BJ Alums

Video of Fran Murphey's 50th anniversary party

2012-01-24T10:35:00.001-05:00

Here’s a 37-minute video of Fran Murphey's 50th anniversary at the Beacon Journal. The video was shot by Roger Mezger in the newsroom on Jan. 28, 1993 as BJ people and visitors honored Fran. This is an unedited video of the entire program. Speakers include Dale Allen, Bill O'Connor, Stuart Warner, Jewell Cardwell, John Dotson, Jim Crutchfield, Chuck Ayers and Craig Wilson. “Bear in mind that this is amateur video shot with early 1990s technology, so it isn't crystal clear,”

Mother of BJ’s Carol Biliczky dies

2012-01-21T14:55:00.003-05:00

Rose Mary Biliczky died Thursday, Jan. 19, at Hospice of Medina County of complications from a broken hip. She was 94.

Rose and her twin brother, Carl, were born Aug. 9, 1917, to German immigrants Peter and Elaine Siewertson of LaFargeville, N.Y. The couple had three older children -- Elizabeth, Julius and Irving. Rose graduated from Watertown High School and the House of the Good Samaritan Nursing Schoolin nearby Watertown and enlisted in the U.S. Army. A lieutenant, she served for two years during World War II, living in tents in Wales and eventually contracting pneumonia and being discharged. She moved to Ohio to take a job at Crile Hospital in Brecksville. In 1950, she met a handsome sheet metal worker who crashed the hospital's doctors and nurses dance with hisfriends. The couple married a year later, had two children and settled in Medina. She returned to nursing when her daughters were teens and worked for a decade at Medina Community Hospital. Along the way, the couple travelled extensively throughout the United States. Rose learned to love canning the fruits and vegetables her husband grew, became an accomplished bridge player and read voraciously.

She was heartbroken when Charles died on July 9, 2010; her son-in-law, Robert Levandoski on Sept. 8, 2008; and her daughter, Joyce on Dec. 26, 2003. In recent years, Rose had become increasingly frail.

The family thanks Hospice of Medina County -- especially aides, Renee and Robin and nurse, Kathy Boehnlein -- for their tender care in the last months of her mounting struggles.

She leaves daughter, Carol Levandoski of Akron; sisters-in-law, Dorothy Siewertson of Alexandria Bay, N.Y., and Blanche Siewertson of LaFargeville, N.Y.; cousin, Ingelina Borchers of Chesapeake, Va.; nieces, Susan Plachy of Perry, Maine, Jean Siewertson of LaFargeville, N.Y., and Nancy Wanamaker of Tecumseh, Mich.; and nephew, Bill Plachy of Nyack, N.Y. Rose will be remembered as a sweet, fair-minded and generous friend to many. May she rest in peace.

Family will receive friends from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday with services to follow at 1 p.m. at Waite and Son Funeral Home, Medina Chapel, 765 N. Court St. Cremation has taken place. Burial will be in Spring Grove Cemetery. The family suggests memorial contributions be made to Hospice of Medina County, 507 Windfall Road, Medina, OH 44256. Online condolences may be left at www.waitefuneralhome.com
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Saturday, January 21, 2012, page B4, col. 2]

Check out BJ memorabilia on eBay

2012-01-20T20:42:00.004-05:00

Check out the Beacon Journal memorabilia on eBay. Click here.

For instance, you can buy this press photo of Mickey Porter, Beacon Journal columist for $13.88

Mark Price guided us to the collection.

Tim Smith to retire at Kent State on June 1

2012-01-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

Timothy D. Smith, professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kent State University, is retiring June 1. Smith joined Kent State University in 1986 after working for 19 years for the Akron Beacon Journal, leaving as managing editor. He has also worked for the Columbus Dispatch, the Painesville Telegraph and United Press International.

Smith, however, plans to continue working part-time after a hiatus of a couple of months.

Smith has a bachelor’s degree and master’s in journalism from Ohio State University and a law degree from the University of Akron. In 1991, while on leave from the university, Smith served as a law clerk for now-retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Craig Wright. In June 1991, he was named acting director of the School, a post he held until June 1994, when he returned to the faculty and resumed his service as adviser to the Daily Kent Stater, the student newspaper.

In addition to his teaching duties, Smith served as a newspaper consultant, an expert witness in media law cases and as a lecturer on media relations, libel, invasion of privacy and public records issues.

“I’ve enjoyed work here immensely,” said Smith. “It’s been a great place to work. I like the people I work with.”

In 1996, Smith received the John S. Knight Award for excellence in the service of journalism by the Buckeye Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. In 1997, he was selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Journalism Excellence program, a summer newspaper residency for journalism professors. In 2000, he was presented with the Distinguished Teaching Award by Kent State University Alumni Association. In the fall of 2003, Smith took a professional leave to work in the Portage County Public Defender’s office, representing indigent clients in municipal and common pleas courts.

He is a member of the American and Ohio State bar associations and a founding member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Media Law Committee of the state bar. In 1991, he created the Ohio Center for Privacy and the First Amendment at Kent State. In 2007, the name was changed to the Media Law Center for Ethics and Access with Prof. Jan Leach as the director and Smith as the chair.

Smith and his wife, Jane, a teacher of gifted children, have three grown children. Jane (Andrews) Smith retired in 2010 afer 20 some years as a teacher at Litchfield Middle School.

Their oldest son, Randall, is a NASA scientist employed as an astro physicist for Harvard Smithsonian Astro Physics Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. He and his wife Lauren, live in Boston

Daughter Rachel is a school teacher in Hiliard teaching gifted students. She and her husband, James Nelli, a computer programmer, live in Columbus and have two children, Dashiel, 5, and Sophia, 3.

Youngest son Brian, is director of planning for the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority. Brian, who like his father has a law degree from the University of Akron, is currently involved in developing the $20 million bus terminal in downtown Ken. He and wife, Wendy, a nurse at Robinson Memorial Hospital, have two children, Zebediah, 8, and Eliza, six months.

Among the first IT support guys

2012-01-18T19:40:00.000-05:00

Marv Katz called our attention to this video

PD readers confused by witholding comic strip

2012-01-18T11:13:00.001-05:00

By JULIE MOSS
The Plain Dealer decided not to publish a Non Sequitur comic Friday that depicts a bunny looking at a police lineup of other animals and saying, “They all really do look alike to me.” In its place was an editor's note that said dthe sdtrip “was deemed objectionable.” Art Costanzo, 63, a self-professed lifetime reader of the paper, writes in a letter to the editor, “The only thing I found controversial was the fact that you did not publish it.”

: The paper left a blank spot where the strip would have appeared.

Lee Salem agrees. The president and editor of Universal, which syndicates Non Sequitur and other comics, said by email that pulling a strip is “a very rare occurrence (I scratched my head over that move), made more complicated for newspapers because the strip in question is so easily available from online sources. In many cases, the pulling of a strip or sequence just draws more attention to it.”
Salem said strips are pulled “maybe twice a year total,” including Doonesbury, which Universal syndicates:

In earlier times, Doonesbury was pulled more frequently, but I think more newspapers have a sense that many readers expect Doonesbury to be Doonesbury. And they prefer to avoid the headaches pulling a strip creates.

Those headaches for the Plain Dealer include more letters and 175 commendts on former columniar Conniw Schultz's faceboo page.

No other papers pulled the strip, Salem said. Another Non Sequitur strip was pulled on December 3. And prior to that, a Non Sequitur srip titled "Where's Mohameed?" was pulled in October 2010.

[Source: Poynter Online

Tom Moore derailed at Scenic Railroad

2012-01-15T16:37:00.002-05:00

This from a facebook post by Tom Giffen:

Tom Moore reports that he is not 20 years old any more, and he celebrated by doing a face plant in some concrete while doing his train thing on the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad!

Here's an update from Tom:

Here's me two days later. This may last until November....not sore, just unconfortable.
~ tom

Extensive Firestone Park history

2012-01-13T12:46:00.013-05:00

Clarice Finley Lewis came up with an extensive "History of Firestone Park" for the 20th anniversary of the Firestone Park Citizens Council in 1986.

I just stumbled on it. Well, Paula pointed me in the right direction.

If you want to read it, click on the headline. There's a LOT of details, lot prices, etc. so be prepared for a long read on a snowy winter night, which is what we've having today.

To read it all before the postings are complete on that web site, go to

http://www.myfamily.com/isapi.dll/c/content/f/viewproperty/contentclass/FILE/contentid/ZZZZZU9Y/propertyname/File/ssid/yo6hYLpsVr8Hk-C4gfGWhhXQeBg*PQuYCG/~/history_of_firestone_park_Volume_1.pdf

Aetna ideas for relieving stress

2012-01-12T19:08:00.005-05:00

Aetna Medicare Insurance emailed these suggestions for relieving stress:

Exercise takes your mind off stress. Even 20 minutes a day of running, swimming or brisk walking can do wonders.

Consider exercising with a friend. You can vent some steam about what's stressing you (if that helps) or talk about only pleasant topics.

Talking about problems with someone you trust helps relieve tension. And you may gather ideas for solving problems.

Avoid "happy hour." A glass of wine with dinner may have health benefits, but too much alcohol can make stress worse. Instead, team with a friend or a group to de-stress in some active way.

Visualize. Imagine you are somewhere that makes you feel good, such as the beach, woods or mountains.

Breathe slowly and deeply. Focus on all 5 senses. Imagine what you see, feel, hear, taste and smell. Continue this for 5 to 10 minutes.

Gradually return to the real world,

And try not to think how close Aetna has you to the donut hole and extra prescription costs.

Sarah Gibson Blanding: A Geoffrey Gevault pofile

2012-01-12T10:10:00.002-05:00

Geoffrey Gevault, a former business editor at the Beacon Journal who organized the Young Writers Project in Vermont in 2002, writes this charming story of Sarah Gibson Blanding, the first woman president of Vassar College. The Life photo by Alfred Eisensdtaedt was taken n 1949 when she reeoed an honorary degree from Smith College.

Sarah Gibson Blanding, a native of Kentucky, was the first woman president of Vassar College. She was a visionary. In 1946 she admitted male GIs to the school, she strengthened the arts departments, built new buildings and in the early 1960s picketed a Woolworth's because they wouldn't let blacks eat at their lunch counters.

In the mid-1960s, she and her sister Ellen retired to a house down the road from me. She became a friend and mentor -- someone who'd give me a straight opinion but wouldn't judge -- her faith in me didn't waiver. She had an engaging sparkle in her eyes, liked jokes and loved bourbon, cigarettes and reading, in no particular order.

I worked summers for her, taking care of the yard and gardens, though she and her sister were at odds at how best to use my time. Ellen would have me clean the garage and put some of "Sarah's junk" into the station wagon to take to the dump. Sarah would come by, howl, and tell me to empty the car. "Don't listen to Ellen," she'd say.

On hot days, Sarah invited me to eat lunch in the shade of her porch where she had lemonade and plenty of books. She taught me Faulkner. And Welty. And Steinbeck. Sometimes we'd talk about the writers, or their stories. Sometimes we wouldn't talk at all. Often, when I’d get up to return to work, she’d say, “What’s your rush? Stay and read.”

Each summer she had me prune her lilac bush. It was more a tree than a bush -- it stood 25 feet tall and was the most prolific lilac anyone had ever seen. She had me carefully snip the dead blossoms at the outside of the "Y" of the stem. A lilac has a double blossom, and her theory was that a new blossom would come from each side. "From two will come four and from four will come eight," she would say, "and that's why I have so many blossoms." Who was to argue.

I moved away after college, but we kept in touch by letters. Then, in the early 1980s she developed Alzheimers and moved to a nursing home. In 1982 I stopped to see her. She was confused. "How do I know you?" she kept asking.

I would tell her, but nothing worked. Finally I said, "Miss Blanding, I'm Geoffrey. I used to take care of your lilac tree. Remember? From two will come four, from four will come eight …"

"Geoffrey!" she shouted. A thin, silk veil seemed to lift from her bright blue eyes. She beamed. “Oh, Geoffrey.” And then, just as quickly, the puzzlement returned. A frown. "How do I know you?" She died in 1985.

Sometimes, when I write, I imagine that she is my audience.

Stewart named content veep for Scripps

2012-01-12T09:43:00.003-05:00

EVANSVILLE — Mizell Stewart III, who has been editor of the Evansville (IN) Courier & Press since 2007, will soon take a new job with the newspaper’s corporate parent.

Effective Jan. 23, Stewart will become vice president of content for the newspaper group of The E.W. Scripps Co. The job is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In this job, Stewart will develop content strategy and directly oversee the creation, curation and production of news, information and entertainment for both print and digital platforms in Scripps’ 13 newspaper markets. All Scripps editors will report directly to him.

Stewart said he looks forward to “the opportunity to play a larger role in leading Scripps newsrooms into the future.”

Stewart said newsrooms face an “incredible challenge” of keeping up with the increasing number of ways people consume news — online, via smartphones, via electronic readers or in other ways.

“We have to evolve our newsrooms to be able to serve all those platforms,” he said.
See more

Pat Dougherty certifiable Best Man

2012-01-11T15:16:00.007-05:00

BJ Engraving retiree Pat Dougherty will be the best man at the wedding of his grandson, the father of two of Pat's grandchildren.

Pat has eight grandchildren and a pair of great-grandchildren.

Pat discussed the upcoming nuptials at the monthly BJ retirees lunch in Papa Joe's restaurant on Akron-Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension.

Six showed up. Only two of the 16 most recent retirees lunches have drawn a larger "crowd." At one time 30 would be a normal attendance number, but the 1 p.m. second Wednesday of the monthly chew-the-food-and-chew-the-fat gatherings haven't hit double-digit attendance since March 2010.

Tom Moore discussed his annual trips to Florida to handle former BJ sports editor Tom Giffen's Roy Hobbs World Series for older baseball players, where Tom M. gets paid to write daily stories about the players for Tom G. every late autumn.

