Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
For Home Delivery or to advertise, call 372-4444
DEATHS
INDEXBeavercreek/Bellbrook.........7ABusiness...............................8AClassifieds...................15A-18AComics................................13ALifestyle......................10A-11ALottery.................................4AMovies/TV..........................14AOpinion................................5ARecord.................................6AOutdoor................................6BSports.............................3B-5BState/Nation/World..............9AWeather..............................19A
• Patricia A. Pierson, 79, Xenia• Florence M. Turner, 96, Xenia• Otto Albert Zink, Jr., 91, Fairborn
Page 6A !
6 7 4 8 2 5 8 2 2 0 1 9
5500YYeeaarrssAAggoo
Greene Countyiinn
JJuullyy 1177,, 11995599Two wagons loaded with straw weredestroyed yesterday when theycaught fire while being hauled by afarm tractor on U.S. 42, just north-east of Xenia. The flames were putout by Xenia Township FireDepartment. Cause of the blaze wasnot known.
COMINGTOMORROW
TODAY’SFORECAST
NOTEWORTHY
New StudentOrientation
New Student Orientation (NSO) is a full-day event which is the beginning of yourlife at Central State University. The orienta-tion will take place July 17. The day willbegin at 8:30 a.m. with registration andend at 4 p.m. NSO is important to a suc-cessful transition to college.Register for fall classes, secure housingand meet other students. Take care of thefees and tuition process without standingin long lines. Parents will also have theopportunity to learn more about CentralState University. Campus housing andclasses are filling up fast, so don’t delay!
TToo ssuuggggeesstt aa NNootteewwoorrtthhyy ccaannddiiddaattee,, eemmaaiill
eeddiittoorr@@ggrreeeenneeccoouunnttyyddaaiilliieess..ccoomm
DONE DEALColumnist Bob Robinson hasquestions about state budget.
OPINION, Page 5A !
CloudyHigh of 77˚
Weather, 19A
FFRRIIDDAAYYJuly 17, 2009
Vol 2 No 240
XENIA " BEAVERCREEK " JAMESTOWN " CEDARVILLE " YELLOW SPRINGS " SPRING VALLEY " BELLBROOK " WILBERFORCE
By AARON KEITH HARRISStaff Writer
[email protected] — Xenia Mayor Phyllis
Pennewitt will not seek re-electionfor a second four-year term, sheannounced Thursday afternoon.
“I have a health problem and Ifelt it necessary to share that withthe citizens,” said Pennewitt, whosaid she has hypertension, but that itis “under control.”
She said she wished to make thepublic announcement because peo-ple had begun to ask her why shehadn’t filed to run for re-election asthe Aug. 5 deadline approached.
Pennewitt, who has attendedmore than 1,200 public meetings inher four years as mayor and sixyears on city council, credited herhusband Don and the citizens of
Pennewitt notrunning forre-electionTo date, three candidates havefiled papers to run for mayor
Charles Caperton/Greene County DailiesPhyllis Pennewitt, Mayor of Xenia, announced that she will not run for re-election. The announcement was madeat the Xenia Area Community Theater. See Mayor, Page 2A !
By BRANDON SMITHFor the Gazette News-CurrentBEAVERCREEK — Studies
could be done, said Tim Fischer,site manager of Lammers BarrelFactory for U.S. EPA. But theyaren’t likely to link local illnessto pollutants at the site — at
least conclusively enough for acourt, he said.
In fact, in his many years withU.S. EPA, Fischer said he hasn’theard of any cases where pollu-tion has been linked to healthproblems in court — evenregarding Superfund sites, the
most toxic sites in the U.S.Superfund sites are so named
because of the “super”-sizedtrust fund Congress appropriatedto clean them up in the early1980s. Lammers is one of thesesites.
“It’s very difficult to tie it
back to the site. Occasionallyyou can find a direct correlationbut it’s very rare,” Fischer said,because people tend to move toand from different areas everyfew years. Also, causes of illnessare simply hard to pin down, hesaid. Countless behavior patterns
need to be analyzed to make aconnection.
How could a study get done?Fischer said that “in most
cases … communities [them-selves] go to the health agencies
EPA: Studies wouldn’t likely get settlementPart II in a series
See Site, Page 2A !
Charles Caperton/Greene County DailiesThe Mantis UAS will be on display at the Dayton Air Show this weekend at Wright-Patt.
