Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Two careers end today as teacher steps down
She'll also leave mayoral post
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HARRISON — Ruth Glasscock is retiring today from her job as an elementary school teacher and is resigning her post as mayor.
One move necessitated the other.
To collect her full retirement benefits, earned through a 27-year stint as sixth-grade teacher at Harrison Elementary School, Ms. Glasscock, 65, was forced to leave the public payroll for at least 60 days.
A new mayor will be appointed next week by the Harrison Democratic Central Committee, and all eyes are on Councilman Daniel Gieringer. “He's the front-runner,” said committee Chairman David Bahner.
Mr. Gieringer, the only Democrat on council, would finish the mayoral term that ends on New Year's Day. He is running for mayor in the November election and, if elected, would remain at the helm. Yet Ms. Glasscock is not entirely out of the political scene.
She plans to run for one of three council seats being vacated at the end of the year.“I didn't think it would be fair, after I had to step down and give it up, to ask the citizens to vote for me again as mayor,” said Ms. Glasscock. After serving on council for nearly a dozen years, Ms. Glasscock was appointed mayor in 1996 to complete the term of longtime Mayor Harry Rolfes. Mr. Rolfes was forced to resign after pleading guilty to a felony charge of failing to evaluate a hazardous-waste situation — a matter unrelated to his work as mayor.
Ms. Glasscock's administration was marred by a sexual misconduct charge and crimi nal prosecution of then-Police Chief Thomas Keenan, whose two trials ended in hung juries.
“During her term of office, some situations arose that ... really made for a difficult mayor's position for her,” said Councilman Walt “Coke” Powers. “Ruth has worked very hard for the city.”
She oversaw the appointments of highly regarded Police Chief Chuck Lindsey and Fire Chief Alan Kinnett. And she helped jump-start reconstruction of the city's main downtown roads.
Ms. Glasscock said she will miss teaching a little more than she regrets leaving public office, especially since the latter move may be temporary. But even if she does not win the election, she is a permanent part of Harrison.
“I'm still going to be living in this town, and I have my grave already paid for up in the cemetery,” she said.
“And I've lived here all my life, so I pretty much know everybody in town. As far as the (mayoral) job, I enjoyed it. But I had my other career — and teaching was my first job.”
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