It all started with Giffen gave Moore a call, asking if Tom M. could do a few interviews for Tom G. over the phone. Moore did. Giffen liked it. And asked former copy desk makeup man Tom M., "How would you like to come to Florida?" That was the beginning of an 8-year alliance between the two former BJ co-workers.

Others at today's retirees lunch besides Tom Moore and Pat Dougherty were retired printers Gene McClellan, Carl Nelson and Al Hunsicker and newsroom retiree John Olesky, who was between his December trip to Spain, Portugal and Morroco and his Jan. 14-28 14th annual winterizing on Siesta Key (Sarasota), Florida, within a block of where the late printer Bill Gorrell had his Poor Bill's building of rental apartments that drew BJ personnel for decades. John and Paula will return from Florida in time to get ready for their trip to Thailand and Cambodia, Feb. 15-March. 2. That will bring John's countries-visited total to 48 since his 1996 retirement from the BJ.

Attendance totals for BJ retirees lunches in the six years that Olesky has been keeping track (and has no idea why he does):

January 11, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

December 14, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

November 9, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

October 12, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 (including Rosetta Blanton)

Sept. 14, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

August 10, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

July 13, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

June 8, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

May 11, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

April 13, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

March 9, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

February 9, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 including Denzil Parker

January 12, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 (heavy snowstorm)

December 8, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

November 10, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

October 13, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 (including Cal Deshong’s daughter)

September 8, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

August 11, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

July 13, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

June 10, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

May 12, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

April 14, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

March 10, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

February 10, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . 2 (Engraving’s Pat Dougherty, Composing’s
Gene McClellan)

January 13, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . 5

November 11, 2009 . . . . . . . . . 4

September 9, 2009 ……………. 8

August 12, 2009 ………………. 7

July 8, 2009 ……………………. 10

June 10, 2009 …………………. 10

May 14, 2009 ………………….. 8

April 8, 2009 …………………… 5

January 14, 2009 …………… 3

December 10, 2008 …………… 8

November 12, 2008 …………… 6

October 8, 2008 ……………… 8

August 13, 2008 ……………… 9

July 9, 2008 …………………… 23
(Sandy Levenson, Bob Pell memorial)

June 12, 2008 ………………… 8

May 14, 2008 ………………… 12

Feb. 13, 2008 ………………… 11

Dec. 12, 2007 ………………… 8

Sept. 12, 2007 ………………… 16

August 8, 2007 ……………… 7

June 13, 2007 ………………… 12

May 9, 2007 …………………… 14

April 11, 2007 ………………… 15

March 15, 2007 ……………… ??
(no story & photos no longer available)

January 10, 2007 …………… 14

December 13, 2006 ………… 18

November 8, 2006 …………… 13

October 12, 2006 …………… 11

September 13, 2006 ………… 12

August 13, 2006 …………… 15

July 12, 2006 ………………… 10

June 15, 2006 ……………… 12

May 11, 2006 ………………… 11

April 12, 2006 ……………… 11

March 8, 2006 ……………… 13

February 8, 2006 …………… 11

January 11, 2006 …………… 13

On the survivial of newspapers

2012-01-11T12:12:00.004-05:00

Newspapers that survive "may be in towns under 100,000 in population, where the hyperlocal news, high school sports, etc., loyal local advertisers and a fairly narrow distribution pattern make it economically viable."

Read about it in the Merced (CA) Sun-Star

Another way to avoid the Rx donut hole

2012-01-09T11:28:00.010-05:00

Use the Giant Eagle discount generic prescriptions, which cost $10 for a 90-day supply. It doesn't go through Aetna and it doesn't count toward getting you to the donut hole. It has helped save me $1,665.59 in 2011 compared to my 2010 prescription costs. Well, that, using Canadian pharmacies and Obamacare donut hole reductions.

Check "Rx Math: 2010 vs. 2011" below for my earlier post on my Rx savings in 2011 compared to 2010.

If you have other tips for saving you money on your prescriptions, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com

and I'll check it out and pass it on to BJ Alums readers.

Click on the headline to see if your drugs are on the Giant Eagle list. Other stores have similar lists, which you might want to check out, but I use Giant Eagle because it's convenient to where I live in Tallmadge, just outside the Chapel Hill shopping complex.

10 ways to reinvent journalism

2012-01-09T07:53:00.000-05:00

Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism.

Check the list

Rx math: 2010 vs. 2011

2012-01-08T19:00:00.006-05:00

In 2010, before Obamacare, I paid $2,680.42 for prescription co-pays.
In 2011, with Obamacare, I paid $1,014.83 for the same prescriptions.

I did stock up on my prescriptions through Canada once I hit the donut hole in 2010, saving hundreds of dollars.

Same prescriptions both years. I just keep refilling them, and have for years.

Not taking sides in the debate. Just reporting the facts. Check your 2010 and 2011 prescriptions, if you had identical prescriptions for both years, the only way to compare fairly.

The pharmaceutical industry is working hard to "fix" that situation, though. Here's an example of what the drug dealers are charging for a specific drug for 90 days (not what I pay before I hit the donut hole, but the total cost of the drug for Aetna and me combined):

$363.87 on 9/30/09.

$655.37 on 5/25/10

$766.89 on 1/8/12

You think maybe they're trying to offset the Obamacare reductions?

Olga calls from Intensive Care

2012-01-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

Olga Reswow called from Intensive Care at Akron City Hospital this afternoon and sends her love to all. She was just taken off the ventilator today. Her car was rear-ended by an intoxicated woman driver, going 80 to 90 miles per hour, who rammed into the rear end of Olga's car on I-76 at the Kenmore leg.

Olga suffered a crushed pelvis and ankle and has had surgery for both. She is likely to be in a wheelchair for weeks. She's in room 208 at Akron City Hospital, but still in intensive care and no visitors other than family are allowed at the moment.

The 25-year-old woman who hit her has been charged with DUI. The car, which was totaled, did not have air bags. Olga suffered a broken leg in three places and a severe hip injury.

Ironically, one of the last stories she edited was one by Rick Armon about a former Barberton man serving a 16-year sentence in prison for drunken-driving conviction who is trying to change his life and reputation.

PD sportswriter Jack McDermott dies at 68

2012-01-07T10:38:00.001-05:00

By Grant Segall
Lorain -- Jack McDermott hung out with world champions but liked interviewing teenage hopefuls, too.

McDermott, a long-time sportswriter for The Plain Dealer and other area newspapers, died Monday, Jan. 2, at home in Lorain from an apparent heart attack. The 68-year-old had suffered heart problems for years.

"Jack loved Lorain, knew it like the back of his hand and loved those kids out there," said Bob Fortuna, Plain Dealer sportswriter. "And the people in Lorain County loved Jack."

Those people included Joe Gentile, a boxer turned promoter. "Jack was a real, real nice guy," said Gentile. "He was fair with people. He was very supportive."

Gentile said he and McDermott had dinner with Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner in 1975, before the boxers' championship clash at the new Richfield Coliseum. And McDermott posed for a photo while taking a mock punch from champion Larry Holmes.

McDermott also covered countless young unknowns, including future stars like football's Matt Wilhelm, who won championships with Ohio State and Green Bay.

McDermott was born in Amherst and lived in Lorain County the rest of his life. He graduated from St. Mary Catholic School and Ohio State University.

In the mid-1960s, he began to cover high school teams for the Elyria Chronicle. He joined the Lorain Journal in 1969 and covered the Cavaliers's first years, including the Miracle of Richfield.

On the side, he was sports information director at Baldwin-Wallace College under football patriarch Lee Tressel and later at Oberlin College.

In 1978, he was sports editor of the short-lived Ohio Observer in Mansfield. He joined The Plain Dealer a year later and transferred to the paper's new Lorain County bureau in 1992. He retired in 2006.

McDermott coached his children in recreational baseball and softball. He was a passionate Democrat and Irish-American. He especially liked the Irish Tenor who shared his name.

His son, John M., coaches boys' basketball and girls' softball at Brookside High School in Sheffield and freelances sports stories for the Elyria Chronicle.
John Edmund McDermott

1943-2011

Survivors: Wife, the former Mary Kay Walker; mother, the former Margaret Mackin of North Ridge ville; children, John M. of Lorain, Kris Higgins of Hilliard, O., Molly McDermott of Amherst and Katy Smith of Clyde, O.; and 10 grand children.

Funeral: Private.

Contributions: St. Jude Chil dren's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, stjude.org, or Autism Speaks, 5455 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2250, Los Angeles, CA 90036, autismspeaks.org.

Arrangements: Dovin and Reber Jones of Amherst.

[Source: PD Alumni News blog]

How Sad: Marv's lament on sale of hometown newspaper

2012-01-07T07:18:00.003-05:00

The Times-News of Hendersonville, North Carolina, is among 16 newspapers sold by the New York Times Co. and Halifax Media Holdings LLC. It’s the hometown newspaper of former Beacon Journal staffer Marv Katz.

Katz, in an email with the subject line How Sad, had this to say:

Our local paper, now operating out of offices in a strip shopping center across the street from its old building (which has been torn down to make way for a brand-new Goodwill facility), with production performed down the mountain at a sister paper in Spartanburg, S.C., welcomes a new owner, known primarily for sucking up to the moneyed interests in town and ignoring the public interest. How comforting...
Read about it on the newspaper’s website.

Catching up with . . . Bill Norvell

2012-01-06T11:29:00.003-05:00

Bill Norvell, a former computer tech at the Beacon Journal, has his own firm, Digital Service Group, with three employees and $170,000 annual revenue.

DSG is on Casterton Avenue in Akron. It was incorporated in Ohio in 2005.

But let Bill tell his story, after he received a request from BJ Alums blog to do just that:

"I have my own company and I perform multiple services. I have completed my Microsoft Certification A+ and I'm also an electrician.

"I like working with networking and computers better. I service old analog systems and new.

"My company's name is Digital Service Group.

"I live in Coventry Crossing, a very lovely place with my wife, Carol.

"I'm still in contact with Tracy Kane: Her email is jstskane@msn.com and Larry Vancant: His email is vancant@att.net .

"I did meet with Art and Charlene at a restaurant. It was really great to see them.

"Let me know how the Blog goes.

"Thanks, Bill Norvell."

After Bill ran into Art and Charlene, it was Char who emailed BJ Alums blog that "the really friendly guy from IT . . . might make a nice catch-up story. He says the Beacon was the best employer he ever had."

Thanks, Char, for the tip.

Bill's wife, Carol, is vice president of Digital Service Group.

If you want to phone Bill and catch up on the BJ days, call (330) 384-1388.

NY Times, AP, Washington Post found NewsRight

2012-01-05T18:58:00.002-05:00

Several newspaper organizations are banding together under an organization titled NewsRight to license and profit from the spread of their content online.

A project first developed by the Associated Press and initially named the News Licensing Group, NewsRight launched Thursday with 29 investors, including the AP, New York Times Company, Washington Post Company, McClatchy Newspapers and numerous other major newspaper corporations.

Its board includes a who's who of media executives from many of those same companies, such as Tom Curley, President and CEO of the AP, Katharine Weymouth, publisher of the Washington Post and Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy. Its chair is Bob Nutting, CEO of Ogden Newspapers and the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.

"We are providing the easiest legal way for internet companies to gain access to quality journalism," David Westin, the CEO and president of NewsRight and the former ABC News chief, told TheWrap. "We can give them the rights under copyright to use the stuff. They don't have to be over the line, close to the line, worry about the line. It's one-stop shopping."

NewsRight puts code into every piece published by the sites it works with -- 841 newspaper sites at this point -- and that code travels with the story across the web. If someone else steals it, NewsRight's database registers it.

Olga Reswow in auto accident

2012-01-05T15:51:00.007-05:00

BJ Alums got this email from Debbie Van Tassel, former BJ department head who went to the PD.
John,

You might get something onto the blog about Olga's accident. Here is what I know from a colleague:

Beacon staffer Olga Reswow was badly injured in an accident.

It happened Friday night on I-76 at the Kenmore leg. She suffered a crushed pelvis and ankle and has had surgery for both. She is likely to be in a wheelchair for weeks. She's in room 208 at Akron City Hospital, but is in intensive care and no visitors other than family are allowed at the moment.

The 25-year-old woman who hit her has been charged with DUI.

-- Debbie Van Tassel

In 2010 Olga missed about seven weeks with a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage.

Olga, who has been at the BJ for 26 years, has been a BJ copy desk fixture. She also served as the BJ's unofficial Russian translator when reporters were talking to someone who spoke Russian better than they spoke English.

Brian Usher omitted from 2011 In Memoriam list

2012-01-05T12:23:00.005-05:00

BJ Alums got this red-face email from Bill O'Connor, former BJ reporter

John -

I appreciate your work on the blog. However, you missed Brian Usher in the obit list for 2011.

All the best to you and Paula for a healthy and prosperous new year. Hell, I've been reading about trips to outer space. I figure when you and Paula run out of countries, you'll be sitting in a rocketship.

Bill

Bill is right, of course. Brian was the BJ Ohio Statehouse reporter before becoming press secretary when Richard Celeste was Ohio's governor.

Brian has been added to the original In Memoriam list. Click on the headline to see the list of 2011, 2010 and 2009 BJ-connected deaths.

Black Keys appear on cover of Rolling Stone magazine

2012-01-04T11:03:00.009-05:00

Ohio.com post by Malcolm X Abram:

Yep, the local boys continue to make good and gooder as they get amped up for what could be their biggest (gooderest?) year of their decade-long careers.

Their album "El Camino" debuted at #2 on the Billboard Charts, they appeared on "Saturday Night Live" twice in one year and looked awkward and uncomfortable on their recent "Colbert Report" TV appearance and now they have made the cover of Rolling Stone.

I'd try and post it here for your enjoyment but I don't want a phalanx of lawyers to cut a hole in my ceiling and descend upon me a la Terry Gilliam's "Brazil."

So instead, here's Pat and Dan sweating through an interview with Stephen Colbert from a few weeks ago.

"Akron's got a lot of cheesburgers," HA!

Carney is the son of BJ reporter Jim Carney. Jim Carney's wife, BJ reporter Katie Byard, is his stepmom.

