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Organizers going further afield to add events
GAVIN JACKSON DISPATCH
Ray Dillon throws during a boccie practice.
Though rooted in track-and-fieldevents, Special Olympics has grownthrough the years to encompass amuch broader range of athletic com-petitions.
Which explains why, when 3,600competitors descend on Jesse OwensStadium and eight other venuestoday through Sunday for the 40thannual state games, some will vie formedals not only in the 100-meterdash and the softball throw but inbowling and volleyball, too.
“There are over 32 volleyball teamsand 500 bowlers,” program directorMarty Allen said. “Things are a lotmore spread out.”
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
By Kristine GillTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
See EVENTS Page D4
� To see a video of a bocciepractice, visit Dispatch.com/multimedia.
Indeed, the three-day competitionwill showcase no fewer than 11 sports.
Among those that will crownwinners: boccie, powerlifting androller skating.
Who knew?For a few dozen athletes from
Franklin County, these events are themost important this weekend:
BoccieRay Dillon won’t let a teammate, or
even a competitor, forget her turn.
Amid challenges, ComFest future unclearThe knife in his pocket was one
that Bryan Barbin used to carvesticks, making a mess of shavings onthe family porch in Worthington.
On the Saturday night of theCommunity Festival last year — $20and four hits of acid later — it be-came a weapon that the 18-year-oldused to stab his chest so franticallythat he couldn’t be stopped.
Any of the wounds could havebeen fatal: Three of the six piercedhis heart.
“When people hear the circum-stances, it’s easy to say, ‘That couldnever happen to me,’” said hismother, Lyn Tolan-Barbin. “(But)even smart kids who make 1,000great decisions can make a baddecision.”
His drug-related death led, inpart, to security changes for the2010 ComFest, a free event alreadychallenged by its growth during theprevious decade.
From today through Sunday, morethan 70,000 people are expected toswamp Goodale Park for what wasonce a countercultural block party
and has become, 38 years later, oneof the most popular festivals incentral Ohio.
Columbus police plan to increasestaffing and enforcement in andaround the park, citing risingattendance, mounting complaintsfrom neighbors and attendees, andtwo episodes last year: the assault ofan officer by a festival-goer andBarbin’s death.
“Anytime you have major inci-dents like that at any type of festival,it’s our duty to look at: Are we doing
‘THE PARTY WITH A PURPOSE’
The self-inflictedstabbing death lastyear of 18-year-oldBryan Barbin, the
event’s growth andother factors promptedplans for tighter police
enforcement at the2010 festival — which
worries organizers
By Amy SaundersTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
BARBIN FAMILY
Bryan Barbin in 2008 See COMFEST Page D5
06-25-2010 PAGE D1
DLIFE&ARTS�
FRIDAYJUNE 25, 2010
Family eager to give back
Coming Saturday
BOUND FOR ETHIOPIADispatch.com/weekender
Online
SO WHAT’S HAPPENING?Music defines Jackson’s legacy �D4
One year later
As pop culture goes, here’s what drew the most eyes and ears duringthe past 10 days:
TELEVISION1. NBA Finals, Game 7: Boston Celticsvs. Los Angeles Lakers, ABC2. NBA Finals, Game 6, ABC3. America’s Got Talent (Wednesday),NBC4. America’s Got Talent (Tuesday),NBC5. NCIS, CBS
ALBUMS1. Thank Me Later, Drake2. Mojo, Tom Petty and the Heart-breakers3. Laws of Illusion, Sarah McLachlan4. Now That’s What I Call Music! 34,various artists5. To the Sea, Jack Johnson
SINGLES1. California Gurls, Katy Perry featur-ing Snoop Dogg2. OMG, Usher featuring will.i.am3. Airplanes, B.o.B featuring HayleyWilliams4. Billionaire, Travie McCoy featuringBruno Mars5. Find Your Love, Drake
R&B/HIP-HOP SONGS1. Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready), AliciaKeys2. There Goes My Baby, Usher3. Find Your Love, Drake4. OMG, Usher featuring will.i.am5. Lose My Mind, Young Jeezy featur-ing Plies
DVD SALES1. The Book of Eli2. Alice in Wonderland3. Shutter Island4. When in Rome5. From Paris With Love
Sources: Nielsen Media Research, Billboard, Rentrak
THE TOP FIVE
CRITICS’ CHOICESEach week, we consult Metacritic.comto compile aggregate opinions, con-verted to numbers, based on reviewsfrom printed and online sources. Eachmovie is ranked by its “Metascore,” anaverage rating from zero (terrible) to100 (outstanding).
