PD staffers facing layoffs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gen. McChrystal reporter dies in car crash

Michael Hastings

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

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

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

Remember fathers

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

Tom Moore & his father

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

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

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

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

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

Gannett will buy 20 Belo TV stations

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

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

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

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

Marilyn Miller's story on Ted Walls

By Marilyn Miller 

Beacon Journal staff writer

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

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

Ted Walls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Traveling twosome only ones at BJ retirees lunch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photographer Ted Walls dies at 82

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Dunphy from ICU after surgery

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

Current, former BJ staffers win Ohio newspapers awards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other awards were:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But check out Bob's awards list:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Columnists, 1996.

           

REGIONAL HONORS

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Associated Press, 2012.

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

            *Best Columnist in Ohio, Associated Press, 2011.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

           

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wow! Just wow!!!

Fraze completes seventh crime novel

Final Sale is the seventh in a series of crime novels featuring Jo Ferris by Ohio author Kathleen M. Fraze.

Mary Breckenridge has waited years for justice. But her time is running out. Alzheimer’s is stalking her. To give the old woman a bit of peace, police Detective Jo Ferris promises to reopen a very cold case and search for the person who executed Mary’s son in a gas station robbery 20 years before. But flushing out a killer comes with a high price for Mary and Jo.

Fraze  retired September 28 from the Beacon Journal, where she worked since 1973.Fraze  started out as a reporter in Medina County, and moved up the reporting and editing ranks to the job from which she retired: copy desk chief. After 45 years in the business,Fraze decided it was time to retire.  Fraze was a part-time Kent State University instructor for ten years (1990 – 2000) She  taught introduction editing classes during most of the 1990s.

BJ Alums helps reunite long-ago childhood neighbors

The BJ Alums blog is a connecting link for current and former BJ folks across the nation . . . and across the street. BJ Reference Library retiree Sandy Bee Lynn, who later put in about 15 years at the Orrville and Wadsworth public libraries and lives in Doylestown, explains.

After having one of my surgeries, it might have been the Achilles tendonitis one, I returned to orchestra practice on a Monday night. While I was out for a few weeks, a number of new people had joined the orchestra. When the practice was over I was walking down the hall to leave and two women were walking in front of me. They were both carrying violin cases and one also had a bag that looked like it held a music stand. I said “Excuse me, where did you get your bag” (it seemed easier than carrying a stand) and she told me that she had ordered it from a music catalogue and said that she could bring it to me if I'd like to have it.

Both of the women were new to the orchestra -- and me. So we stood there and talked for a while and then one of them asked me if I knew Sandy Bee Lynn. I thought that she was pulling my leg, but I said  "That's me." She grabbed me and hugged me and said my name over and over and that she had been looking for me and that she was "Sue" from my childhood on North Hill.

I was dumbstruck and backed up a little and then she grabbed my hands. Then she quickly let go of my left hand and said, "I know that you've been in an accident and had surgery on that hand -- I don't want to hurt you." I backed up a little farther -- I was feeling a little apprehensive about the entire encounter and she just kept talking. 

It was a couple of weeks later that we had dinner after a Monday night practice and she told me that she had been looking for me for a while and had found the BJ retirees blog and had read about my traffic accident. I had seen her once maybe in the 80s in downtown Akron when I worked at the Beacon and she worked somewhere downtown. My name then was just Sandy Bee and evidently that's the information that she used. Coincidentally, I didn't think she was very excited to see me during that encounter and we didn't exchange phone numbers or anything.

So, I told both my brothers about the first encounter (her older sister babysat my youngest brother so he doesn't really remember either of them -- just heard about them). They both laughed and said they thought she was stalking me -- she seemed to know so much about me and I didn't know how!! 

We lived on North Hill from the time I was about 4 until I was 14. Her name was Marsha Sue, but we just called her Sue. She lived across the street from us and I wasn't allowed to cross the street, so I would stand in front of her house on my side of the street and holler, "SUE!" as loud as I possibly could, usually about 8:00 on Saturday morning! 

