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LOCAL Contact: Mary Irby-JonesTelephone: (937) 225-7311E-mail: [email protected]
Train derailment causes re, evacuationsBy Mike SigovThe Toledo Blade
ARCADIA — Burning eth-anol lit up the night sky for miles around the wreckage of a train that derailed in north-east Hancock County early Sunday morning, causing no injuries but evacuating nearby families for an indenite time because of the risk of explo-sions.
Twenty-six cars of a 62-car Norfolk Southern train jumped the tracks at about 2:20 a.m. in Cass Twp., and the contents of those that rup-tured in the impact caught re. The denatured ethanol in other tank cars that were not breached immediately was heated by the ames until it boiled and the tanks could no longer withstand the pres-sure, causing explosions that sent reballs bursting spectac-ularly into the sky.
About 30 residences with-in two miles of the derailment scene were evacuated Sun-day morning during the peak explosion risk. By midafter-noon, authorities determined the risk to have diminished enough to reduce the evac-
uation to a one-mile radius, allowing all but eight of those families to return home.
The Red Cross was help-ing some of those shut out of their homes, while others were staying with relatives
nearby, Washington Twp. Fire Chief Troy Stoner said. Stoner said it might take three days for the res to burn them-selves out. Local re depart-ments, he said, would play a support role behind contrac-
tors Norfolk Southern sent to the scene to manage the re and clean up the derailment’s aftermath.
Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman, said the derailed cars were near the
front of the train. Fire officials said the train’s locomotives and rst two cars were pulled safely away from the derailed cars after the accident.
“Obviously, the cause is under investigation,” Hus-band said.
No passenger trains were affected, and Norfolk South-ern rerouted freight trains that normally use the affected track to other lines.
The train was en route from Chicago to North Carolina when it derailed. Each of its cars carried about 33,000 gal-lons of denatured ethanol, a grain alcohol mixed with 5 percent gasoline for transpor-tation.
One hundred reghters from surrounding depart-ments responded to the scene in Cass Twp., just west of Arcadia.
Nancy Hollingsworth, 80, who lives about a quarter-mile north of the explosion site, recalled awaking to the sound of retruck sirens. She went to the window to see what was going on.
“You could just see every-thing. It was so bright,” she said of seeing ames in the night sky.
An explosion throws a ball of flames into the air at the scene of a freight train derailment near Arcadia on Sunday. A freight train carrying volatile chemicals derailed about 50 miles south of Toledo, causing a tanker fire and forcing evacuations of nearby residents. Associated Press photo by ABC WTVG 13, Drew Aukerman
Banks likely to dump free checking, other deals By Randy [email protected]
In addition to new fees, nancial reform legislation probably will mean the end of free checking and some rewards programs for many Miami Valley bank customers, experts say.
Banks have used free check-ing to attract depositors for more than a decade. But many of those basic accounts were subsidized with the fees they charged retailers to pro-cess debit-card transactions, fast becoming the preferred method of payment for many Americans.
That revenue stream is dry-ing up as the government, under the Dodd-Frank Act, prepares to cap so-called interchange fees at 12 cents per transaction as opposed to the industry’s current practice of charging 10-12 cents on the dollar.
That means middle-class and low-income consum-ers who have become accus-tomed to opening bank accounts with little or no min-
imum deposits probably will be asked to shoulder more of the nancial burden of main-taining those accounts, which can range anywhere from $250 to $300 a year, based on industry estimates.
“Free checking is denitely going to be an issue this year,’’ said Jeff Quayle, senior vice president of the Ohio Bankers League. “A service that used to be paid in part by mer-chants and in part by consum-ers is now going to be over-whelmingly paid for by con-sumers.’’
Annual fees on debit cards, even charges for paper state-ments are some of the chang-es consumers can expect to see this year, industry analysts say.
Steve Wyatt, chairman of the nance department at Miami University, said the cur-rent regulatory environment will lead most banks to intro-duce maintenance fees on even the most basic accounts.
“To avoid those fees, you’re going to have to maintain higher balances,’’ Wyatt said. “Instead of $1,000, you may have to keep a balance as high as $5,000 to keep the account
for free. Free checking is def-initely going to go away for a lot of people who are lower income and keep smaller bal-ances.’’
Major banks in the local area already have begun experimenting with new fees on checking accounts.
Fifth Third Bank, the mar-ket leader, ended free check-ing in 2009 and now charg-es a monthly fee of $7.50 for an individual account. The fee can only be waived if depositors open a “pack-age’’ of checking accounts or meet certain minimum bal-ance requirements or levels of account activity.
U.S. Bank, another major player in the Dayton area and the fth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said last month it was speeding up its plans for new pricing on checking accounts and also planned to remove some rewards programs. The changes are expected by the middle of this year.
“We are not going to be a late follower anymore,” U.S. Bank’s Chief Executive Rich-ard Davis said in a confer-ence call with analysts. “We
will see sometime in the ear-ly, middle part of this year our own actions in making sure that we have fair pricing.”