Click on the headline to read Rolling Stone excerpts of the cover story. We can't use that language on this blog.

Update from Bill Chaney

2012-01-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

Bill Chaney reports his health is improved and he is now living in Barberton and would like to hear from friends.

Bill Chaney
21 23rd St. NW
Barberton, OH 44203
Tel: 330-706-9277

In memoriam

2012-01-01T11:39:00.005-05:00

2011

Ralph E. Norman, widow of former BJ reporter Pat Norman, Jan. 3.
Jack Patterson, former BJ sports writer, Jan. 22.
RoseAnn Schleis, BJ reporter Paula Schleis’ mother, Feb. 6.
Guy F. Limbacher, former BJ reporter Jolene Limbacher’s former husband, Feb. 12.
Dennis ``Denny' O'Neil, former BJ circulation department, March 1.
Lloyd S. Leadbetter, Composing retiree, Feb. 12.
Frank William Pantages, father of BJ's Larry Pantages, March 14
Donald Lee Bandy, BJ rewrite man, March 20.
Michael Ryan Tople, grandson of BJ photographer Paul Tople, May 17.
Anne Louise Henry, former BJ correspondent, May 28.
Luella D. Cordier, retired Record-Courier editor, June 8.
Linda Golz, BJ reporter, June 11.
James Kirby (Jim) Farrell, former BJ ad director, July 1.
Richard H. Backderf, 84, father of former BJ artist John "Derf" Backderf, July 3.
Charlotte Ruth McCarthy, former BJ reporter Pam McCarthy’s mother, July 28.
Harry Dunphy, father of former BJ reporter John Dunphy, July 31.
Philip Hegenderfer, 66, BJ astronomy column, Aug. 9.
Creed C. Black, former president of John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Aug. 16.
Theodore J. Mellow, former PD editor/slotman, Aug. 21.
Danny Hess, son of retired BJ reporter Dave Hess, Aug. 23.
Dr. Evonne H. Whitmore, Kent State journalism professor, Aug. 25.
Harold Ray McElroy, BJ business retiree, Sept. 5.
Bob August, former Cleveland Press columnist, Sept. 9.
Lisa Katz Pagel, daughter of Marv Katz, PR and BJ, Sept. 21.
Leonard Arthur Burkhard, father of Sharon Loentzen, Sept. 22.
Robbie Stillman, PR and former BJ reporter, Oct. 4.
Evelyn Ruth (Gretta) Pantages, mother of Beacon Journal business editor Larry Pantages, Oct. 5.
James E. Dancy, Sr., retired engraver, Oct. 14.
Elizabeth Hallowell, former BJ reporter, Nov. 9,
Terry Oblander, former BJ and PD reporter, Nov. 13.
Leo V. “Vern” Osmar, 83, Composing retiree, Nov. 24.
Ethel Rita Aspell, wrote for the BJ before 1970s, Dec. 14.
Brian Usher, former BJ Ohio Statehouse reporter, Dec. 23.

2010

Joan Morris, 73, retired chief artist Bud Morris' widow, Jan. 22.
Ann Deskovich, 88, maintenance department retiree John Deskovich's widow, Feb. 19.
Mary Elizabeth Swartz, 87, former BJ reporter, March 7.
Charles "Chick" G. Lipford, husband of accounting retiree Martha, March 26.
Ruth Kenny, 85, in the BJ accounting department in the 1970s and 1980s, March 31.
Mary Ohlinger, 90, retail ad retiree and sister of the late retired BJ printer Jerry VanSickle, in March.
Terry Lieberth, husband of Maribeth Lieberth, Accounts Payable (previously Human Resources and the Newsroom), April 11.
Steven Spragg, 38, of Middleburg, Virginia, retired printer Sid Sprague's son, May 4.
Nettie Evans Skeens, 75, retired printer Bob Skeens' widow, June 12.
Helen C. Liggett, 79, wife of newsroom retiree Harry Liggett, June 26.
Michelle LeComte, former BJ enterprise and features editor, Aug. 3.
Carol F. Guregian, mother of BJ staffer Elaine Guregian, Sept. 2.
William "Bill" James Carney, father of BJ staffer Jim Carney, Sept. 7.
BJ Circulation truck driver retiree Raife Woodall, 69, Sept. 12.
Arleen Louise Durst, 88, widow of former BJ printer Gene Durst, Sept. 26.
Carlos ``Carl' Anderson, 85, Nov. 11.
Theresa Ann Osmar, 78, wife of composing retiree Leo Osmar, Nov. 16.
Elizabeth Margaret Harvey, 95, former BJ food editor, Nov. 25.
Dick Shippy, 83, BJ staffer, Dec. 6.
Robert A. Coudriet, 87, retired circulation manager, Dec. 10.
M. Elaine Schoenleb, widow of former BJ News Editor Edwin Schoenleb, Dec. 30.

2009

Cleveland Phillips, maintenance, Jan. 20.
Barbara Patterson, wife of sports retiree Jack, March 17.
Robert Kamenar, freelance photographer, March 22.
Watson Blanton, printer, March 25.
Robert Cull, father of reporter Mike, April 4.
Nancy (Lile) Wise, May 27.
Bill Kennedy, July 20.
Armand Lear, printer, June 5.
Virginia Berger, wife of promotion's Bill, Aug. 5.
Kevin Jackson, son of Gary, Aug. 6.
Olga O'Neil, Aug. 22.
Stephen Schleis, father of reporter Paula, Oct. 11.
Terry Dray, printer, Oct. 25.
Trammel Hogg, printer, Nov. 15.
Kevin Vest, sports statistician, Nov. 18.
Bob Nold, sports writer, Dec. 20.

2011-12-31T17:51:00.002-05:00

Earthquake reminds him of Craig Wilson quip

2011-12-31T17:05:00.000-05:00

The earthquake today reminded retired BJ artist Art Krummel of the late Craig (Action Line Wilson.

The note from Krummel:.

The earthquake today reminded me of a saying craig wilson wrote. He had written a collection of these. not sure what he called them I think it was a fortune for a fortune cookie. I put this on Facebook but I know not everyone on the blog is a "bookie".

Only Craig could come up with something like this:

"Earthquake in kitchen? No, only cookie jar."

Have a great New Year all you alums

art krummel

Ex-BJ staffer named Indiana Journalist of Year

2011-12-29T13:54:00.004-05:00

John Russell with stack of documents used to document case

The Society of Professional Journalists has named John Russell, a former Beacon Journal business reporter, as the Indiana Journalist of the Year.

Russell, who worked at the Beacon Journal in 1997-2005, is now at the Indianapolis Star where he was able to identify an all-too-cozy relationship between Duke Energy officials engaged in a multi-billion dollar coal gasification plant in Edwardsport and the state officials charged with oversight of the project.

The story began when an editor received a Citizens Action Coalition news release decrying Duke's hiring of Scott Storms, an administrative law judge and general counsel at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The editor told Russell, whose regular beat had nothing to do with utilities, that the story merited a little digging.

Twenty-three open-records requests later, with enough damning email to make even the most jaded and duplicitous executive blush, The Star was able to print what Russell calls "my favorite headline in 26 years of journalism — 'Scandal Topples Duke Executive.' "

The probe resulted in other firings and reassignments at Duke and within state government.

The story's not over yet. The Edwardsport project continues and Duke would like to bill consumers for its more than $1 billion in cost overruns. Russell is still on the case.

4 with BJ ties among 'Best Local Books of the Year'

2011-12-28T08:40:00.009-05:00

Beacon Journal reporter Phil Trexler, former BJ reporters Mark Dawidziak and Kymberli Hagelberg and Cinda Williams Chima, sister of the BJ's Mike Williams, are among the authors of "The Best Local Books of the Year," according to today's BJ story.

Trexler wrote "Ballparks: Yesterday & Today," about baseball stadiums.

Plain Dealer television writer Mark Dawidziak and Kent book dealer Mark Bauer authored "Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler."

Hagelberg's contribution is "Wicked Akron: Tales of Rumrunners, Mobsters and Other Rubber City Rogues."

University of Akron grad and former clinical dietician Chima's book is "The Gray Wolf Throne," about a princess who flees to escape a forced marriage and returns to claim her throne.

Click on the headline to read the BJ story.

NY Times sells 16 newspapers

2011-12-27T18:38:00.001-05:00

The New York Times | News Release
Halifax Media is buying 16 newspapers from The New York Times in a deal that is expected to close within the next few weeks. The Times acknowledged the likely sale last week after Halifax prematurely published the newspapers’ names on its website, in a list of properties it owned. The regional papers are no longer as profitable for the Times as they once were, and the company is eager to invest in its digital future and other ventures. Halifax also owns the Daytona Beach News-Journal, which has cut staff and promoted a pro-business agenda since Halifax CEO Michael Redding took over, reports Rick Edmonds. In a news release about the sale, Redding said:

“The purchase of the Regional Media Group reflects Halifax Media’s belief that a good newspaper is an essential part of any vibrant community. The strong local news coverage these papers provide represents not only an important community service, but, in our eyes, a good investment.”

Brian Usher, former BJ staffer, Celeste aide dies at 65

2011-12-23T22:43:00.009-05:00

Brian Usher, a former Statehouse newspaper reporter and press secretary to then-Gov. Richard F. Celeste, died early yesterday. He was 65.

Usher, who was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, died in a hospice facility with his daughter, Karyn Usher, and other family members at his side.

Usher graduated from high school in Muncie, Ind., and received an undergraduate degree from Ball State University and a master's degree from Northwestern University. He workers for 15 years as a reporter for The Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal and Knight News Service in Ohio and Washington D.C.

Usher was a politics writer for the Beacon Journal in 1984 when he was tapped to be Celeste's press secretary.

Celeste, reached in Colorado Springs, where he recently retired as president of Colorado College, said Usher served Ohioans well as both a reporter and press secretary.

'Brian was an individual who stepped across the street from his tremendous career as a journalist to become a press secretary for a governor and did so with uncommon grace and good humor,' Celeste said. 'He was a tremendous friend and an enthusiastic Buckeye. I don't know of any finer person that I worked with in the years that I was governor.'

In more ways than one, Celeste said jokingly, Usher made his life easier as governor: 'I sort of felt relieved when I brought him over, because he asked me a lot of tough questions as a reporter.'

Usher left the governor's office in 1988 and opened a media-consulting firm.

He was co-editor and an author of Ohio Politics, a history of politics and government in Ohio in the second half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st. It features chapters written by Ohio journalists and university political scientists.

The family plans a memorial service in January.

[Photo courtesy of Beacon Journal]

Reporters complain about White House press office

2011-12-23T19:49:00.001-05:00

Journalists complain the White House press office has become overly combative

The White House’s relationship with the reporters who cover it has blown hot and cold throughout history. And this year, some reporters say, things have taken a decidedly frosty turn.

When a reporter gets something wrong or is perceived as being too aggressive, the response is often swift and sometimes at top volume, reporters say.

Read more of this from the Washington Post

Chicago Sun-Times sold

2011-12-22T10:16:00.001-05:00

The deal to acquire Chicago's No. 2 newspaper is done.

Sun-Times Media Chairman Jeremy Halbreich confirmed Wednesday evening that a new company led by Chicago technology entrepreneur Michael Ferro and media executive Timothy Knight has entered into a definitive agreement with Sun-Times Media Holdings to acquire the media company's properties.

The acquisition by Wrapports LLC includes Chicago-area daily newspapers, weekly newspapers and more than 40 websites. The transaction, which is valued at more than $20 million, is expected to close by year's end.

Knight, the former publisher and CEO of Newsday, which was once controlled by Chicago-based Tribune Co., will take the reins as CEO upon closing, news first reported by the Tribune in Wednesday's editions.

"It's a very exciting opportunity," Knight said Wednesday night. "The Sun-Times properties across all of Chicagoland are very strong brands in their markets, have deep commitments to their communities and provide a great platform for us to build our technology-enabled content business."

While the flagship paper will remain an integral part of the company, the primary emphasis for the Sun-Times going forward will be on evolving its digital strategy, Knight said.

"The paper is still a very important part of the portfolio, but we know that consumers want information where, when and how they want it, and we want to be there to serve that need," he said. "We expect over time to develop unique content portals that really serve the needs of our communities and provide our advertising partners with different products and services to help them grow their business."

CEO Jeremy Halbreich, who joined the company in 2009 as chairman and interim CEO, successfully guided it out of bankruptcy. He will step down as CEO after Christmas, a role he assumed after the death of James Tyree in March. Halbreich said that while the paper was never officially for sale, successfully transitioning the company was always in the back of his mind.

See more

Unions earmark $350,000 to fight NY Times

2011-12-22T10:05:00.003-05:00

Labor unrest is simmering just below the surface at the New York Times Co.,

Sources say that the Communications Workers of America, the parent union of the Newspaper Guild and others, has earmarked a $350,000 war chest and hired the politically connected public relations firm of BerlinRosen to advise in what seems to be shaping up as a pivotal battle among several unions.

The Newspaper Guild, which claims to represent about 1,000 journalists and photographers at the flagship, and the smaller Mailers Union Local 6, with about 170 production members, both have been without a contract since March 31.

Back in October, six different locals — including the Guild and the Mailers — sent a letter to Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of the Times, and then-President and CEO Janet Robinson.

The letter went out from Allied Printing Trades Council President Art Delanni but was signed by Guild President Bill O’Meara, and Pressman’s President John Heffernan, whose local contract still has another six years to run, and three other locals.

“Notwithstanding the improvement in the Times’ economic picture, you have given damaging proposals to the Guild representing your reporters and staff, who are at the core of the very product the Times offers to its customers,” said Delanni.

The letter also claims that current Times management is reneging on past lifetime job guarantees given to trade unions in exchange for previous concessions. “

Read more

Newsrooms hit harder than other departments

2011-12-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

Alan Mutter [Reflections of a Newosaur] says his figures confirm suspicions that newsrooms have been hit harder than other departments at newspaper companies. He figures that a fifth of the 3,775 job losses that Paper Cuts counted in 2011 came from newsrooms.