Even after I knew the entire story about how she "found" me, I was awe-struck at the things that she remembered that I didn't. It's been quite an interesting journey.

So, the BJ blog "brings people together" -- she admitted to me that she didn't even know how she found the website and wasn't sure if she could find it again!

        Sandy

Sandy plays viola in the New Horizons band in Cuyahoga Falls.

So there you have it. The BJ Alums blog is not just another pretty face. It helps people find each other, and keep track of each other, even former neighbors. That’s one of our main goals here. So email jo4wvu@neo.rr.com with information about your life and we’ll post it on the BJ Alums blog. There may be someone you haven’t heard from in years who will catch up on your life since the two of you last saw each other.

Dedication for Sandy Bee Lynn's paratrooper father July 13 at MAPS Museum in North Canton

From left: Henry Fuller, Tony DiArchangel, Lud Labutka
of Company E, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division

BJ Reference Library retiree Sandy Bee Lynn helped put together a tribute to her dad, a World War II paratrooper, that will be dedicated July 13th at the MAPS (Military Aviation Preservation Society) Museum in North Canton.

Sandy's email to the BJ Alums blog:

Hi John:

Good to hear from you. Paula is correct about the "project" -- the subject is my dad. He was a W.W. II veteran, serving in the 101st Airborne as a paratrooper. On Saturday, July 13th at 2 p.m. we are having a dedication ceremony at the Military Aviation Preservation Society Museum in North Canton. My brothers and I donated his uniform and other memorabilia to them and they pulled the entire thing together. 

Director Jim Adkins was gracious enough to let his New Horizons Band play that day for the ceremony. 

We have invited lots of family and friends to come, so be sure to mention that it's free and open to the public. 

Below is a first draft of a bio of my dad that will go with the exhibit. His uniform was on display at a museum in France for over a year - http://www.paratrooper-museum.org. 

Glenn and I visited France a few years ago and had dinner with the young man who owns the museum, Emmanuel Allain. He actually wanted to buy my dad's stuff, but I just couldn't let go of it -- especially since it would be so far away. He understood and reluctantly sent everything back and we decided to ask MAPS if they wanted it. It's closer and grandkids and great-grandkids will be able to see it whenever they want. They were tickled to death to have it. 

That's about it… I'd be delighted to see you at the dedication, John. 

Sandy

p.s. My drunken friend is still in prison but will get out at the end of the year. He was sentenced to four years by Judge Allison McCarty -- thank goodness. Anyway, I broke a few small bones in my spine and I will probably always have some back pain (being fat and old doesn't help with that!). A couple of years ago I had to have surgery on my left foot for achilles tendonitis and the next year surgery on my left shoulder for a torn rotator cuff. Only my family doctor would say that my body was probably "weaker and more susceptible" to those injuries because of the accident. The majority of the impact was on my left side. Thanks for asking…. and my accident was in 2009 with "the drunken idiot." Good choice of words by you.

Biography of Sandy’s father:

        Henry Fuller was born in Akron, Ohio on September 14, 1922, the youngest of ten children. His mother died when he was only four years old and he spent much of his childhood in the Summit County Children’s Home on Arlington Street. His closest brother, Robert, was also born in Akron in 1919. 

Henry Fuller

        Fuller, also known by family and friends as either “Hank” or “H.S.,” grew up in Akron, but many of his older brothers and sisters lived in Lanett, a small town in Alabama. Many of his siblings came to Akron to work in the rubber factories and he spent most of his youth in Akron. He attended two years of high school. 

        As a young man, he worked at the Phillips Paper Bag Factory in downtown Akron. It was there that he worked with a woman named Zola Mitchell. She was the mother of a young woman whom he later wrote to when he was stationed overseas. 

        Fuller’s brother Robert was a pilot and that is what Fuller thought he wanted to do in the service, but they were not taking any new recruits, so he opted for being a paratrooper instead. His date of entry into the military was February 5, 1942 at Fort Benjamin Harrison Indiana. He attended Parachute School in Fort Benning, Georgia and received his “Parachute Badge” in 1942 and his Combat Infantry Badge in 1944. He was in the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, Company E. 