— Nick [email protected]
Post-‘SNL’ samplerMOVIE....................................SCOREPunch-Drunk Love (2002) 78
Good Hair (2009) 72
Grown Ups (2010) 33
The Hot Chick (2002) 29
Joe Dirt (2001) 20
Disney animationMOVIE....................................SCOREBeauty and the Beast (1991) 92
The Lion King (1994) 84
The Princess and the Frog(2009)
73
Waking Sleeping Beauty(2010)
69
Atlantis: The Lost Empire(2001)
52
Making Grown Ups was undoubtedly greatfun for its cast, which mixes formerSaturday Night Live supporting players
with the dynamic comedic pairing that fueled INow Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.
It might have made a better-than-averagehome movie — or, if edited to three minutes, anamusing way to break up the workday at thewebsite FunnyorDie.com.
As a feature-length Hollywood release — onethat grown-ups are expected to pay money towatch — the comedy is about as fun as a week-end spent with aging fraternity alumni who haveforgotten, or probably never realized, that their
MOVIE REVIEW GROWN UPS
COLUMBIA PICTURES PHOTOSFrom left: Kurt (Chris Rock), Eric (Kevin James), Rob (Rob Schneider), Marcus (David Spade) and Lenny (Adam Sandler)
Dumbfounded friendsAll-star cast relies on safe story,weak wisecracks for chuckles
By Nick ChordasTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Unlikely lovebirds Rob and his wife, Gloria (Joyce Van Patten)
MOREONLINE� To hear NickChordas discussGrown Ups andsee clips, visitDispatch.com/movies.
REVIEWSINSIDE� Waking Sleeping Beauty �D2
� Solitary Man �D3
See GROWN UPS Page D2
PubDate: 06-25-2010 Page: 1 D Edition: 1 Replate: User: tlemmon Color:CMYK
“I think the idea thatit might not be heretomorrow would makepeople treat it with alittle more respect.” JODI KUSHINSComFestcommittee member
simultaneously from thestages.
But five years after shedecided to move fromAtlanta to Columbus —influenced, in part, by a visitto the festival — she ques-tions whether Goodale Parkremains the right venue forthe event.
Her neighbors on ButtlesAvenue seem to agree: WhenSullivan, a ComFest clean-up volunteer, asked them tosign off on a noise ordinancefor the 2010 event, onlyabout a quarter of thehouseholds adjacent to thepark (but enough others) didso.
“It could be the most pure,most wonderful festival, butsomething has happened,”said Sullivan, 55. “It isn’t alaid-back, cool environment.For a lot of folks coming in,they just want to partyhard.”
Down the street, PatCollins said, festival-goershave broken windows andstolen a rocking chair fromthe stately Victorian homeshe has owned since 1975.She has caught people park-ing in front of her garage,sleeping on her porch andvomiting and urinating inher alley.
“There’s nothing ‘commu-nity’ about it,” said Collins,68. “It’s three days of horroris what it is.”
Facing what police say areincreased complaints fromneighbors, ComFest organ-izers are promoting theevent’s mission and encour-aging attendees to volunteer,suggesting that theywouldn’t trash their ownparty.
“The more people under-stand that we’re not a tail-gate, the more we integratepurpose into our stages andactivities,” Everett said, “it’smy hope that people whodon’t share our concerns willgo to another festival.”
With a goal of educatingthe public about ComFest,Kushins in 2006 created anarchives committee, collect-ing old documents andphotos for a display insidethe park’s shelter house.
And as co-leader of the“spirit and purpose” com-mittee, Everett tripled thenumber of ComFest work-shops three years ago. Thetopics of the 38 presenta-tions this year range fromalternative energy and taichi to the differences amongcannabis, marijuana andhemp.
Her idea of a good work-shop turnout: 12 to 15 peo-
ple, with some attractinghalf that.
. . .The LSD made Barbin so
loud and strange thatKnutson made him take awalk, trying to separate himfrom the crowds surroundingthe ComFest stages.
Instead, he ran away,leaving his friend to chasehim. By the time he caughtup, Barbin had alreadybegun stabbing himself.