With the ASNE reporting that 52,600 journalists were on the job in 2007, then the projected newsroom headcount at the end of this year would be 22% lower than it was in 2007. In other words, the decline in newsroom employment has been twice as great since 2007 as the 11% drop in over-all industry employment. This also means … that newsroom staffing now is at the lowest level since the ASNE inaugurated its newsroom census in 1978.

Long-ago BJ writer Ethel Rita Aspell dies

2011-12-22T09:24:00.002-05:00

VENTURA, Calif. -- Ethel Rita Aspell passed away December 14, 2011, of sudden heart failure.

The daughter of Thomas A. and Margaret Ferns, she was born May 29, 1923, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Ethel was a graduate of St. Vincent High School in Akron and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Akron. During college she performed in theater and was a member of the Lambda Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Ethel married John F. Aspell in 1946, and they enjoyed 58 wonderful years of marriage before his passing in February 2005. Her love of live theater, film, classical, and popular music strengthened through the years. The TV was always set on classic movies - Bette Davis and Jimmy Stewart were her favorites. The day Frank Sinatra died, John bought her a dozen roses. They loved to dance to that big band swing sound. Their family, which grew to five children, relocated frequently due to John's U.S. Navy Officer and engineering duties, finally settling in Ventura County, Calif. in 1968.

Ethel wrote for the Akron Beacon Journal and later worked at the Ventura Star Free Press as an Editor and Copy Writer. In the late 1970s she excelled as Public Relations Manager for St. John's Hospital in Oxnard, Calif., and, in the 1980s, as Business Manager and Publicist for the Ventura County Symphony. Her love of Native-American culture was evident in vacation adventures to Taos, New Mexico; Mesa Verde, and her favorite place on earth - next to New York City - Monument Valley. Ethel possessed a keen wit, dramatic, infectious laugh, and a razor-sharp sense of social injustice. She will always be remembered by her family and friends for spiritual devotion and unsurpassed sweetness of character.

She is survived by her beloved children: sons, Thomas and his wife, Barbara Lebeau, of Pittsburgh, Pa., John Kevin of Hayward, Calif., Dennis Michael of Ventura, Calif.; daughters, Julie Ellen Cariani and husband Peter, of Boston, Mass., Anne Aspell Stevens and husband James of Ventura, Calif.; grandchildren, Arthur John and Elise Aspell, Brady and Devin Stevens; sister-in-law, Mary Aspell; and her dearest cousins, Helen Shields and Dorothy Miller of Pittsburgh, Pa.; as well as many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Tuesday, December 27, at Sacred Heart Church in Ventura, Calif., where Ethel was a parishioner for nearly 40 years.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate memorial donations to Sacred Heart Church, Ventura, Calif.; or to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal World.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, Calif.

Published in Akron Beacon Journal on December 22, 2011

Russ Mitchell to replace Romona Robinson

2011-12-22T07:58:00.007-05:00

Russ Mitchell, who has been with CBS News for about 20 years, has been named the lead anchor of WKYC Channel 3's 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He also will be the Gannett-owned Cleveland station's managing editor for evening news. His first day on the air at the NBC affiliate will be Monday, Jan. 16.

Channel 3 has been weighing anchor options since contract talks stalled with Romona Robinson, the station's solo anchor for the 6 and 11 newscasts since Tim White's departure in late 2008. Robinson's contract expires at the end of the year, and her last day on air at Channel 3 was Friday.

Mitchell’s hiring was confirmed today by Channel 3's president and general manager, Brooke Spectorsky. Mitchell is wrapping up his tenure as anchor of the "CBS Evening News'' weekend editions and the "The Early Show'' on Saturday. He's also a national correspondent for "CBS News Sunday Morning,'' the weeknight editions of the "CBS Evening News" and "The Early Show."

A St. Louis native and 1982 University of Missouri journalism graduate, Mitchell spent 10 years in local news before joining CBS as the anchor of the 2 a.m. "Up to the Minute" newscast in 1992.

"I've been thinking about going back to local television for a few years," Mitchell said during a telephone interview. "It's been a great run at CBS, but I miss the pulse of a local newsroom, and, being from the Midwest, I miss being part of a community. But I wasn't going to go just anywhere. Cleveland reminds me a great deal of the city where I grew up, and I'm looking forward to bringing my family because I think we're going to have a really good life there."

Mitchell, 51, will have company at the Channel 3 anchor desk. Spectorsky and Channel 3's news director, Rita Andolsen, are narrowing the search for his 6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor.

Click on the headline to read the full story by Mark Dawidziak.
CRead the full story by Mark Dawidziak

L. A. Times blogger fired

2011-12-21T12:26:00.001-05:00

Ed Padgett, the founder and chief contributor to the blog The Los Angeles Times Pressmen’s 20 Year Club, got canned last week. No reason has been given, but it’s worth noting that Padgett’s blogging has long been a thorn in the sides of LA Times execs. A union activist, Padget frequently rallied for employee rights and openly discussed the inner workings of the LA Times Operations department on his website.

See more

A quote for this week

2011-12-20T13:39:00.001-05:00

The hard part of professional journalism going forward is writing about what hasn’t been written about, directing attention where it hasn’t been, and saying something new.” “

Seth Godin on lazy journalism

Dispatch to print Cincy Enquirer; 200 jobs lost

2011-12-20T10:41:00.002-05:00

Enquirer Media announced it will close its printing plant in fall 2012 after reaching an agreement with The Columbus Dispatch to print The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Kentucky Enquirer. The roughly 200 plant employees will lose their jobs sometime in the fourth quarter of next year, when the Enquirer moves to the Dispatch’s “three-around” printing press that enables faster press runs or more color usage. With that change, the newsprint page will shrink to 10.5 inches by about 14.5 inches, which Gannett touts as “a more compact and easy-to-handle size.”

See the old and new format

Greetings from the BJ Alums blog

2011-12-20T07:28:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr Seuss

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas

~Harry Liggett

A foursome recalls the good old days

2011-12-16T13:02:00.007-05:00

By TOM MOORE
There may have been only four us at the ChrIstmas luncheon of the BJ retirees, but we had a great time recalling the past...the good old days when those working at the BJ were family.

You enjoyed going to work because you weren't working for somebody, you were working with them...from John S. Knight down to Smitty in the maintenance department.

And we four bemoaned the passing of those days.

Al Hunsicker, Gene McCellan, Carl Nelson and me.

I brought along three old “Tower Topics” I found in my basement...articles on the long-gone 25-year-dinners, golf and bowling outings and the family picnics.

And one was the issue about John S. Knight's death.

Somebody brought up the subject of the Indianapolis Speedway. A couple of the guys had been there to witness races.

Which led me to add that I also had visited there and had a tour of the track compliments of the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild.

That was 1959.

I was Guild chairman of the Columbus Citizen Journal and attended the Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio district conference.

And there I first met Al Fitzpatrick, Craig Wilson and a young lady from the morgue, Sheila.

Got acquainted with the group and spent some time with them.

Little did I know that three years later I'd have a reunion with them when I joined the copy desk to begin my career at the BJ.

Only four of us at the luncheon, but, as I said at the beginning, a good time was had by all and we four wish everybody a great Christmas and a grand New Year.

El Camino is No. 2 on Billboard charts

2011-12-16T06:49:00.000-05:00

The Black Keys’ new album El Camino will debut this week at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts.

The album, released Dec. 6, sold more than 200,000 copies in its first week, making it the Akron-born duo’s best sales week and highest-charting album in their seven-album career, besting 2010’s Brothers, which debuted at No. 3 on the charts.

As drummer Pat Carney predicted, El Camino was beaten out by the band’s Warner Bros. corporate label mate Michael Buble, whose Christmas album has held the No. 1 spot for three weeks.

Carney is the son of BJ reporter Jim Carney. Jim Carney's wife, BJ reporter Katie Byard, is his stepmom.

[Source: Beacon Journal]

Most print newspapers will be gone in 5 years?

2011-12-15T14:01:00.004-05:00

“Most print newspapers will be gone in five years,” says a new report from the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future. The forecast by center director Jeffrey I. Cole, based on 10 years of studies, says, “America is at a major digital turning point … We believe that the only print newspapers that will survive will be at the extremes of the medium — the largest and the smallest.” The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal will likely survive, along with some local weeklies, Cole writes. John Robinson responds: “Wanna bet?” || Related: Ken Auletta: “Digital is almost as disruptive to traditional media as electricity was to the candle business” (ijnet.org)

Check the source article

Elements of Style reinvented as rap song

2011-12-15T11:54:00.003-05:00

Click here to see the video

Book by Mark J. Price: The Rest is History

2011-12-14T23:36:00.006-05:00

Mark J. Price, whose popular weekly column "This Place, This Time" has appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal since 1998, has a book coming out in March.

“The Rest is History: True Tales from Akron’s Vibrant Past” should become a best-seller. It’s being published by the University of Akron’s Ringtaw Books.

Price explores the history of Akron and Summit County through compelling vignettes, bringing to life bygone days through painstaking research of archival materials, local histories, newspaper records and vintage photographs, plus contemporary interviews. The real-life stories range from quirky to poignant, from humorous to tragic, and all points in between. Read about the U.S. president who strolled through the countryside, the Akron stagehand who became a Hollywood icon, the beloved beagle that attended elementary school, the natural landmark that slid underground, the pop concert that made girls faint, the lost cemetery that turned into a city park and the world-famous gadget that caught on in Northeast Ohio. A true treasure trove of the varied places of this historic region. This collection is as much about the present as it is about the past.

Price has been a staff writer and copyeditor for the Akron Beacon Journal since 1997. He graduated from Kent State University with a degree in journalism. He is married to BJ copy editor Susan Gapinski Price

Paperback
Price: $19.95
Pages: 225; Size: 8.5 x 11
Imprint: Ringtaw Books
ISBN: 978-1-935603-67-2

Tracy McCool named night anchor on Fox8-TV

2011-12-14T07:50:00.004-05:00

Copley Township native Tracy McCool will become the new 5 and 10 p.m. weeknight co-anchor on WJW (Channel 8) as the new year begins.

She succeeds Stacey Bell, who left WJW to be closer to her husband, a former Browns assistant coach now working for the New York Jets.

McCool has been with WJW since 2000, when she joined it as a general-assignment reporter; she became a co-anchor of the station’s morning show in 2005. A morning replacement has not yet been named, although it is possible that Channel 8’s Kristi Capel will add that task to her duties.

Read full story by Rich Heldenfels in today’s Beacon Journal

Pearl Harbor front page from LA Times

2011-12-07T13:30:00.004-05:00

A front page from the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 8, 1941. (Newseum)

DOCTOR Cathy Strong is busy

2011-12-01T10:41:00.007-05:00

Former BJ reporter Cathy Strong, now that she's a doctor (PhD style), had a busy November.

She released her latest study: "Influential Young Arab Women Turn Their Backs on Facebook." Did you ever think you'd see a writing with that title?

She went to a conference in Beirut, Lebanon; then to Fernandina Beach, Florida; back home to Dubai; then to Palmerston North, New Zealand, her old haunts.

Cathy is a communication and media sciences professor at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Previously, she spent decades in New Zealand and got an international reputation for her work in journalism.

All this after working on the BJ State Desk!

Carney kid gets another Grammy nomination

2011-12-01T09:52:00.004-05:00

The Black Keys, a music duo that includes BJ reporter Jim Carney's son, Patrick, got another Grammy nomination.

The Black Keys received a nomination for best pop duo or group perfomance for their cover of Buddy Holly’s “Dearest.” The song was featured on the covers compilation album, "Rave On Buddy Holly." The Keys have been nominated for six Grammy Awards in their career and have won three.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles.

Last year drummer Patrick Carney and singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach, who began their partnership while at Firestone High when they lived around the corner from each other, won Grammys for best alternative music album ("Brothers"), best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals (the single "Tighten Up"). Carney’s brother, Michael Carney, won for best recording package for his art direction on "Brothers."

The Black Keys have performed on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and appeared on Comedy Central cable channel's "Colbert Report." Pat and Dan live in Nashville.

Jim Carney's wife, BJ reporter Katie Byard, is the Carney Grammy-winners' stepmom.

Click on the headline for the BJ story on this year's Grammy nominations.

Warren Buffett buys his hometown newspaper

2011-11-30T20:05:00.002-05:00

Warren Buffett bought his hometown newspaper on Wednesday. Not just one copy but the whole darn thing.

The billionaire investor's Berkshire Hathaway company announced that it has agreed to purchase the parent company of the Omaha World-Herald from its employee shareholders and the Peter Kiewit Foundation. According to the paper, the deal is expected to close in December, pending approval from the company’s shareholders.

In a statement, Buffett praised the paper as "one of the best-run newspapers in America" and stressed that its "editorial independence" will continue. The deal also includes other dailies owned by the Omaha World-Herald Company, including one in Iowa and a handful scattered throughout Nebraska. Berkshire already owns the Buffalo News and a sizeable chunk of the Washington Post.

See full story

Governor Kasich does not read newspapers

2011-11-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

Checking in with Scott Bosley

2011-11-29T16:04:00.011-05:00

Hi John,

Good to hear from you. It sure looks like retirement is active and good for you.

We're settled in in Kalamazoo and liking the neighborhood, our new church and the community. And we're enjoying being near our daughter, Julie, who works nearby at Kellogg's in Battle Creek. Our two grandchildren and son Jeff are in the Bay Area and he works in SF as a labor and employment lawyer. They got here last winter and we had a ice storm in their honor.

I don't have an email for Tom (Melody), though I did talk to him this summer after hearing that one of his younger brothers (a former HS football teammate of mine) passed away. Tom still lives in Norton.

Meanwhile, all best to you and Paula. Give a holler if your Michigan travels come near us. We'd love to have lunch and catch up. I hope the Mountaineers can get past South Florida without so much drama and that Cincinnati will kindly do what we need!

Scott

Scott was the BJ's managing editor, and the best ME that I had during my 43-year newspaper career.