        Fuller left for England in September of 1943 and arrived there in October of 1943. After extensive training in England, Fuller, along with 791 men in his regiment (the 502nd), flew out of Greenham Common Airfield in England in the evening. They were headed for the coast of France where they would jump in Normandy. They had been confined to their tented assembly area for the past few days for security reasons. Their faces had been blackened to “blend into the darkness and prevent reflection from the moon,” according to Wallace C. Strobel, the young Lieutenant who was the leader of Company E. 

        As the men stood there waiting for their orders to leave for their planes, word was passed that “Eisenhower is in the area.” As he came toward a group of men, he stopped and looked at a young Strobel and asked him his name and where he was from. That encounter turned out to be one of the most famous photographs taken during World War II and Pfc. Henry Fuller is in that photo. Many years after the war he said he didn’t remember seeing or hearing Eisenhower that evening, but he did remember a pretty woman standing near the General’s car -- he assumed that she was Eisenhower’s driver, Kay Summersby. 

        On that fateful evening, 792 men from the 502nd jumped into Normandy. After six days of fierce fighting, only 126 men were still alive and marched back to St. Come-du-Mount. Fuller was one of those men along with Lieutenant Strobel, who later wrote, “I have always been proud of my service with the officers and men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 101st Airborne Division.” Fuller said that he knew that Strobel was all business but he “did right by his men and the men trusted him.”

        After the Normandy invasion, the men of the 502nd pushed inland heading toward Carentan. Fuller served in battles not only in Normandy, but Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe and was wounded in Belgium on January 17, 1945. The deadly Battle of the Bulge, fought in the town of Bastogne in Belgium, would end eight days later on January 25.

        Fuller’s total length of service was one year, seven months and eight days training and serving in the United States and two years and ten days in foreign service. 

        Fuller was honorably discharged September 22, 1945 and returned to Akron. On New Year’s Eve of that year, he married Arline Mitchell, the young woman whose mother he had worked with before the war. They had three children; Sandra, Ronald and Timothy. His second wife, Patricia, preceded him in death.

        Fuller worked as a lettercarrier for the United States Post Office for over thirty years. He passed away on Sunday, March 23, 2003 in Wadsworth Ohio, where he had lived for 10 years, at the age of 80.

After leaving the BJ Reference Library, Sandy worked at the Orrville Public Library and the Wadsworth Public Library. She lives in Doylestown.

If you want more information about the MAPS Museum, click on http://mapsairmuseum.org/

Dave Hess to return home June 15

BJ Alums blog got this email about former BJ and Knight-Ridder Washington bureau reporter Dave Hess from former BJ Columbus bureau reporter Bill Hershey:

Ricardo Zaldivar sent me this update from Aaron Epstein. Aaron is a long-time friend of Dave's and a colleague from the Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau. Aaron covered the Supreme Court for Knight-Ridder.

Aaron Epstein’s report about Dave Hess:

Bill,

Monday night’s update from Aaron Epstein. Please circulate to Ohio friends of Dave.

Best to you,

-ricardo

---

From: Aaron Epstein <aajacks@starpower.net>

Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2013 23:12:08 -0400

To:

Subject: UPDATE: David Hess

            Hello, friends of David Hess:

            There's good news tonight. 

            At a meeting at Inova Mt. Vernon Rehabilitation Hospital, health professionals reported that he has progressed well in recent days and that, barring a setback, he could go home by mid-June. There, he would need 24-hour assistance for weeks, oversight by his primary care physician, a neurologist and a kidney doctor; and sessions with physical and occupational therapists. 

            Saturday, June 15, was set as the tentative target date for Dave's transfer from hospital to home. His brother-in-law, John Rogers of Columbus, Ohio, has volunteered to care for Dave for the first week, and Darrin Burnham, a nephew of Dave's who participated in the discussion by telephone, agreed to stay with Dave for 4-5 days after that. Mary Stringer, Dave's caseworker at the hospital, said she would work with some of Dave's friends and relatives to make plans for the months after that.