At 8:15 p.m., when special-duty police officers arrived atthe scene, some confusedwitnesses thought Knutson,who had tried to wrestle theknife away from Barbin, wasan attacker. One observerthought he heard Barbin say,“I stabbed myself”; anotherreported that he said: “Ifinally did it. I’m going todie.”
Suicide speculation wasfueled two days later whenone of Barbin’s youngerbrothers posted a video ofhim playing the ukulele,telling the camera that thesong was “something toremember me by” because“I’m probably not ever goingto see you again.”
Tolan-Barbin said her sonhad played the video for agirl at OU — because Bryanplanned to transfer, notbecause he planned to takehis life.
She feels certain hewouldn’t have stabbed him-self had he not been hallu-cinating.
“Bryan had every intentionof living tomorrow and sixyears from now and so on,”his mother said. “In thatmoment, so much changedthat I know Bryan wouldhave never wanted.”
. . .Organizers talk, half-
jokingly, of an unofficialmotto: “Don’t come to Com-Fest.”
They haven’t advertisedthe festival in decades andoften decline interview re-quests on the notion thatany publicity is bad pub-licity.
This year, ExperienceColumbus also obliged theirrequests to remove the eventfrom tourism newslettersthat could encourage morepeople to come.
“My first thought was‘Well, good luck; you’re sortof a victim of your own suc-cess,’” spokesman ScottPeacock said. “It’s reallygrown to become a regionaldraw. . . . I think they’regoing to come.”
For years, organizers havefloated other growth-restricting ideas, includingmoving the festival to alocation such as WestgatePark on the Hilltop, awayfrom the Short Northcrowds. The discussionshaven’t been serious,though: Volunteers are in-vested in Goodale Park,cleaning up and replantinggrass there after the festival,said Stan Sells, president ofFriends of Goodale Park.
Charging for admission —or even the toilets — areamong other suggestionsthat have been discussedbut rejected.
As progressive as it is,ComFest doesn’t changequickly. There are no officialleaders in the committeestructure, with a core groupof 15 to 30 organizers mak-ing all decisions by consen-sus at meetings.
An inability to reach aconsensus explains why theearlier closing hours wereonly recently instituted:Organizer Mark Fisher hadblocked a consensus in pre-vious years until he decidedto resign, instead, after 22years of volunteering.
“We will talk things todeath,” said Morris, 62.“Working collectively isextremely difficult, . . . but,once you get into it, peoplestay for 20 years.”
Now that ComFest re-quires 3,000 volunteers anda $375,000 budget, planningthe event is a way of life thatinvolves meetings everymonth except August.
“I say all the time, ‘I wish Icould quit ComFest,’”Kushins said. “But it’s like afamily commitment: Youwouldn’t just stop takingcare of your parents or yourkids.”
That dynamic also meansthe family gatherings can beargumentative, with dis-cussions among people whohave known one another fordecades becoming heated.
When she attended twomeetings last year in anattempt to help plan Com-Fest, Jody Dzuranin wasquickly turned off by thebickering and what sheperceived as resistance to“new blood.”
Even Kushins, 35, said sheattended planning meetingsfor two years before she feltlike an “accepted member ofthe tribe.”
“I was amazed how dys-functional it is,” said the44-year-old Dzuranin, aComFest attendee since1998. “I thought it would becommunity, peace and love.. . . I was like ‘Oh, my God;this is like any other govern-ment meeting.’”
. . .At a meeting soon after the
Barbin stabbing, ComFest
organizers hugged oneanother and cried over atragedy they’d hoped wouldnever happen.
“It was devastating to all ofus. . . . It was a horrible thingto have to go through, espe-cially at such a peacefulevent,” said Michael Gruber,co-leader of the safety com-mittee. “I think we did every-thing we possibly could.”
Tolan-Barbin doesn’tblame anyone but her son,nor does she know whatmight have prevented hisdeath. She knew nothing ofhis using drugs, recalling hiscriticism of high-schoolclassmates who abused pre-scription drugs.
“I would have never evenknown to talk to young peo-ple about . . . (LSD) because,frankly, I didn’t know it hadsurvived the ’60s,” she said. “Iwish I had something to tellpeople besides the fact thatthere are things out there youdon’t even realize.”
. . .Having witnessed the
stabbing, Chris Bullockworries about ComFestsecurity — not that theevent is unsafe but that thepolice this weekend will be“uptight.”