Scott and wife Carol lived in Bethesda, Maryland, while he was executive director of the American Society of News Editors (1999-2009). Scott also was managing editor at the Detroit Free Press, editor of Knight Ridder Tribune Information Services, editor of The Journal of Commerce and publisher of the Post-Tribune in Gary, Ind.

Scott and Carol moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan after his retirement.

Scott and another BJ newsroom retiree, Tom Melody, are in the Keyser (West Virginia) High School Hall of Fame. Both are West Virginia University School of Journalism graduates. Tom and his wife still live in Norton.

Click on the headline to see the obituary for Tom's brother, Mike Melody, 68, who died in Keyser, West Virginia in April.

Steve Colbert reports on I-reporters

2011-11-29T13:57:00.001-05:00

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Warner writes about Connie Schultz's resignation from PD

2011-11-28T18:38:00.002-05:00

Stuart Warner tells the inside story of Connie Schultz’s resignation from The Plain Dealer.in a piece in Cleveland Magazine.

See the article .

Composing retiree Leo Osmar dies

2011-11-28T13:31:00.008-05:00

Leo V. “Vern” Osmar, 83, went home to be with the Lord on November 24, 2011. He was born in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

Leo served with the US Army during the Korean conflict. He had retired from the Akron Beacon Journal after many years of service. He was a member of St. Bernard-St. Mary Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus.

Leo and his wife, Theresa, spent many years running the coffee and doughnut hour after Sunday morning mass and also volunteered for many years at the Hot Meals Program at St. Bernard’s Church. He was also a member of the Patterson Park senior club.

Preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Emma Osmar; wife, Theresa; sisters, Lorelei Babich, Joy Young, and Terese Coleman; brothers, Clayton and Walter.

Survivors include sons, Ludlow (Leisa), Vincent, Michael (Pam), and John (Christina); daughters, Ann (Michael) Wintrow, Christine Bohn, Bertha (Blake) Thompson, and Susan (Frank) Jarvis; grandchildren, Joshua, Clayton, Amber Osmar, Megan (Zach) Kalil, Marisa (Justin) Jones, Richard Bohn, Christina and Cynthia Thompson, Theresa Sue and Frank Jarvis, II, and Alexander Osmar; and several nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be Tuesday, 4-8 p.m., at NEWCOMER FUNERAL HOME, 131 N. Canton Rd., Akron. A prayer service will be held Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. at the funeral home, followed by a funeral mass at 10:30 a.m. at St. Bernard-St. Mary Catholic Church, 44 University Ave., Akron.

Inurnment will take place at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Bernard’s Hot Meals Program.

Leo's wife, Theresa Ann Osmar, 78, died Nov. 16, 2010. Leo and Theresa were born in Saulte St. Marie, Michigan.

Click on the headline for Newcomer Funeral Home's information about Leo.

Sign a guest book at www.newcomerfuneralhome.com.

The old girl was just too tired

2011-11-27T08:03:00.004-05:00

“The old girl was just too tired to continue,” said Mike Dean, the Beacon Journal’s building and facilities manager.

Demolition of the Beacon Journal parking deck got under way October 31 and should be finished by mid-December. Demolition will cost about $60,000.

The parking deck probably will produce up to 800 tons of steel and about 3,640 tons of concrete, The steel beams will be sold to a steel manufacturer to be melted and turned into new steel. The concrete is being hauled to Eslich’s crushing facility at the former site of General Tire near Brittain Road in East Akron, he said. The crushed concrete is used as a base for buildings and new roads, he said.

When the demolition is done, the two ground-level parking areas of the deck will remain with 60 parking spaces, Dean said.

The 10-level, 381-space parking deck at Cedar and South High streets opened in August 1959 The parking deck cost $600,000 to build. That is equal to about $4.5 million today.

The company also has more than 100 parking spaces north of the main office building at High and East Exchange streets, at its Erie warehouse on South Broadway and on Wheeler Alley next to its production building.

Although the company has 411 staffers, its 169 permanent parking spaces are sufficient because Beacon Journal employees work different shifts

Photo by Beacon Journal photographer Paul Tople

See the story by Bob Downing

BJ Thanksgiving paper to weigh over 4 pounds

2011-11-23T08:01:00.004-05:00

The Beacon Journal Thanksgiving Day edition will weigh more than 4 pounds--about three pounds coming from two insert packages.

The holiday historically is the largest single circulation day for papers, in large part because they come full of pre-printed, Black Friday shopping-related advertising inserts.

This year’s Akron Beacon Journal, for instance, will weigh more than 4 pounds — about 3 pounds of that coming from two insert packages--— the heaviest the Akron paper has been in years as advertisers spend more money, company executives said.

See how it goes together:

Ad in memory of Ralph Iula

2011-11-21T07:38:00.007-05:00

This memorial ad appeared today on obituary
page B5 of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Read Iula's obituary written by Jewell Cardwell

A note from Kathy Fraze on Oblander

2011-11-18T18:54:00.002-05:00

Terry Oblander was Ornery.
He was Bold.
He was Lusty.
He was an Antagonist.
He was a Newshawk.
He was Devoted.
He was an Egalitarian.
He was a Rascal.

It broke my heart the day he left the Beacon Journal. It was the right move for him. He had a young family to support, and it was a smart decision.
Still.....

We said we'd keep in touch, but like many old friends, we drifted apart, occasionally promising to get together but never quite managing it until....

he had the unmitigated gall to die first....

rushing headlong into that ultimate story....

always getting the scoop.

Codladh samh leat mo chara,

fraze

San Diego Union-Tribune sold

2011-11-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

The owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune announced Thursday it has signed an agreement of sale for the 143-year-old newspaper to MLIM, LLC, owned by local entrepreneur Doug Manchester. He is joined by longtime media executive John Lynch, who serves as President and CEO of MLIM.

The terms of the agreement are confidential and the deal is expected to close by Dec. 15.

Manchester is well-known for his hotel and commercial property development in the county. Lynch is a founder of the Broadcast Company of America and has a long history of owning radio stations.

Platinum Equity purchased the company in May 2009 and has led the media organization through critical changes that have resulted in circulation growth, increased advertising revenue and creation of new digital and print products.

Read the full story on San Diego Business

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/17/platinum-equity-seell-san-diego-union-tribune-doug/.

Turning the tables on Terry

2011-11-16T19:45:00.009-05:00

Former Beacon Journal and Plain Dealer reporter Terry Oblander was known as a great storyteller. For his 10:30 a.m. funeral service Friday in the Waite & Son Funeral Homes Medina Chapel, 765 N. Court Street, the family announced:

On Friday during the service, we will be inviting friends/family the opportunity to say a few words or share a story about Terry Oblander. For the guy who always had a story, it just seemed appropriate to tell a few on his behalf.

Calling hours will be 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Waite Funeral Home.

Donations can be made in his name to Project: LEARN of Medina County at 105 W. Liberty St., Medina, 44256. Terry volunteered frequently at LEARN.

Terry died Sunday.

Late BJ printer's son in BJ article

2011-11-16T17:18:00.006-05:00

Beacon Journal photo by Mike Cardew

Rick Bochert outside of Erie Station Grille

Retired printer Cal Deshong, who will be 93 on Nov. 24, sent this email to BJ Alums blog:

I noticed in today's BJ Section B-1 at the bottom of the page is a picture of Rick Bochert, owner of Erie Station Grille in Tallmadge. His father, Fred Bochert, worked with me in the composing room.

I know all the old-timers will remember him.

Fred passed away recently.

The article mentioning Rick Bochert, owner of the restaurant on the circle at East Avenue, concerned the City of Tallmadge loosening restrictions on businesses not as close to the Traffic Circle.

Click on the headline for the Tallmadge story that includes Rick Bochert.

Cal has moved from his home and into the residence of his daughter, Mary Pat Deshong-Kinkelaar, who is married to David Kinkelaar, at 268 Hollywood Avenue in Akron.

He's using his daughter's computer to remain in contact with the world.

Pittsburgh Press publishing again -- online only

2011-11-15T17:03:00.002-05:00

The first e-edition of The Pittsburgh Press, which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bought and closed after a brutal strike that stopped publication of both papers in the early 1990s, went out Monday. “We sensed a hunger in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in our diaspora for something that provides afternoon news in a newspaper format that was offered digitally,” said Post-Gazette Executive Editor David Shribman. The Pittsburgh Press’ Wikipedia page has already been updated with a section about its “resurrection online.”

Elizabeth Hallowell dies at 53 after fall at home

2011-11-15T15:55:00.012-05:00

Elizabeth Hallowell, 53, an attorney and journalist, died Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Cooper University Hospital after a fall on Saturday at her home in Laurel Springs, Camden County, NJ.

Ms. Hallowell was passionate about causes dear to her heart - women's issues, the rights of adopted children. Bright and focused, she reinvented herself professionally on more than one occasion.

She graduated from Collingswood High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University's Douglass College and a juris doctor from the University of Akron.

After working as a clerk at The Inquirer in the early 1980s, Ms. Hallowell shifted gears to become a reporter. She worked at a small newspaper in central Massachusetts before returning to The Inquirer as a correspondent, covering Bucks County and Dover, Del.

Later, she moved to the Akron Beacon-Journal, where she got interested in the law.

"She covered courts in Akron, and she got to know a couple of judges and lawyers really well," said Jack Severson, her husband of nearly 17 years and a former Inquirer editor. "With their encouragement, she thought: 'I'd like to try this.' "

Ms. Hallowell earned her law degree at night. She returned to the area to care for her parents and worked as an editor for IntelliHealth, an online health-information company, and as a part-time copy editor at The Inquirer.

She was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and eventually ran a solo law practice in Voorhees, concentrating on wills, estates, and contracts.

David Sullivan, an Inquirer assistant managing editor, described her as "enthusiastic, very positive. She was upbeat and always looking for something new to take on."

Ms. Hallowell was "fun to be around, very honorable, and a real stand-up person," said Paula Goff, a former Inquirer copy editor and friend.

Ms. Hallowell had strong opinions, wasn't shy about expressing them, and was always able to back them up, Goff said. "She also never hesitated to challenge the opinions of others, which forced you to back yours up. Those were great assets for a journalist and for a lawyer."

Ms. Hallowell was passionate about women's rights and fought against laws that prevented adopted children from locating their birth parents.

An adopted child herself, Ms. Hallowell eventually tracked down her birth mother, homeless and living in Western Pennsylvania. Ms. Hallowell helped her find a safe place to live.

She loved music and played piano and guitar. She enjoyed travel and working with stained glass.

She was a "hard-core news junkie," her husband said, voraciously consuming news in print and online.

Friends admired her warm relationship with Severson, the mayor of Laurel Springs. She was a strong supporter of his political career.

"She really liked the idea of being Mrs. Mayor," said Goff.

In addition to Severson, Ms. Hallowell is survived by her stepchildren, Nicole Severson, John Severson, and Camille Morgan, and five step-grandchildren.

Friends may call Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Danks-Hinski Funeral Home, 125 N. White Horse Pike, Lindenwold.

Memorial donations may be made to the Douglass College Women's Studies Program, 100 George St., New Brunswick, N.J. 08901.

[Philadelphia Inquirer, November 13, 2011]

Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 215-854-5146, kgraham@phillynews.com or

Grumpy Abe: Terry It was great knowing you

2011-11-15T08:40:00.000-05:00

Reprinted from the blog of former BJ columnist Abe Zaidan

by Grumpy Abe

THE PASSING 0f Terry Oblander, a colleague and friend, has opened another hole in the ranks of enthusiastic newspapermen who considered it a privilege to show up at the office every day. His disheveled presence at his desk, whether he was trying to fill in a few more blanks for a feature story or grinding out hard news, was usually a sight for the journalistically correct reporters and editors in his midst. One moment he would be bellowing, the next he would erupt in violent laughter. His gestures were broad; his personality, for better or worse, never suppressed. The world, for "The Dutchman" was never a neat place where the spoons and forks were properly placed at the sides of the plate.

He wasn't crazy, folks, Just a very good - and honorable - reporter who was happily dedicated in his work. It was serious fun, richly expressed.

He was doubtless the last demonstrative vestige of the shrinking hometown business in which newsrooms have been quieted by vanishing staffs, energized voices and clicking typewriters. Today a lot of people communicate with lowered voices, hopeful, among other things, of keeping their jobs before retirement in a few years, months or weeks.

For many years, Terry, stricken by heart failure at 64, gallantly hung on to the end despite the loss of his wife and the need for care for his kids as an everyday workingman. But his bad luck seemed to follow him in his post-Beacon Journal days at the Plain Dealer. He worked in the PD's once-flashy bureau in Montrose, joined the subsequent move to the paper's windowless office in a basement on the Medina Square that could have passed for submarine quarters and continued his odyssey to various other points that wound up in Cleveland - all with a family home in Medina. He was one of the victims of the paper's confusion over what it wanted to be if it ever sank some roots south of Cuyahoga County.

I had worked part-time(!) for the PD and witnessed the upheaval before deciding there could be a decent life as a writer free of newspapers. During the later years, Terry called from time to time, beginning with "How's it going?" (He was the sort of person who really wanted to know, instead of the usual conversation gambit.)

I began to sense that the vitality in his voice was absent. Cynicism had crept in to his hung-ho love of a reporter's life. I wish I could have told him that things were bound to improve, but that would have been a lie to one of most conscientiously honest human beings that I had ever met in the business - or anywhere else, for that matter.

So I listened. We talked. After the newspaper talk, he would tell me about his kids' love of sports, and the memorabilia of the passion. Finally, he would say, "Well, I gotta go. Let's have lunch sometime". Just like that.

I' m sorry I took so long to share another beer and shelled peanuts with him. Too soon, his heart, as well as his business, let him down.

Terry Oblander's obituary in the BJ

2011-11-15T07:48:00.007-05:00

By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
MEDINA: Terry Oblander was a storyteller.

