BJ Pulitzer stolen

The BJ’s Pulizer for the 1994 “A Question of Color” series was stolen from the enclosed display case at 44 E. Exchange Street while the BJ newsroom moved to its new office on the 7^th floor of the AES Building on 388 S. Main Street, previously a Goodrich factory.

The theft happened between Tuesday and late Thursday morning. Work crews were dismantling desks and other equipment to clear the Exchange Street building, which is owned by the Beacon Journal’s former owner, Black Press.

The BJ has 4 Pulitizers:

• In 1968 for Editorial Writing by John S. Knight for his Editor’s Notebook weekly columns opposing the Vietnam War and defending the public’s right to protest.

• In 1971 for General Local Reporting for coverage of the National Guard shootings that killed four students and wounded nine at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.

• In 1987 for General News Reporting for “The Goodyear War” when Sir James Goldsmith conducted a greenmail takeover of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

 

• In 1994 for Public Service for “A Question of Color,” a series on race relations and cultural awareness.

Connie Bloom, Hertzes are crime victims

Former Beacon Journal features department editor/columnist Connie Bloom and former BJ page lines-drawer Beth Thomas Hertz and former BJ business editor David Hertz were crime victims.

Connie was the victim of a break-in thug who has hit Summit Artspace several times. It was Connie’s Quilting Arts Studio’s turn to be hit.

Windows shattered. Damage all over the place. It happened Tuesday night.

Beth and husband Dave Hertz had their Copley property vandalized.

Writes Beth:

“Second time in less than a month to wake up to find our house had been vandalized. Instead of eggs this time, they spray-painted our big rock, our lamp post, a cat statue and trees throughout the yard. And of course, TP, along with much plastic cutlery, balloons and wrapping paper. Again, we could laugh off the TP and other debris but not the spray paint everywhere. Grrr.”

Connie quips:

“Note to the bandit: a VISA credit card sign on the window means there is NO MONEY inside. Duh.”

To see a video of the break-in suspect taken from surveillance cameras, click on

http://fox8.com/2015/12/04/police-investigate-break-in-at-akron-art-gallery/

Connie has a 350 square foot studio as the resident quiltmaker in Summit Artspace on the third floor at 140 E. Market Street. It’s next door to the Akron Art Museum.

She is publisher/editor of QSDS (Quilt Service Design Symposium), a quarterly online magazine about fabric art.

Connie was part of the 2008 BJ exodus that saw more than 400 years of experience walk out the door.

Other artists in Summit Artspace are Joan Colbert (printmaking); Cari Miller (mixed-media); Terry Klausman (sculpture/drawing); Carolyn Lewis (painting); Katina Pastis Radwanski (painting/sculpture); Bradley Hart (photography); and Ron White (sculpture/drawing).

Dave Hertz started at Ol’ Blue Walls in 1991 and was night Metro editor, deputy business editor, region editor, business editor, metro editor, enterprise editor and then business editor again. There was a crowd from the BJ when Beth Angela Thomas and David Ralph Hertz were married on Saturday, October 23, 1993 in the Akron Civic Theatre.

Beth was at the BJ from 1991 to 1995 in several jobs including page layout and design. She left to become managing editor in the Communications Department at the Cleveland Clinic.