By DAN EDWARDSWDTN Reporter
DAYTON — Organizers of thisyear’s Air, Trade and Technology Exposay there is more on display this weekthan just planes. It's an opportunity forthe Dayton region to display its aero-space expertise to the world.
Three groups, the Air ForceAssociation, The Department ofDefense and the Air Show Board havetaken on the mission of making the Air
More thanjust planesAir Show to haveinternational flavor
See Planes, Page 2A !
By MEGAN O'ROURKEWDTN Reporter
BELLBROOK — Police from fourdifferent departments are looking for aman they said is a serial church thief.
The most recent crime occurred onSaturday, July 11, at the BellbrookCommunity Church.
Officials said the male suspect wentin an unlocked door and took a creditcard from an office, while memberswere outside doing yard work.
Serial thieftargetsBellbrookChurch
See Church, Page 2A !
WASHINGTON (AP) — Relentlesslyrising unemployment is triggering morehome foreclosures, threatening the Obamaadministration’s efforts to end the housingcrisis and diminishing hopes the economywill rebound with vigor.
In past recessions, the housing industryhelped get the economy back on track.Home builders ramped up production,expecting buyers to take advantage oflower prices and jump into the market. Butnot this time.
These days, homeowners who got fixed-rate prime mortgages because they hadgood credit can’t make their paymentsbecause they’re out of work. That meanseven more foreclosures and furtherdeclines in home values.
The initial surge in foreclosures in 2007and 2008 was tied to subprime mortgagesissued during the housing boom to peoplewith shaky credit. That crisis has ebbed,but it has been replaced by more tradition-al foreclosures tied to the recession.
Unemployment stood at 9.5 percent inJune and is expected to rise past 10 per-cent and well into next year. The last timethe U.S. economy was mired in a reces-sion with such high unemployment was1981 and 1982.
But the home foreclosure rate then wasless than one-fourth what it is today.Housing wasn’t a drag on the economy,and when the recession ended, the boomwas explosive.
No one is expecting a repeat. The real
estate market is still saturated with unsoldhomes and homes that sell below marketvalue because they are in or close to fore-closure.
“It just doesn’t have the makings of arecovery like we saw in the early 1980s,”says Wells Fargo Securities senior econo-mist Mark Vitner, who predicts mortgagedelinquencies and foreclosures won’treturn to normal levels for three more
Rising unemployment accelerates foreclosure crisis
See Foreclosure, Page 2A !
AAllmmaannaacckk aanndd MMoorree.. Look for ournew lifestyle page contacting GreeneCounty Almanack, local HistorianJoan Baxter, Chow Line, TwigWalkingstick and more.
COMINGTOMORROW
Check out local anniver-saries, birthdays,engagements, andreunions on our weeklyCelebrations page.
visit usONLINE
www.greenecountydailies.com
! Get thelatest localnews and sports,plus story archives,obituary information,weather and more!
USAWEEKEND
Sports heroes andHollywood can’t get
enough of each other.
INSIDE !
NEW DAYAND LOOKTo help buyers and sellers our RealEstate section will run Fridays.
REAL ESTATE, Page 1B-2B, 7B-8B!
CHAOS INTHE PARKBenefit set for television legendDr. Creep Saturday in Springfield.Xenians Reverend Tommy Gunn, Mr.Unstable and other bands to perform.
Page 4A !
return to normal levels forthree more years.
Almost 4 percent of home-owners with a mortgage are inforeclosure, and 8 percent ontop of that are at least a monthbehind on payments — thehighest levels since the GreatDepression.
Because home values havedeclined so dramatically, manypeople can’t refinance. Theyowe far more to the bank thantheir properties are worth.
To combat the foreclosurecrisis and help stabilize homeprices, President BarackObama launched an effort inMarch to help 9 million peo-ple avoid foreclosure by help-ing them refinance or modify-ing their loans to lower theirpayments.
But that’s of no help to peo-ple who can’t even afford thelower payments becausethey’re making much lessmoney or have lost their jobsaltogether.
As of early July, about160,000 borrowers wereenrolled in three-month trialsof loan modifications underthe plan, according to prelimi-nary figures from the TreasuryDepartment.
Meanwhile, more than 1.5million American households
were threatened with losingtheir homes in the first sixmonths of this year, foreclo-sure listing service RealtyTracInc. said Thursday.