            Dr. Lauren Shapiro, Dave's neurologist, said he had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which results from a weakened blood vessel that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding part of the brain. A CT scan a few days ago showed "no expansion" of bleeding, and indicated "a normal evolution" of repair, Dr. Shapiro said. She noted that Dave had been exhausted during earlier days at the hospital, and endured a urinary tract infection, "vivid dreams" (see June 1st note below), and a kidney condition that was "worse than usual."  But, she added, "he has been doing well the past couple of days."

Dave Hess

            Two of Dave's therapists, Jamie Cason and Stephanie Clement, reported improvement in walking (he walked 35 feet with a walker today), and in transferring into and out of bed with only moderate assistance. His voice is getting stronger, too. But he still needs "maximum" help in going to the toilet, and "moderate to maximum" assistance in bathing and dressing, the therapists reported. So there is still a long way for Dave to go in the recovery process. The therapists noted, too, that while he is more alert than in earlier days, Dave's spinal stenosis tires his legs and he remains easily distractible. 

            Dave's cousin, Joe Marling, attended the meeting along with Frank Aukofer and me, both longtime friends of Dave's. They -- and the patient himself -- discussed with Ms. Stringer what needed to be done to help make Dave's return work well. They agreed that Dave should occupy the basement of his home, where there is a bed, TV set, toilet and shower. The medical staff suggested that Dave's relatives from Columbus should arrive a day or two early so a therapist could train them to provide all the daily assistance that he needs. Darrin said that would be possible. 

            At the meeting, Dave agreed that a continued stay in the rehab hospital until June 15 was a good idea, although he said he was eager to get back home and reunite with Champ, his 80-pound boxer.  

Showman to present one-woman show

Sara Showman will  present one-woman show 

The Largely Literary Theater Company will present the one-woman show Mythology: Heroes, Beasts & Gods  at the Books for Africa Library Project’s annual fundraising dinner. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15, in the St. Bernard/St. Mary Church Social Hall.

    The church is located in downtown Akron, at the intersection of Broadway and State Streets. Parking is available at the University of Akron lot opposite the church. The Books for Africa Library Project is a non-profit organization that helps communities set up libraries in rural Africa. The project has established libraries in Ghana and Liberia.

    Written and performed by Largely Literary Theater Company co-founder Sara Showman, Mythology is a lighthearted multi-cultural show that explores the power of storytelling through Greek, Norse, Chinese and Native American mythology. The dinner and performance are free, but donations will be collected.

This is the sixth consecutive year the Largely Literary Theater Company has appeared at the annual Books for Africa Library Project dinner at the landmark downtown Akron church. The benefit will begin at 5:30 p.m. with dinner and music provided by the Touch of Spring hammer dulcimer band.

 At 6:30, Books for Africa’s Kirt and Hilda Bromley will present a 17-minute video and describe their recent mission efforts to build libraries in West Africa. The 45-minute Mythology will follow at about 7:15 p.m.

Sun-Times eliminates photography department

The Chicago Sun-Times laid off all 28 full-time photography department staffers. Said 1982 Pulitzer-winning photographer John White, who has been on the newspaper for 44 years: “It was as if they pushed a button and deleted a whole culture of photojournalism.”

Reporters, free-lance photographers and ordinary citizens will provide the paper’s photos.

The banishment of the entire photography department was announced at the second meeting called by the newspaper’s new managers.

Chicago-based Wrapports, led by Chicago millionaire Michael Ferro, bought the Sun-Times and its 40 suburban affiliates in December 2011. 

The Sun-Times outscourced its printing in 2011.

To read two articles on the razing of the photography department, click on http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/215016/john-white-on-sun-times-layoffs-it-was-as-if-they-pushed-a-button-and-deleted-a-whole-culture/ and http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130530/NEWS06/130539987/chicago-sun-times-cuts-entire-photography-staff