer Hernandez, the daughter of late Navy veteran George “Bill” Steurer, will launch the anchors-away event at the Silver Run Vineyard and Winery, 376 Eastern Road in Doylestown at 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 29. 

38 gave a definite “yes!” 29 more gave a definite “maybe.” And 134 have checked out the possibilities. Batten down the hatches, matey!

Mary is office manager at Hernandez Construction after putting in her time at Ol’ Blue Walls.

If you show up you might run into Advertising Art retiree Mike Williams and he can tell you about his adventures in Mexico. Maybe he met Trump’s “invaders.”

Retired BJ librarian Sandy Bee Lynn will be there. She can play her viola, as she does with the strings section of the Cuyahoga Falls New Horizons Band, to accompany your sad tale.

Bob Dyer, among the few still at 44 E. Exchange Street, will be there. He can regale you with quips. Or show you all his plaques and trophies for being Best Columnist in Ohio year after year.

BJ Advertising retiree Sandi Hall will be there. She’s the daughter of the late James “Bus” Lowery, who once handled the BJ Presses that no longer exist since the PD publishes the BJ.

Michael McCrady will be there. Advertising Art department supervisor was his game.

Mary Beth Nord Breckenridge will be there. She might sell out a home since she switched from BJ home writer to Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.

I hope to make it, too. This may give away my age when I tell you: Be there or be square.

For young whippernsnappers (I’ve been retired 22 years) I was the guy who gave birth to Channels and almost needed an epidural because Features Editor Jim Nolan, who never used a vowel when he wrote his memos, had me re-doing mockups for months before we shot that sucker out at the readers in January 1980. Channels, like the BJ presses, also disappeared.

On the silver lining side, all that overtime paid for The Swimming Pool That Channels Built at my Morrison Avenue home, surrounded by 2,500 rhododendron blooms every spring.

Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/244575336238208/ to see who’s a sure thing, who’s a maybe or to add your name to those up for a hooting, rooting, tooting sonofagun time!