Last week, TreasurySecretary Timothy Geithnerand Housing Secretary ShaunDonovan outlined their frus-trations in a letter to 25 mort-gage companies, saying theindustry needs to “devote sub-stantially more resources tothis program for it to fullysucceed.”
and Trade Show a world classevent by reviving the tradeshow component, which wasonce a proud staple of the airshow until 1997.
Larry Dosser, President andCEO of Mound Photonics inMiamisburg says, "To seeDayton known not only for theair show but for advancedtechnology advanced manufac-turing carry on the legacy ofinnovation that dates back tothe Wright Brothers."
Mike Emoff, Chairman ofthe Air Show board, says theywant the sky over DaytonInternational Airport filledwith world class talent as twovery popular performers returnto Dayton, Sean Tucker andPatty Wagstaff.
"Because at the end of along week of trade work thereis a celebration which is a cel-ebration of our air show andthat has a lot of value in myopinion."
Toni Sculimbrene, Directorof the National AviationHeritage Alliance, says that thereturn of the popular BrazilianSmoke Squadron gives theshow an international flavor.
"We're convinced theBrazilian smoke squadron isreturning to the Dayton AirShow because of the personalrelationships we have devel-oped."
Sculimbrene hopes thosepersonal relationships willdevelop into business relation-ships with Brazil, one of thelargest manufacturers of air-planes in the world.
"First of all we're the homeof the Wright Brothers andthat’s how we made a connec-
tion with the Braziliansbecause they had a great inter-est in the story of the WrightBrothers and what began as arelation built on history ofDayton now appears to beturning into a relationship builton the businesses we have inthis community today.
Very soon, the Alliancehopes to expand Dayton's avia-tion heritage beyond Brazil byshowcasing the Wright B Flyerin the the Middle-East and theuntapped markets of the FarEast.
"I just think it's been a casewhere the forces hadn't alignedthemselves. Now we have avery viable heritage groupsuch as the National AviationHeritage Alliance we've estab-lished relationships with busi-nesses here in the DaytonRegion as well as businesses ininternational locations likeBrazil."
2A Friday, July 17, 2009 GREENE COUNTY DAILIES
Extreme’s
FREEService Call
Limit 1 Coupon Per HouseholdThe Holder Will Be Entitled to1 free standard service call
on their air conditioning systemFFoorr MMoorree IInnffoo.. CCaallll 993377--442266--77339999
Offer Expires 7/22/09
ExtremesCooling Problems?Don’t Panic! One Hour can help with:• Air Conditioning& Heating Systems
• Furnaces• Heat Pumps
• Duct Cleaning & Sanitizing
• Compressors• Evaporator Coils
And Much More
Licensed, Bonded & InsuredLocally Owned & Operated
Serving All of Beavercreek937-426-7399
www.onehourair.com
1265
898
ROBERT WOOD, CRPC566 E Dayton Yellow Springs [email protected]
(937) 878-0100
We know home insurance.We can help you protect your home and everything in it.
Call us today to discuss your coverage options.
Subject to availability and qualifications. The "Cupped Hands" logo is a registered service mark of AllstateInsurance Company.Allstate Indemnity Company, Northbrook, IL © 2007 Allstate Insurance Company.
from page one
A division of Brown Publishing CompanyCopyright 2008, all rights reservedPublished every day but Sunday,
Monday, New Years Day, IndependenceDay and Christmas. Periodicals postagepaid at Xenia, Ohio 45385. Postmaster:
Send address changes to Greene CountyDailies, 30 S. Detroit Street, Xenia, OH
45385. The publisher shall not be liablefor damages out of errors in advertise-
ments beyond the amount paid forspace actually occupied by that portionof the advertisement in which the error
occurs, and there shall be no liability fornon-insertion of any advertisement
beyond the amount paid in advance forsuch advertisement.
(ISSN 8750-4650) (USPS) 94-540)
30 South Detroit StreetXenia, OH 45385
Phone (937) 372-4444Fax (937) 372-3385
Newsroom Fax (937) 372-1951JON M. NOEL,
Editor & PublisherExtension 101
BARBARAVAN de VENTER,
Advertising DirectorExtension 156
GINA RIEFSTAHL,Circulation Director
Extension [email protected]
SYDNEY GARRINGER,Creative Services Manager
Extension [email protected]
DONNA GRIFFITH,Business Manager
Extension [email protected]
TO SUBSCRIBECirculation department hours are 8
a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Fridayand 8 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Saturday.