When the downtown Akron O’Neil’s store held a final sale before it closed forever in January 1989, the Beacon Journal’s Terry Oblander described the event this way. “Remember when your great aunt died and after the funeral all your greedy relatives showed up at her place to divvy up the quilts, antique plates and photo albums? In a way, the funeral for the downtown Akron store has already been held. … The elegance has died.”

Mr. Oblander, 64, of Medina, whose newspaper career included coverage of the Kent State shootings in May 1970 for the Record-Courier in Ravenna, died Sunday at the Cleveland Clinic of congestive heart failure following a heart attack.

Mr. Oblander worked two years for the Ravenna paper and nearly 20 years for the Beacon Journal, where he covered a variety of topics including Portage County news, labor issues and county government. He left Akron to work another 18 years for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“He knew how to get at what everybody wanted to know,” said his son Terry Oblander, of Medina. “He captured the essence. He was as good of a storyteller as a writer. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He could make light of any serious situation.”

His son said his father had taken on a new role as grandfather and spent much time baby-sitting his two grandsons.

Mr. Oblander, who received an associate’s degree from Cuyahoga Community College and attended Kent State University, was part of the Beacon Journal staff that won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Goodyear takeover attempt by Sir James Goldsmith.

Along with being a writer and storyteller, Mr. Oblander was a puzzle maker. He was the author of the puzzle Groaners that appeared in the Beacon Journal for many years and the Public Square puzzle in the Plain Dealer, his son said.

“You were fun to sit next to at the BJ, fun to compete against when you went to the PD, fun to argue labor issues with and fun to share a drink with and have lunch,” wrote retired Beacon Journal reporter and editor Charlene Nevada, on Mr. Oblander’s Facebook page. “Your laughter will be forever missed.”

Thrity Umrigar, a novelist, Case Western Reserve University professor of English and former Beacon Journal reporter, said Mr. Oblander encouraged her to save for her retirement when she first started working at the Beacon Journal when she was just in her 20s.

“What I most remember about Terry was that smile,” she said. “It was always there, along with the twinkle in his eye. He was full of mischief, almost spritelike in his sense of play and fun.”

Former Plain Dealer reporter Steve Luttner described Mr. Oblander as “a pure, battle-tested newsman who had accumulated tremendous context about Northeast Ohio from numerous perspectives.”

Luttner, now vice president of Lesic & Camper Communications in Cleveland, said Mr. Oblander always helped young reporters and “never lost his enthusiasm for a good story, and he had a deep, refreshing respect for good grammar and proper word usage.

“Terry was perhaps the most principled person I ever worked with during 30 years I spent in newsrooms,” he added. “He was highly ethical, totally honest and unflinchingly direct. I loved that directness – there wasn’t a phony bone in Terry’s body. He was a devoted and proud family man — his three sons had an extraordinary father.”

Mr. Oblander was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary, and is survived by wife, Linda, sons, Terry (Maureen) and their son, Jake, of Medina; son Chris (Caitlin) and their son, Josh, of Middleburg Heights; and son Nick of Medina.

Donations can be made in his name to Project: LEARN of Medina County at 105 W. Liberty St., Medina, 44256 where Mr. Oblander volunteered.

Calling hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Waite & Son Funeral Home at 765 N. Court St., Medina. Funeral service will be at the funeral home at 10:30 a.m. Friday.Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Tuesday, November 15, 2011, page B#, col.1]

Photos added courtesy of Paul Tople.

Jim Ricci's Terry Oblander remembrance

2011-11-15T07:29:00.011-05:00

Former BJ reporter Jim Ricci, who later worked for the Detroit Free Press and the Los Angeles Times, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and was portrayed by Matthew Modine in the “Redeemer,” a 2002 USA Network cable movie "inspired by" stories Jim wrote in Detroit to free Ahmad Rahman, a Black Panther imprisoned 20 years for a murder he didn’t commit. Rahman became assistant professor of history at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Jim wrote the screenplay for "Redeemer."

In 2008 Jim took a buyout from the L.A. Times. He has two daughters by his first wife, Kathy, and a daughter and son by his current partner, Carrie.

Hello, John.

I was deeply saddened to learn by e-mail from Bill Hershey today that Terry Oblander had died.

Terry was a terrific guy, whom I admired and enjoyed. I'll never forget the way, when telling one of his inimitable tales of human foible gleaned from a township trustees or school board meeting, he'd dissolve into uncontrollable laughter soon punctuated by that uncontrollable cigarette-cough of his.

In 1980 -- it was March 30th, to be precise -- he and Bill O'Connor and I entered into a last-man-standing pact by which we vowed to quit smoking as of midnight that night, and that any one of us who ever in his life took a drag of cigarette smoke again was honor-bound to pay each of the others $100, no matter where we were.

We lasted a long time. It was nearly a decade later, as I recall, when I was writing for the Detroit Free Press, that Terry contacted me and said he was going to be in metro Detroit for a Scrabble tournament. We arranged to get together at a bar in Farmington, Michigan. I was sitting at the bar when Terry showed up, sat down beside me, lighted a cigarette, and handed me a check for $100.

After a long night of laughter and remembering, I made him pick up the bar tab, but tore up his $100 check, and tossed it into his ashtray.

I stayed "clean" for 30 years, until I took up smoking the occasional cigar a year or two ago.

I'll be sending my check for $100 to Project: LEARN of Medina County, as requested in his obit.

It's very melancholy to think that Obs is gone.

Jim Ricci

Click on the headline, go to the "Terry Oblander dies" headline and click on the yellow "Comments" at the bottom of the article to see additional tributes to Terry, a former BJ and PD reporter who died Nov. 13.

Tibute to Oblander from PD Alumni

2011-11-14T20:01:00.004-05:00

Terry Oblander dies

by margie and rosie

PD's obit by Grant Segall

Medina -- An official once called a press conference at the Akron-Canton Airport to announce that he'd fly to Texas to promote the airport.

A small story, to be sure, but reporter Terry Oblander made it a little bigger. He learned that the official would fly out of Cleveland Hopkins International.

Oblander, a long-time area journalist and Public Squares puzzle maker, died Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Cleveland Clinic about two weeks after a heart attack. He was 64.

His life was fairly short and challenging. He nursed a dying wife in 1992, then raised their three boys, including an infant. He brought the boys to some meetings he covered and somehow attended all their ballgames.

There were triumphs, too, at Ravenna's Record-Courier, the Akron Beacon Journal and The Plain Dealer. Among several prizes, he shared a first place from the Associated Press of Ohio for coverage of a murder and a 1987 Pulitzer for coverage of a threatened takeover of Goodyear.

Through the ups and downs, the big, shaggy-haired Oblander told memorable stories with memorable laughter. It would start as a little wheeze. Then look out.

For the past 10 years, he tickled Plain Dealer readers six days a week with Public Squares, a puzzle of scrambled words and homegrown puns:

"Q. What did tipsy sailors say when they returned to the USS Cod from a bar?"

"A. Down the hatch."

The generous author made a few free puzzles to help readers commemorate birthdays or anniversaries.

Over the decades, he covered politics, labor, suburban news, the Kent State shootings and much more. He was also president of the Beacon's Local 7 for journalists and janitors.

Plain Dealer Editor Debra Adams Simmons said, "Terry Oblander was a thoughtful, dedicated journalist who spent his career chronicling the stories of Northeast Ohio. He was creative and quirky and always looking for new ways to push Public Squares to the next level."

Steve Luttner, a former Plain Dealer reporter, said, "Terry Oblander was a pure, battle-tested newsman.... He was totally honest and unflinchingly direct."

Oblander was born in Cleveland and raised in Olmsted Falls. He graduated from Cuyahoga Community College and attended Kent State University.

He spent 13 months with the Record-Courier, partly as religion editor and farms editor. He lived with some colleagues in a Ravenna home they called the "Lock Street Rock Festival."

Then came 19 years at the Beacon, mostly as a reporter, but also a copy editor, assistant metro editor and assistant state editor. He also wrote a puzzle called Groaners and a column of short news items called Ideas and a citizens band radio column called CB Break.

He tried to be objective but never dull. A Republican leader once complained that Oblander had registered as a Democrat. Oblander retorted that Ohio wouldn't register voters as Socialists.

Bob Downing, now the Beacon's environmental reporter, teamed with Oblander for a couple of years to cover Portage County. Said Downing, "He'd come back so excited about what he'd seen at government meetings. He'd chase little stories down. His passion rubbed off on everybody."

In 1990, Oblander wrote a folksy application to The Plain Dealer: "I like being a reporter. A lot." He mentioned his "lousy grades" at Kent State but said, "I'm sure we could stick it to any competition."

He warned that he'd need comprehensive health insurance for his wife, the former Mary O'Neill, who went blind from juvenile diabetes. Her father, Dan, moved in with the family in Stow to help out. In 1992, she bore her last child and died five months later.

Oblander took a leave of absence for a time. He raised the children with help from Dan. In 1996, he married the former Linda Monroe and moved the family to Medina.

He spent most of his PD career at bureaus in Summit and Medina counties. He also planned and oversaw reports of election results at the main office in Cleveland.

As a young boy, he could instantly unscramble words. He won many Scrabble tournaments over the years and organized a few. He started freelancing Public Squares in 2001.

Oblander moved to the PD's downtown office in 2007 and left the paper in 2008. In his final years, he kept freelancing Public Squares. He also wrote features for the Beacon, babysat his grandsons, competed in a fantasy baseball league and helped start and run bookstores for Project: LEARN of Medina County, a literacy program.

He always wrote Public Squares a few weeks ahead. The last one is scheduled to run on Dec. 3.

Terence Leroy Oblander

1947-2011

Survivors: Wife, the former Linda Monroe; father, Jacob Leroy of Parma Heights; sons, Terence Jacob of Montville Township, Medina, Christopher Daniel of Middleburg Heights, Nicholas Patrick of Medina and two grandsons.

Memorial Service: 10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at Waite & Son Funeral Home., 765 N. Court St., Medina, Ohio.

Contributions: Project: LEARN of Medina County, 105 W. Liberty St., Medina, OH 44256, projectlearnmedina.org.

Calling hours for Terry Oblander

2011-11-14T16:26:00.007-05:00

From former BJ & PD reporter Terry Oblander's Facebook page:

Calling hours for Terry Oblander will be from 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm on Thursday (Nov 17). On Friday (Nov 18), a short memorial service will be held at 10:30 am followed by a funeral procession to Spring Grove Cemetery where he will be laid to rest.

Waite & Son Funeral Homes Medina Chapel
765 N. Court St.
Medina, Ohio 44256
Phone: 330-723-3229

Spring Grove Cemetery, on South Spring Grove Street, dates to the 1880s.

Click on the headline for Terry's death notice in the BJ Alums blog.

Terry Oblander dies

2011-11-13T20:12:00.014-05:00

Terry Oblander, who worked at both the Beacon Journal and the Plain Dealer, died today.

He had a heart attack Tuesday morning and was taken to cardiac intensive care at Cleveland Clinic.

Terry is survived by his wife, Linda Monroe Oblander; father, Jacob Leroy of Parma Heights; sons, Terence Jacob of Montville Township, Medina, Christopher Daniel of Middleburg Heights, and Nicholas Patrick of Medina; and two grandsons.

His first wife, Mary Louise O'Neill Oblander, died in 1992.

Terry went from the BJ to the Plain Dealer and its Medina County bureau, then returned to the BJ last year to write feature stories about Medina County.

He was part of the Beacon Journal staff that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for its coverage of a threatened corporate takeover of Goodyear and has won several Ohio and regional journalism awards.

A 1965 graduate of Olmsted Falls High School and Cuyahoga Community College (1967), he attended Kent State University through 1969, worked for the Kent-Ravenna Record-Courier from 1969 to 1971 and at the Beacon Journal from 1971 to 1990 when he joined the Plain Dealer.

Terry was among 27 PD staffers who were let go by a phone call from the editor in 2008 a few weeks before Christmas.

Oblander did the pun-based Public Squares Puzzle for the Plain Dealer.

In a 2001 letter that Terry wrote to a friend who is a Chicago lawyer, he recalled his days in Kent:

"The Record-Courier group was an odd-ball collection of washed-up newspaper
people or young folks just learning the business. You were there because you
loved the business. $125 was the top salary of the day for a 44-hour work week
-- not much above minimum wage.

"Most of us lived in a home we called the 'Lock Street Rock Festival' in 1971 or 1972. It was so named because we lived on Lock Street and our home was like Woodstock most days."

Terry was a great storyteller who laughed vigorously as he spun his tales. So did those who heard them.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Vradenburg writes book on Metro Parks

2011-11-12T07:48:00.007-05:00

Sarah autographs book at Nature Realm book-signing

Former Beacon Journal reporter and editorial writer Sarah Vradenburg has written a book on Metro Parks titled Steps in Time: Ninety Years of Metro Parks, Serving Summit County.

Summit County’s park district is celebrating its 90th birthday with the new book that focuses on key figures from its past, including longtime director Harold Wagner and naturalist Bert Szabo.

Vradenburg will be at Seiberling Nature Realm, 1828 Smith Rd,, from 1 to 4 p.m. today for a book signing.

The 146-page book is published by Ringtaw Books/University of Akron Press and costs $19.95

BJ owner buys San Francisco Examiner

2011-11-12T07:45:00.000-05:00

The owner of the Akron Beacon Journal will become the new owner of the free daily San Francisco Examiner.

Black Press Group, based in Canada, is purchasing the Examiner from Clarity Media Group, a Denver-based holding company owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz. Black Press and Clarity Media are privately owned companies.

The deal is expected to close by Nov. 30. Terms were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to become involved with such a strong newspaper,” David Black, president and owner of Black Press, said in a statement. “Readership is second to none in San Francisco and on the peninsula.”

Read the rest of the story in today’s Beacon Journal.

Catching up with . . . Rita Stapleton

2011-11-11T18:25:00.018-05:00

At my request, Composing retiree Rita Stapleton provided some details about her BJ years and her retirement.

John,

I retired in February along with David Cummings. We both have 42 years of service.