A cap on interchange fees that businesses pay to process debit card transactions also will affect banks’ bottom lines. That measure is scheduled to go into effect on July 1. Banks will be be looking at streamlin-ing operations including possi-bly eliminating jobs and closing branches to offset the losses from the interchange fees.
Officials at Fifth Third Ban-corp, the market leader in the Dayton area based on depos-its, told investors in a confer-ence call last month that the bank wants to become more efficient.
And Fifth Third’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel Poston told the Wall Street Journal that a “head-count reduction’’ could be part of the equation.
Banks, many of which are still reeling from the reces-sion, have cut their employ-ee ranks by 9 percent to 2.04 million jobs from 2.22 mil-lion in 2007, according to the FDIC.
Wright State among colleges with food bank for studentsBy Karen FarkasThe (Cleveland) Plain Dealer
About two dozen times a week, men and women walk into the student-government office at Cuyahoga Commu-nity College’s Western Cam-pus, show their IDs and each choose up to 12 items of food or toiletries.
The free soup, peanut butter and other nonperishables help
sustain students who are often struggling to raise a family, hold down a job and pay for an edu-cation.
Tri-C’s campus food bank, started by its student govern-ment three years ago, is the only one in Northeast Ohio but is among an increasing num-ber of food pantries at colleg-es across the country. Three opened last week, including one at Wright State University.
The economic downturn
prompted students to open a pantry here, said Mark Rodri-guez, director of student life at the Tri-C campus in Parma.
“The student population included a lot of people who lost their jobs and there was a big need,” he said.
The food and toiletries — donated by other students, fac-ulty and staff — are stored in sev-eral large cabinets in the office.
Wright State’s food pantry, which opened Thursday night,
is run by Rebecca Fensler, who is paid from grants provided to the Ohio Campus Compact, a nonprot coalition of 47 col-leges.
“This is a pretty diverse campus with a lot of student-parents,” she said. “There are low-income students that don’t get support from their parents and many commute.”
The pantry is open weekdays and students can obtain items once a week.
Police officer, wife arrested on shoplifting charge
SUGARCREEK Twp. — A West Carrollton police officer and his wife were arrested Friday night for allegedly shoplifting about $75 or $80 worth of mer-chandise at the Walmart on Wilmington Pike, according to Sugarcreek Twp. police.
The couple were caught by store security employ-ees leaving the store with DVDs and children’s toys, said Sugarcreek police Sgt. Mark White.
The couple, Joseph and Ashley Purnell, were tak-en into custody along with their daughter, whom White estimated to be about 2 years old. They were transported to the police department, cit-ed for misdemeanor theft and released on their own recognizance, White said.
West Carrollton police Sgt. David Wesley said Sun-day that officials would have a statement today.
— Ken McCall, staff writer
Jay’s Restaurant owner is listed in critical condition
DAYTON — Jay’s Restau-rant co-owner Idy Haver-stick remained in critical condition Sunday night at Miami Valley Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
She was taken to the hospital Friday night after collapsing inside the res-taurant’s dining room.
— Ken McCall, staff writer
Local headlines
By Andrew [email protected]
SPRINGFIELD — The fact that Craig Smith and two of his sis-ters are triplets means he’s in a fairly select group.
The fact that his home-build-ing business has kept busy throughout the shakiest econo-my in eons puts him in presum-ably even more elite company.
But the Springeld native is really just like everybody else — “Extreme Makeover: Home Edi-tion” makes him cry.
“Every time,” he confessed. “I actually had to stop watch-ing it for a while. I kept crying every Sunday night.”
Now it’s his turn to help induce the tears.
The co-owner of Vision Homes in Chattanooga, Tenn., Smith has been given the task of building a family’s dream home in that region next week for an episode of the ABC show to air sometime in the spring.
Construction of the 3,000-square-foot house will get under way Feb. 13 — and end Feb. 19.
“It’s Sunday to Saturday,” Smith said.
A 1991 graduate of Kenton Ridge High School who moved south in the early ’90s, Smith should have more than enough help.
Close to 5,000 volunteers stepped forward after it was
announced on Jan. 27 that Ty Pennington was headed to Chattanooga.
“If it wasn’t for the commu-nity that rallied around us,” he said, “we’d never be able to do it on our own.”
After all, it typically takes Smith six to eight months to build a home.
The 37-year-old father of two went into business for himself in 2003.
“I have not once thought about how this will affect my business,” Smith said.
“I’ve been solely thinking about how this will affect the family. I can honestly say that.I believe that when you do good things, good things come back to you.”
Springeld native tapped to help build ‘Extreme Makeover’ house
Springfield native Craig Smith (left) and Jason Willard, owners of Vision Homes, announce the upcoming “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” visit to Chattanooga at East Chattanooga Lumber Co. on Jan. 26. The home makeover recipients will be revealed some time this month. Associated Press photo by Tim Barbe
Dayton Daily News | Monday, Feb. 7, 2011B4