Call 937-372-4444 ext. 144Home Delivery: $2.20/week
Out of county Mail Subscription:$43.75/13 weeks
Ask about our EZ Pay plan.Convenient, direct payments…nomore bills, stamps or envelopes.
TO ADVERTISEAdvertising department hours are
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.Monday through Friday.
For retail advertising, call937-372-4444, extension 156.
For private party classifiedadvertising, call 937-372-4219
(direct line)For a copy of our Media Kit, email
[email protected] advertising fax line
is 937-372-3385
NEWS TIPSSubmit calendar items and news
tips by hand or mail to:Greene County Dailies
30 S. Detroit St., Xenia, OH 45385Fax to: (937) 372-1951
E-mail: [email protected]@xeniagazette.com
ONLINEOur online edition contains the toplocal news and sports stories plusnews videos from the Associated
Press. There are also many online-only features, including Accu-
Weather forecasts, national-brandcoupons, local movie listings pluslinks to dozens of sites including
USA Weekend, American Profile andall of our advertising partners. Youcan also go online to read an elec-
tronic replica of our print edition.Make www.xeniagazette.com your
homepage.
PHOTO REPRINTSMany of the photographs we’ve
taken can be viewed or purchasedat our online photo albums.
Included are photos takenbut not published.
Visit www.xeniagazette.com andclick the big blue button to see and
buy photos.
COMMERCIAL PRINTINGWith six print plants located
throughout Ohio plus many outsidevendors, we have the expertise and
experience to handle virtually anykind of commercial printing. Fromsales flyers to wedding invitations,
we can be your local one-stopsource. Call 937-372-4444, exten-
sion 156 for more information.
REPORT AN ERRORWhen mistakes happen we want to
take responsibility for them and cor-rect them in a quick, professional
manner. Call 937-372-4444, exten-sion 101 to report an error.
Brandon Smith for BNCAn old truck axle found on the Lammers Barrel factory site. A truck missing a grounding chain was determined tohave caused the fire that destroyed the factory.
or to elected officials” tovoice a concern about concen-trated health issues. Apparentlythe Woodhaven community hasnot formally requested a studyyet.
Kessler is on the brink ofdoing just that, but he mayhave to first explain the nearbypollution to his neighborhood.
A community in the dark?An afternoon walk around
the Woodhaven subdivision —and conversations with about10 residents of streets nearestthe pollution — revealed thatmany people nearby had notheard of the Lammers site.Most residents this reporterspoke with were not familiarwith the site or its pollution ofnearby groundwater.
The EPA’s so-called commu-nity involvement panel has notbeen contacted by EPA in atleast three years, said Kessler.The EPA’s “InformationRepository,” kept about a milefrom the site at theBeavercreek CommunityLibrary, has not been updatedsince mid-2006. And EPA’swebsite on the Lammers pollu-tion features a November 2006update as its latest.
Fischer said that EPA plansto host public meetings aboutthe site in Beavercreek this fall.
Pace of cleanup andresponsible parties
Whether the pollution has
had any effect on public healthmay never be known, becauseof the lack of illness studies.But the pollution itself remains,and likely will for some time tocome.
Fischer says that the averageSuperfund site takes about 10years to clean up, from the ini-tial addition to the Superfundlist to the end of cleanup work.Lammers was suggested as apossible list addition in 2001,and was added in 2003. EPAhas known about Lammerssince around 1985.
“It’s fair to say this [site] hastaken longer than usual” to getits cleanup process going, saidFischer. “In this case, there wasa lot of front-end work”involved to determine theresponsible parties, said anoth-er EPA spokesman.
EPA offers incentives forcleanup to occur in a timelyfashion, said Fischer, butLammers is considered a“longer-term project.” Withthose, he said, “speed is rela-tive.”