I am enjoying retirement. I help with the USO of North Canton, visit my 88-year-old dad more often, play tennis and in general am just having a good ol' time.

I started out as a typesetter in November 1968, did paste-up, proofreading, worked the computer room, Camex operator, worked in CTS in graphics arts, then data entry, then worked in call center typing and was switched to operating the tearsheet room for a few years before it got phased out.

Went from there temporarily to finance before ending up in Marketing and helped with Newspaper in Education and anywhere else when needed. Ended up in the packaging department before finally retiring.

It was a fun time working with all the printers. Enjoyed all the excitement of helping put the paper to bed on night shift and all the comradeship of the men, never a dull moment.

But 42 years was long enough. I was kinda tired of working, but thankful for the time served. It was a blessing to have worked for such a fine newspaper, especially when times were great.

Thanks for thinking of me,

Sincerely,

Rita Stapleton

Rita's email is
riorita@neo.rr.com

and her phone number is 330-699-4407.

Terry Oblander suffers severe heart attack

2011-11-10T16:38:00.001-05:00

Terry Oblander suffered a severe heart attack Tuesday morning and is in cardiac intensive care at the Clinic. He can't have visitors or phone calls for now, but his wife, Linda, says cards would be welcome. Send them to his home at 1068 Woodglen Circle, Medina, OH 44256.
[Information provided by Bruce Winges, Beacon Journal editor]

Send Cal Deshong a birthday card. 93 !!!

2011-11-09T18:54:00.005-05:00

Retired printer Cal Deshong will be 93 years old on Nov. 24.

Calvin E. Deshong was born November 24, 1918 in Johnstown, PA.

He was married Sept. 8, 1962, to Mary Louise. She died in February 2001.

Cal worked at the BJ (1952-1983) before retiring 28 years ago!

If you want to mail Cal a congratulatory card or note, his address is:

Calvin Deshong
3682 Vira Rd.
Stow, OH 44224

If you want to email Cal, his email address is:
cedeshong@webtv.net

Ol' reliables at monthly BJ retirees lunch

2011-11-09T15:58:00.004-05:00

The usual trio showed up at today's BJ retirees lunch in Papa Joe's Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road -- retired printers Al Hunsicker, Carl Nelson and Gene McClellan. Newsroom retiree John Olesky, between trips, made it a quartet.

That matches the year's lowest total of September and May.

The lunch is at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month.

Parking Deck: There she goes

2011-11-08T08:14:00.002-05:00

This photo of parking deck demolition supplied by Fred Barrett

Press Club's 40th reunion is November 12

2011-11-07T18:05:00.003-05:00

Press Club 40th Reunion Banquet

Saturday , November 12

RESERVATION REMINDER

From: Ronald Syroid <rlsyroid@gmail.com>
Past President * 330.607.6811

Subject: Akron Press Club 40th Reunion Saturday, Nov 12

DEADLINE LOOMS - RSVP ASAP

* from Bruce Winges, President *
Celebrate the Press Club’s 40th birthday

After four decades of lunches, speeches, auctions, scholarship fund-raisers, book sales and good times we are ready to celebrate the Akron Press Club’s 40th birthday. The Press Club board invites present members, past members, former speakers, and those who have been connected with the organization over the years to join us for a birthday bash at the club’s long-time home,
the Martin Center, 105 Fir Hill on the University of Akron campus. The evening will be more like a Reunion than an anniversary celebration. Many have not gathered together for years.

The Press Club started when some like-minded individuals got together at their favorite watering hole, the Mayflower Hotel Bar. With Mickey Porter guiding the formation of the association, the first official meeting was in January 1971 where, according to Press Club archives, Jerry Healey of WAKR was elected president.

Through the years the Press Club has provided a forum for a number of newsmakers, politicians and other speakers to reach out to the Akron community. It has held numerous fund-raisers and dinners.
The club has made significant contributions to young journalists and public relations professionals through its unwavering support of scholarships. That support continues with the John S. Knight and Ludel Sauvageot scholarships. An additional scholarship was awarded in 2011 in the name of the Press Club itself. Hopefully some past award winners will be at the party.

Join us for dinner and an evening of fellowship and a memorable evening on Saturday, November 12. Dave Osterland will be Master of Ceremonies and displays will be presented to rejuvenate recollections.

Join Al Fitzpatrick, Tom Kock, Abe Zaidan, Dave Osterland, Howard Tolley and other Club members at the banquet.

The dinner will be held at the Martin Center at the University of Akron. Cost is $35 per person, and meal choices are steak, chicken or veggie. Reservations may be made by calling 330-564-4211. DEADLINE Now

Deadlines are part of the profession, and the need for commitment is now. So act promptly to guarantee an enjoyable and succesful birthday party.

And if you have any photos or other Press Club memorabilia that you would like to share, contact board members Ron Syroid (rlsyroid@gmail.com)
330.607.6811 or Ed Kalail (ekalail1@neo.rr.com).

Visit AkronPressClub.org web site for additional information and details..

- 30 -

Tom Moore is writing sports now

2011-11-06T14:39:00.007-05:00

By TOM MOORE

Well, here we are for the eighth year at the Roy Hobbs World Series in Ft. Meyers.

The series for amateur baseball players from 25 to 80 is in its 23 year and with more than 200 teams from all over the country, plus one or two from overseas, one of the most successful.

And the more I see of it, the more I’m amazed at how smooth thing usually go…and the credit for that goes to the boss…former Beacon Journal sports editor Tom Giffen.

From my observations, it begins with early planning in Akron where the Hobbs outfit is located on Peninsula Road in the Valley.

And the rough edges are ironed out as things progress—even extending to the actually series.

Teams register during the year for the different divisions (determined by age).

Its hard ball and wooden bats. Teams play four games and then are seeded from 4A to B for the championship play.

Umpires are professionals and most make their living umpiring college and high school game. And the fields are as professional as you can get—short of playing in a Major League stadium.

The facilities are the spring training sites for the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota twins.

As one of the older players dressed in his baseball uniform said to me: “when I got into center field in the stadium with all those trappings I felt like I was 18 again!”

That feeling is what makes the players come back again and again.

They are able to pursue their passion for the game as long as they are physically able…moving up into another age division with the “young, old boys” taking part in the “timeless division”.

Of course a great part of the success depends on Tom’s support staff..which is “major league and why not? I’m one of that staff.

Wife Ellen is in charge of the concessions and the gift shop. And the Number one guy is Rob Giffen, Tom’s son.

The main reason I come back and enjoy whatever has to be done, is the people I meet and the stories I get to write.

Spent too many years tied to a desk…22 years as a news editor. I did the job for all that time between people Knight Ridder brought in but never got that title…had to settle on assistant and deputy.

Now, it’s so much fun to write about the folks I meet here. For instance, the story now on the blog about Bill Dillion who spent 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

And last year, I interviewed and wrote a story about former Boston Red Sox pitcher “Oil Can” Boyd.

And there was a story in which a player slid into home, but missed the plate about 2 feet—except his teeth flew out of his mouth and crossed the bag. He tried to argue that he was safe because part of him scored. Needless to say, he lost the argument.

One player related a story to me. He got a hit and his teammates were shouting “Run, Run!” . His 15-year-old son was nearby and he shouted “Hobble, Dad, Hobble!”

Then there was a husband and wife who played on the same team.

Where else could you meet a ballplayer who raises mastiffs, those huge dogs? Seems he had two and they had 9 pups. So he named the father, pitcher and the mom, catcher. Each of the pups got a baseball name—first base, 2^nd base, etc.

If somebody had told me I’d wind up a sports writer, I’d have said no way.

Before the Hobbs gig, the only sports I wrote about was in the Air Force when my sports editor was sent overseas and I had to fly with our football team and write about the games.

My second sports stint was at the Lorain Journal where I filled in for two weeks when the sports editor went on vacation.

I hope to keep coming back as long as my health holds up.

It keeps me young, off the streets and out of bars.

Bob Paynter at Journalism HOF awards

2011-11-05T19:11:00.001-04:00

2 good articles on media in CommonWealth

2011-11-03T11:07:00.003-04:00

Two news media articles in the November 2 issue of CommonWealth magazine are worth reading:

What happens when a community loses its newspaper?
In Holyoke, Masssachusetts residents still mourn the loss of the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram nearly 20 years later. The newspaper closed after 110 years as Holyoke’s only daily newspaper. Published as a daily since 1882, the newspaper folded in January 1993 after four years of heavy losses. Read the article.

Silent crisis
The shrinking press corps at places such as the State House leads to a decline in what the FCC calls 'accountability reporting' Read the article.

Catching up with . . . Curt Brown

2011-11-02T11:31:00.008-04:00

Curt Brown, who was a Beacon Journal reporter 1971-74, will be 68 on Monday (Nov. 7). Curt's mother, Rachel Brown (inset photo), was born on Nov. 3, but that was 105 years ago. She died in 1993.

Curt (inset photo) has been music director and organist/choirmaster at New Life Episcopal Church, 13118 Church Ave. NW, Uniontown for nine years and also teaches piano and organ at his Highland Square home. He also does organ recitals. The next one will be 4 p.m. Sunday, March 18, 2012 at New Life Episcopal Church.

J. Curtis Brown, Jr., 26, is the son of Curt and Curt's late wife, Jolan "Jody" Moldvay Brown, who died Aug. 4, 1993.

Curt has a pair of dogs that keep him company at home.

Curt once handled public relations for the United Rubber Workers and United Steel Workers.

His mother and two sisters also played the piano. He credits an organist named Lula, who let him play her church organ when he was six, for getting him hooked on being an organist.

Curt was city editor of the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia's largest newspaper, when the Marshall University plane carrying the football team, staff and supporters crashed in 1970 on its way back to Huntington after a game, wiping out the Thundering Herd's grid squad.

The next year, Curt came to the BJ. And later began his PR work for the unions.

Curt was captain of his high school swim team, and also competed in swimming at Baldwin-Wallace. He studied at Oberlin College.

Craigslist ad leads to burglaries

2011-11-02T09:54:00.003-04:00

A Cuyahoga Falls man placed an ad on Craigslist this summer. The burglars called him, got information that he would be out of town, and stole his 2007 Kawasaki motorcycle and other property totaling $14,000.

When the neighbor discovered the Kawasaki theft, he moved the remaining motorcycles to his garage for safekeeping. The burglars came back and stole a 2009 Husqvarna motorcyle valued at $4,900.

Later, four motorcycles valued at $8,800 were stolen from another Falls resident.

Stow police arrested three Falls juveniles and the bikes were found in Pennsylvania at the home of an accomplice, police said.

Click on the headline for the Cuyahoga Falls Patch news story.

Bill Dillon plays first game in 30 years

2011-10-31T14:21:00.004-04:00

By TOM MOORE
Roy Hobbs Baseball

“God put me here to help people and maybe make a better place for everybody.”

That’s William Michael Dillon’s outlook on life today, despite spending more than 27 years of his life in jail before finally being exonerated and set free in November of 2008.

You would think that someone in his shoes would be bitter and sour on life … but not Bill.

He looks on his release as giving him a brand new start and hopefully help others“like a baby born in a new world.”

And his new start includes getting back to his love of baseball.

When he was 20, he had the prospect of a career in the Detroit Tigers organization as a pitcher. Then his world fell in and he was arrested for the stabbing death of a man in a park in Broward County, Florida.

He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

This week he is playing competitive baseball for the first time in 30 years as a member of the Tallahassee Bombers in the Masters Division of the Roy Hobbs World Series.

Gary Yordon, who along with Chip Campbell and Scott Hamilton organizes the Bombers, produces a syndicated political talk show, “Usual Suspects,” in Tallahassee, and he invited Bill to be a guest and to tell his story.

When Bill talked about loving baseball on the show, Yordon was struck with the idea that perhaps Bill, now 52, could play with the Bombers, a veteran Roy Hobbs team in the 48+ division.

Gary and Bill became friends and when visiting Bill’s family, Gary recalls Bill’s father talking about what a good ball player Bill was and about Bill’s love of baseball.

Gary went to his teammates and pitched the idea of Bill joining the Bombers. It was unanimous and Gary was tasked with inviting Bill to become a Bomber.

“I asked if he would be interested in playing ball again in a structured league with all the trimmings of the real thing as a member of our team,” Gary said. “He said it would be ‘unbelievable’.

“He was like a 9-year-old,” Gary said, “calling me about details, including if he had a right shade of gray on his pants.”

So you’ll see him this week wearing No. 27 for the Bombers. He played his first game Sunday and was 0-for-3 with 3 ground balls, hitting into a double play in his first at bat. And the Bombers lost to the Maine Indians 5-2. But the bad start hasn’t fazed him one bit.

“I love baseball,” he said.

Bill’s first baseball game since 1981 Sunday was played in Lee County Stadium and was accompanied by pre- and post-game interviews, cameras and video-taping by independent producers who are building a program about him and his experiences for ESPN, CNN, CBS and others.

“The Bombers are about family,” Gary said before the game. “This is amateur baseball and our dugout is like a family. We thought this was the right thing to do.”

And, as for Bill’s first game performance, “He told me he doesn’t remember his first time at bat – he was just numb,” Gary said.

Bill is a songwriter and country singer and is usually booked to perform or talk about his experience most of the year. In fact, he cancelled one such gig to play ball.

He has a professionally produced CD containing songs he wrote while in prison. It’s called Black Robes and Lawyers, and his favorite is the last song, Brand New Start, which he feels he now has. Bill is unabashedly a country singer, and according to Roy Hobbs resident music expert (and umpire assignor) Bob Spangler … “Yeah, this is kinda dark but with hope. I really sense some David Allan Coe influence here, as well as some reggae. I am enjoying listening to this.”

The title cut starts … “My name is William Michael Dillon. I was arrested for murder on August 26, 1981 for a crime I didn’t commit. I was released November 18, 2008. Thank you for the keepers of justice … ”

Baseball was never far from his thoughts in prison. “Yes, I thought about playing baseball all the time,” he said, “usually before I fell asleep each night I would think about what might have been.