Officers didn’t seem tomind, he said, when peoplesmoked marijuana at the sixfestivals he attended.
“It’s always been the un-official ‘Look the other way’weekend,” said Bullock, 24,of Victorian Village. “Iwouldn’t really care if therewas a cop every 10 feet, aslong as he was OK with(people smoking pot).”
At the festival last year,the investigative unit of theOhio Department of PublicSafety arrested five people18 and younger for posses-sion of marijuana or drugparaphernalia.
Although drugs and alco-hol were suspected of beinginvolved in other complaints— including the officerassault — records of Colum-bus police runs included justtwo incidents of intoxicationand no drug-possessionoffenses last year.
“Well, that’s good — butdid we miss a lot, or werethere no problems there?”asked Weiner, the policespokesman. “With the issuesthat were brought up bypeople attending the eventand living around the event,we’ve got to look at it.”
In previous years, on-dutypolice officers have beencalled to ComFest to assistspecial-duty officers withtraffic or other problems.This year, though, the divi-sion has a tactical plan forthe event and will dedicateofficers specifically to it.
As a warning to attendees,organizers posted 200 signsin the neighborhood thatread: “ComFest is not a freezone. Please, keep yourselfsafe. Don’t break the law.”
This year, before ComFestagreed on a security plan inMarch, organizers were“fearful of potential over-reaction by police,” said the55-year-old Gruber, de-clining to provide details.
“Let’s just say it wasramped up quite a bit onwhat they felt was neces-sary,” he said. “It was allabout having a safe, peacefulevent. If we had canceled it,it would have been becausewe didn’t have that assur-ance.”
Said Weiner, who wouldn’tcomment specifically aboutthe ComFest negotiations:“Some event organizers, notparticularly this event, havewanted to dictate the waypolice would respond duringincidents. The division . . .has had to explain to themthat officers are required totake action.”
ComFest planners arereluctant to speculate aboutthe festival’s future, sayingthey’ll discuss the results ofthis year’s changes at twoJuly meetings.
Kushins, for one, thinksthe festival won’t last forever,at least not as it stands.
“I think the idea that itmight not be here tomorrowwould make people treat itwith a little more respect,”she said. “You can’t take it forgranted, and I think a lot ofpeople take it for granted.”
Everett is among thosewho are optimistic thatfuture generations will carryon the ComFest ways.
“We’re not stuck in thepast,” she said. “Our princi-ples are just as vital today asthey were in yesteryear.
“As long as we can main-tain a peaceful, safe festival,it will continue.”
COMFESTFROM PAGE D1
MICHAEL GRUBER
ABOVE: A crowd scene at the2007 Community Festival
RIGHT: A display of spirit atthe 2009 gathering
FILE PHOTO
enough? Are we not doingenough?” said Sgt. RichWeiner, a police spokesman.
“There might have been aperception in the past thatpolice were turning a blindeye toward open-containerviolations, public drunken-ness and the usage of con-trolled substances. We wantthe public’s confidence inthe fact that we will enforcethe laws.”
ComFest, meanwhile, hasmade some changes of itsown, shortening festivalhours and hiring nearlytwice as many special-dutypolice officers — decisionsthat had been under con-sideration long before theBarbin death, according toorganizers.
The notion of a greateron-duty police presence,however, raised enoughconcerns earlier this yearthat organizers consideredcanceling the event entirely.
After reaching an agree-ment with city and policeofficials, they opted to pro-ceed. Beyond this year,though, the future of Com-Fest remains uncertain.
“You never know what canhappen,” said Jodi Kushins,head of the archives com-mittee — who wondersabout the same questionsthat attendees have askedher: What are the cops goingto be like? What’s the crowdgoing to be like?
“I’m preparing to hear onJuly 1, ‘We’re done.’”
. . .Even as a toddler, Bryan
Barbin seemed to be con-stantly thinking.
He didn’t walk until hewas 18 months old but thendid so without trial anderror: He just got up one dayand started walking.
“It was all happening inhis mind,” his mother said,“and that’s really how he washis whole life.”
An ambitious learner,Barbin loved to read butpursued science for the chal-lenge. During his freshmanyear at Ohio University inAthens, he switched hismajor from computer scienceto engineering and beganworking to obtain a pilot’slicense.