Luckily the communitywon’t get stuck with the bill. Incases of pollution involvingSuperfund sites, any person orcompany that generated, trans-ported, stored or disposed oftoxic waste at the site can beheld legally (and monetarily)responsible. That includes pay-ing for research on the pollu-tion, the cleanup itself, andoften times reimbursement ofEPA for its oversight of thewhole operation, as is the case
at Lammers Barrel.According to EPA docu-
ments, responsible partiesinclude the following compa-nies and people: Alcoa Inc.,Borden Inc., BP ProductsNorth America Inc.,Chemcentral Corp., CopelandCorp., DaimlerChrysler Corp.,Ford Motor Co., GeneralElectric Co., General MotorsCorp., Goodyear Tire &Rubber, International Truckand Engine Corp., Lamson &Sessions, United TechnologiesCorp., Minnesota Mining andManufacturing Co., PPGIndustries, ArvinMeritor Inc.,Sherwin Williams Co., SunocoInc. and Anthony Kohnen.
In a later report, several moreentities were listed: Monsanto,Specialty Papers Company,Aluminum Company ofAmerica, and VirginiaLammers.
Anthony Kohnen was co-owner of Kohnen andLammers Chemical Company,and is still alive according toDayton obituary records. AnOhio EPA official and thesite’s current owner say Mr.Kohnen resides in a nursinghome. Paul Lammers was theother co-owner, and likely haddied before 2001 because hisnext-of-kin, VirginiaLammers, was named in alegal settlement in that year.Virginia Lammers died in2006 according to obituaryrecords.
Next week: Current ownerinnocent victim, she says.
Continued from Page 1A
Site
Xenia with helping her fulfillher duties.
“I care so much for the cityand its citizens,” said Pennewitt,who intends to remain active incity affairs including theX*ACT community theater andthe “Meet Me at the Station”program, which brings localyouth to Xenia Station to learnabout the city’s railroad her-itage.
Pennewitt also used the occa-sion of her announcement toendorse mayoral candidateMarsha Bayless, a retired XeniaCommunity Schools principal,teacher and counselor.
Besides Bayless, two othercandidates have filed papers torun for mayor, FeliciaChappelle, the sister of actor-comedian Dave Chappelle, andDale Louderback, a first-termcity councilman and local realestate agent.
Continued from Page 1A
Mayor
Detectives said he then wentto the Columbus area, where heracked up hundreds of dollars attwo different stores.
Now, Bellbrook investigatorsare working with detectivesfrom Reynoldsburg PoliceDepartment, Licking CountySheriff's Office and FairfieldCounty Sheriff's Office, wherethey said the suspect has stolenfrom other churches.
"He's going in when membersof the church are busy," saidDet. Keith Salyers, withBellbrook Police. "He just
strolls into the church, grabswhat he needs and comes out.He's stealing out of the officesand or purses of the membersthere".
Police described the suspectas a white male, in his 20's orearly 30's. He had black hairand was between 5'10 and 6'0.Officials said he also had tattooson his calf, inner ankle and leftwrist. The suspect was lastscene driving a black, 4-doorsedan with racing rims.
If you have any informationthat could help police, callCrimestoppers at 222-STOP,that's 222-7867.
Continued from Page 1A
Church
Staff ReportXENIA — The Ohio House
of Representatives’ version ofthe budget, expected to go infront of Governor Ted Stricklandfor approval in the coming days,has eased up on budget decreas-es to libraries by 19 percent.
It still includes an 11 percentdecrease in library funding – butthat’s better than 30 percent,which was what Strickland’sown version entailed. As previ-ously reported, GCPL expecteda 20 percent cut in January, butin June Strickland announced aproposal to cut 30 percent fromthe libraries’ budgets.
The 11 percent cut is in addi-tion to another state budgetdecrease that is expected to bearound 15 percent, meaninglibraries are now expecting atotal cut of about 26 percent.Libraries asked patrons to con-tact their legislators about thecuts.
However, Elizabeth Rumple,assistant director Greene CountyPublic Library (GCPL) said thatthis cut would still possiblycause cuts in operating hours,staff levels and materials pur-chases.
“We’re committed to livingwithin our means and makingtough choices,” Rumple said.
About half of GCPL’s fund-ing comes from a $1 million 5-year operating levy, which willbe up for renewal in the Nov. 3elections. “We’re just askingpeople to help us keep ourdoors open,” she said of thelevy. She added that, as arenewal, it would not increasethe current tax rate.
She added that GCPL hasmade cuts already — like reduc-ing eight positions through attri-tion and adding more self-ser-vice checkouts — that shouldcarry them through 2009 with-out further changes.
Budget includessmaller decreasein library funding
Continued from Page 1A
PlanesContinued from Page 1A
Foreclosure