“My life has been a lot about never giving up on your dreams,” he said. And there is a song on his CD, Chasing a Dream, in reference to his dreams of justice and freedom.

Bill was cleared by DNA evidence, perjury by a witness and when the owner of a dog that linked his scent to a piece of evidence was discredited. Three other cases involving the dog were also dismissed and the suspects set free ahead of Bill.

Bill says this year 4 suspects have been arrested and charged with the crime he was sent to prison for. They haven’t gone to trial yet and Bill thinks it’s because no agreement has been reached for his compensation.

“But no amount of money can pay for the years I’ve lost.” He said.

Bill’s life is looking up. He lives with a girlfriend in North Carolina. They met in Houston while attending a conference to help people unlawfully jailed.

Bill has founded an organization “The William Dillon Freedom Foundation” dedicated to such efforts.

His father had hoped to see his son play in the Series, but his mother had eye surgery so Dad couldn’t be here.

Tom-Toms beating drums again

2011-10-28T19:41:00.007-04:00

BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore, 80, Facebooks this:

"Back in fla. for the roy hobbs world series. We have 212 teams this year."

This will be Richmond, Virginia native Tom Moore's eighth year of providing daily accounts for the baseball tournament run by former BJ sports editor Tom Giffen. It's the 23rd year for the tournament named after the Robert Redford character in "The Natural" movie.

The teams are placed in divisions according to age, 28 to 80.

Giffen uses the spring training facilities of the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Florida. An 18-wheeler took Giffen's office from Akron-Peninsula Road to Ft. Myers.

The event brings $9 million into the Fort Myers economy.

Giffen in 1990 formed a four-team league of adult men playing out of Akron. The next year the league grew to 11 teams and joined Roy Hobbs Baseball, which was owned by Ron Monks of California. In 1992 Monks sold Roy Hobbs Baseball to Giffen and his wife, Ellen.

Giffen, 62, does this despite having leukemia (in remission), hips replaced and a stent for his heart problem.

Al Fitzpatrick: A Summa Health Care actor

2011-10-27T21:10:00.004-04:00

Watch closly and you will spot former BJ executive editor Al Fitzpatrick. Thanks to Ann Sheldon Mezger who posted it on facebook for us to grab

Beating Aetna at its own game

2011-10-27T14:27:00.007-04:00

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Last year I hit the donut hole for prescriptions in May.

This year it's nearly November and I'm still $654.96 short of hitting the donut hole, which kicks in this year at $2,840.

How did I do it with the same prescriptions in both years?

I switched from getting my prescriptions through Aetna to getting them at a local pharmacy -- in my case, Walgreen's. And, when I hit the donut hole last year, I switched my brand name prescriptions to Canada.

How did this save me so much money?

Well, the brand name prescriptions through Canada were one-third to half the cost of getting them through Aetna. I also made sure that I stocked up on prescriptions by getting all my brand name refills in December 2010. I saved nearly $2,000 last year by going to Canada once I hit the donut hole.

So how did switching to a local pharmacy save money?

Aetna's charges for prescriptions are higher than what local pharmacies charge. In effect, Aetna is charging itself the higher price if you use Aetna mailed prescriptions. Although Aetna has a lower per-pill rate for 90-day prescriptions, the savings is more than offset by Aetna over-charging itself. That puts you in the donut hole sooner, and then Aetna collects 100% (in 2010, 50% in 2011) of the value it put on the prescriptions.

Tom Moore's memories of parking deck

2011-10-22T07:18:00.002-04:00

By Tom Moore
Hey, we write about our memories of a colleague when he/she is no longer with us.
So why not a parking deck that’s seen so many great journalist (and some who just thought they were) drive in and park their cars.

I first became acquainted with a parking space there when I was named wire editor. Since I had to be in at 4 or 4:30 a.m. I needed a near by and safe place.
Otherwise, I’d probably not have gotten a space since the only vacancies at that time came about when somebody left…retired or died.

I wound up on the roof which could be a hassle in winter, especially with snow.
The boys who did the clearing usually piled most of the snow about my car since it was one of the first in.

But I survived and enjoyed having to only walk down a couple of flights and all under cover.

I eventually wound up with a space on the fourth floor and that was nice. Except for one Saturday night when I got ready to leave about 1 p.m. Started up the car and the red heat light immediately came on. I pulled into a space on the 3rd floor by the entrance and checked under the hood. Now I know little about mechanics, but this was one problem that stood out.

Somebody had stolen my radiator hose!

I went back to the newsroom and fortunately the managing editor, Scott Bosley, was still around. (He was one of those ME that took his job very seriously and stuck around all hours or the night and day.)

He couldn’t help chuckling a bit but we let the car sit there and he took me home.
The next morning, with a new hose, my neighbor and I replaced it and I drove out.
You had to be a bit on your guard when driving in the old deck. I almost had two collisions on one of the ramps…one time with Bob Henretty and the other time with Ben Maidenburg!

And you didn’t park in the first slot on the fourth floor. That was Jack Knight's.

And for those who happened to park in one of the printer’s reserved spot, they better have a scrapper with them. Somebody would take a pot of that old sticky glue we used and a couple newspaper sheets and cover their windshields.

Ah yes, another memory of days gone by and another sign of the shrinking at what was once a premiere site in Akron.

Few papers show Gadhafi's dead body

2011-10-21T07:48:00.001-04:00

Few U. S. newspapers show dead body of Gadhafi. Many international papers show the body.

See article.

Week in Canadian Rockies wonderland

2011-10-19T12:55:00.004-04:00

Paula and I just returned from a week in the winter wonderland of the Canadian Rockies. We flew into Calgary and drove a rental car 1,500 miles across the continental divide and walked on a glacier in the Columbia Icefields.

If you want to see the photos of our trip, click on the headline.

Next trips: Siesta Key (Sarasota), Florida Jan. 14-28 and Thailand and Cambodia Feb. 15-March 2.

If you have taken a trip lately, email the details and jpeg photos to John Olesky at Jo4wvu@neo.rr.com

Retired BJ engraver Jim Dancy dies

2011-10-19T12:39:00.005-04:00

James E. Dancy, Sr. May 8, 1932-Oct. 14, 2011

``Jimmy' was born May 8, 1932 to William and Mildred Dancy in Wadsworth, Ohio, the fifth of seven children.

Jimmy attended Wadsworth Public School, leaving to join the United States Navy, where he received an honorable discharge.

Upon leaving the service, Jimmy married the late Betty J. Purdue, and their union produced three children. Jimmy later met and married Leona E. Valentine, whom he was wed until her passing.

During this marriage, Jimmy accepted Christ, was baptized May 3, 1987, and was a member of Bethel Baptist Church.

Jimmy retired from the Akron Beacon Journal after 26 years. He was a loyal employee who rarely missed work.

Jimmy was preceded in death by his parents; his wife (Leona); brothers, Charles and Emmitt Dancy; sisters, Leona Wise, Marian Simms, and Margret Leach; ex-wife and friend, Betty Dancy.

He is survived by sons, James E. Dancy Jr. of Akron, Ohio, Don A. (Traci) Dancy of Copley, Ohio; stepson, Leon P. Valentine of Cleveland, Ohio; daughter, Renee M. (Garland) Stokes of Akron, Ohio; grandchildren, Don, Deoco and Daisha Dancy, Garland ll (Duce), Danielle and Dionna Stokes; stepgrandchildren, Chonita Brown, Corey, Shalana and Gino Suggs; sister, Gloria P. Dancy of Akron Ohio; in-laws, Carrie, Eugene and Sylvester Valentine of Washington, D.C., Edna Howard of Akron, Ohio, Thomas Huffman and Mary Ann Powell of Barberton, Ohio; and a host of nieces, nephews and other relatives.

Funeral service will be Thursday, October 20, at 12 noon at the J.E. SCOTT FUNERAL HOME, 1158 S. Arlington St., Akron, Ohio 44306. Friends may visit from 11 a.m. until time of service, Pastor Dr. David Ford officiating. Procession will form and condolences may be sent to 519 S. Hawkins Ave., Akron, Ohio 44320. Interment at Lakewood Cemetery. (J.E. SCOTT FUNERAL HOME, 330-773-9210)
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Wednesday, October 19, 2011, page B4, col. 5]

Press Club to honor Bob Paynter

2011-10-18T17:46:00.003-04:00

Former Beacon Journal and Plain Dealer investigative reporter Bob Paynter is among five who wll be inductd into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame by the Press Club of Cleveland. They will be honored at a dnner at 7 p.m. Friday, October 28, at LaCentre, 25777 Detroit Road, Westlake.

Bob was on the BJ team that won a 1994 Pulitzer prize for public service for its series, “A Question of Color,” about race in the Akron area.

Others to be honored are Tom Beres, Tom Feran, Phillip Morris and Kelly O'Donnell

Type “Paynter” in the search box to find other items on Paynter.

Dallas News to cut printing days in 3 years

2011-10-18T15:18:00.000-04:00

Inland Press Association | Alan English

Mark Medici, vice president of audience for The Dallas Morning News, said Monday during a talk at the Inland Press Association conference in Chicago that the newspaper won’t print seven days a week in three years. Describing the News’ paid content strategy — the site’s paywall went up in March — Medici said, according to a live blog of the event, that the A.H. Belo-owned newspaper has seen a massive uptick in Sunday subscribers, “which is fine because we know in three years we won’t have a seven-day paper.” Sunday subscribers get full access to the website. (Thanks to Alan English, executive editor of The Augusta Chronicle, for alerting us via tweet). In March 2009, The Detroit Free Press (owned by Gannett) and The Detroit News (a MediaNews paper) started to deliver papers only three days a week — Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, when the papers have more ads and are popular with readers — although the papers are available every day on newsstands.

A goodbye email from the parking deck

2011-10-18T02:01:00.005-04:00

Dear friends,

I know it has been quite a while since I’ve seen many of you, but I thought I’d drop a note to let you know that I’ll soon be joining the ranks of the retirees.

It’s not by choice, mind you, but there’s no denying that it’s time for me to go. I leave with little ego boost in knowing that the current management finds me wholly irreplaceable. I agonize for those whom I have had the humble pleasure of serving; no matter how often I was taken for granted, I still don’t wish upon these fine folks the hurdles and hassles that so many will face in my absence.

It didn’t have to be this way. I won’t point the blame at any particular person; suffice it to say that decisions were made over the last decade or so to allow me to fall into disgraceful disrepair. I don’t mean to do it, but I drop chunks of concrete left and right these days. I drip some weird white chemical substance, unintentionally marking the cars with stains to remember me by. I’m a decrepit old pile. I think we all know that folks like Jack Knight and Ben Maidenburg would be appalled to see me like this.

You might say that I’ve endured more physical stress than any Beacon employee ever had to, but the presses might disagree with me. I was happy to give you shelter, a somewhat safe place to stash your car. Dial it back a few decades and my disappearance wouldn’t be such a huge deal. Remember how plentiful downtown parking was in the 70s and 80s?

And through it all I remember everything. Yes, EVERYTHING. Countless Fran Murphey naps in her car. Fireworks and barbecues. I remember one couple even got engaged here. Then there were the sometimes brutal Northeast Ohio winters when the homeless huddled in my stairwells. There were fender benders and maybe even a few plain old benders. But I’m not going to dish on anyone (I hear some of you breathing a sigh of relief). I was happy to be both an exercise track and a smoking buddy. I had a great job, watching all of you coming and going. Keeping something secure for you in the meantime. In my own mind, I had a sign over my entrance along the lines of the famous Riviera Lanes placard, only mine said “Through these gates drive the world’s greatest newspaper people.”

On some level, I am certain that it is time to check out. Aw, heck, on EVERY one of my levels it is clear. I leave with the comfort of having realized the answer to the Shakespearean question. The answer for me is NOT 2B! Still I depart with fond memories of all of you.

Gosh, it’s been a real pleasure.

Sincerely,

The Parking Deck

. . . And here's a video

2011-10-18T01:56:00.004-04:00

And here's a Requiem video of the ole parking deck

R.I.P.

See Grumpy Abe's take on PD editorial

2011-10-17T20:24:00.003-04:00

You might want to ready Grumpy Abe's take on the Plain Dealer endorsement for State Issue 2. Go to Grumpy Abe, the blog of retired BJ political writer Abe Zaida

Is print media a thing of the past?

2011-10-16T20:36:00.002-04:00

Is print becoming a thing of the past? I just got notice from Ignatius Press, a Catholic publisher, that they are moving all of their print media (several magazines) online.

BJ lunch: Time had come to talk of many things

2011-10-12T19:13:00.010-04:00

Lunch bunch (from left) Gene McClellan, Al Hunsicker, Tom Moore and Carl Nelson

Rosetta Blanton and friend Lonie Thomas, joined the four regulars at the monthly BJ Retirees lunch at Pap Joe’s in Merriman Valley. She is the widow of BJ engraver Watson Blanton who died March 25, 2010,

She joined printers Al Hunsicker, Gene McClellan and Carl Nelson and news editor Tom Moore in discussing BJ topics.

Missing from the usual bunch was Cal Deshong, who will turn 93 next month. Calvin E. Deshong was born November 24, 1918 in Johnstown, PA. All agreed that they should send him birthday cards. And that led to a discussion of the cost of those musical cards and everything else. Moore had been sending him musical cards for a couple of years. Hunsicker said he liked one with an accordion that played a tune when you opened it up, but when he noticed the $8 price he shut off the music.

Moore had sent his cards from Florida where he is headed again Monday for another month of Hobbs Baseball working with Tom Giffen.

Somebody noted that it took the BJ a day to catch up on the obituary for former prosecutor James Barbuto who made lots of headlines a few years ago. Moore reminded printers that the classified obit crew had always sent up little green sheets on each obit to the morgue for checking to see if the person should rate a news story. Moore wondered if the morgue had been shut down.

Carl Nelson asked if anybody had been to the printers club lately. Nobody had. Nelson said the club is still open but the entrance on Exchange Street has been closed because of so many unsavory characters turning up.

And that’s a -30- for this month.