He studied Chinese for fun,took up pole-vaulting andtaught himself to play theharmonica and ukulele thataccompanied him every-where.
He didn’t balk at learningcurves: When he encounteredsomething new, he wanted totry it.
Tolan-Barbin wonderswhether that’s whatprompted her son to buyLSD: curiosity.
. . .Steve Abbott didn’t attend
the inaugural CommunityFestival as planned: Hefeared being arrested.
The previous day —May 11, 1972 — he’d beenamong 300 demonstrators atOhio State University pro-testing the Vietnam War.Sixty-seven people werearrested and 31 injured —including 18 police officers.
A 22-year-old writer forthe Columbus Free Press atthe time, Abbott decided itsafer to skip the festival,where his friends were rais-ing money to bail others outof jail.
“It was a time of culturalcivil war,” said the 60-year-old, who remains a ComFestorganizer. “The Vietnam Wartore families in two; I justsaw it over and over.”
Anti-war and community-control sentiments unitedthe six campus-area organi-zations responsible for thefirst ComFest: the Free Press,Columbus Community FoodCo-Op, Columbus TenantsOrganization, Open DoorClinic, Rape Crisis Centerand Switchboard.
For two days, severalhundred people gatheredoutside the Wesley Founda-tion, at 16th and Waldeckavenues, to shop from areavendors, watch the musicstage and learn from theorganizations promotingtheir work via booths.
In honor of an ideologicalcommunity, the festival hassince called itself “the partywith a purpose.” The Com-Fest “statement of princi-ples” discusses eliminatingprejudice and workingcooperatively rather than forpersonal gain.
“It’s celebrating anyoneshaping life by those princi-ples,” said Mimi Morris,
co-editor of the programguide. “We want people toreally connect, not just withthe festival but with the cityand within their commu-nity.”
Volunteer-run and self-sustaining on sales of alco-hol and retail goods, thenonprofit festival has in thepast five years given $55,000to 27 community organiza-tions that support theenvironment, health andsocial alternatives.
When the Wesley Founda-tion became Summit on 16thUnited Methodist Church in1983, ComFest relocated to agravel parking lot in theShort North — nicknamedthe “Dust Bowl” because ofits lone tree.
The festival continuedthere until 1993, when itmoved across the street toGoodale Park. With theShort North losing its grit,the neighborhood gainednew restaurants and stores;and, in place of the parkinglot, the upscale VictorianGate Condominiums.
As ComFest, too, beganattracting a wider audience,the event expanded — mov-ing from a single perform-ance stage to six of them.
Attendees who for dec-ades visited ComFest to seeall their friends complainthese days that they can’tfind them amid the masses.Organizers have discussedthe attendance problem forthe better part of a decade,even as they planned, yearafter year, for a 10 percentrise in beer sales.
“We don’t want the in-crease in size to continueunabated; it just can’t,” saidspokeswoman ConnieEverett, 61. “There are reallyonly so many people thepark can hold.”
. . .At Worthington Kilbourne
High School, Barbin couldn’trelate to the teenage dramaaround him, preferring in-stead to discuss theology,politics and other topics thatmost of his peers avoided.
“He could crack hilariousjokes; it wasn’t like he wasn’tsocial,” said Nigel Knutson, ahigh-school friend. “It wasjust harder for him to con-nect with normal people.”
Although Barbin madefriends at OU, he sometimessought out professors forintellectual conversation.
“You knew pretty quicklythat he was smart, and Idon’t know if that plays inany situation you find your-self,” Tolan-Barbin said. “Idon’t picture they were sittingaround in the dorm dis-cussing Alexandre Dumas.”
Bored with the introduc-tory classes required of fresh-men, Barbin let his gradesslip and told friends andfamily he wanted to transfer.Home for a few weeks lastJune before he was scheduledto leave for an internship inNew York, he planned tofollow up on the matter withhis parents.
“I never got to finish thatconversation with him,” hismother said.
. . .Renda Sullivan loved the
vibe of ComFest: the spirit ofdiversity; the reggae, bag-pipes and poetry flowing
IF YOU GO� ComFest will take place fromnoon to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to10 p.m. Saturday and noon to8 p.m. Sunday in Goodale Park,off W. Goodale Street.
06-25-2010 PAGE D5
� D5LifeTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCH FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2010BREAKING NEWS: DISPATCH.COM
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