Thursday, September 23, 1999
Wine festival boosts safety efforts
Markers, police added after incident
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — A year after a man ran over two sleeping campers at Valley Vineyard's Wine Festival and less than a week after Cincinnati's Oktoberfest incident, vineyard owner Ken Schuchter is taking extra precautions for this weekend's festival. As the three-day War ren County event kicks off for the 29th year today, festival-goers will find more police on the grounds, especially in the 10-acre camping area, Mr. Schuchter said.
Besides paying for more officers, he said he has spent $1,000 adding roads to the campground and marking off specific areas to keep cars away from campers at the site on U.S. 22/Ohio 3 near Morrow.
“It may eliminate a potential problem. But just like what happened at Oktoberfest, no matter what you do, you just never know,” Mr. Schuchter said.
Last weekend, Michael J. Cowperthwaite of Clermont County, whopolice said was drunk, drove through barricades and into a crowd, injuring more than two dozen people.
Overall, the wine festival — which draws about 50,000 people and offers tours of the family-run winery, food, musical performances, crafts, wine, grape-stomping contests and other activities — has a safe track record, police said.
But the after-hours incident last year wasn't a first.
During the festival weekend in 1993, two members of the Schuchter family were assaulted after someone broke into their home. A camper was arrested but a jury acquitted him because of a lack of physical evidence linking him to the crime.
Kenneth Stinson of Delhi Township is now serving an 18-month prison sentence for driving over Katie Pierman of Miamiville and Christina Meyers of Springfield Township nine hours after the festival closed last year. Both suffered broken bones and other injuries. Police said Mr. Stinson was under the influence of alcohol.
Police credit Mr. Schuchter with taking extra measures to keep trouble to a minimum. Fifteen years ago, he opened up the campground so revelers can stay if they've had too much to drink.
That in itself has made the festival safer, said Ruth MacKenzie, a Salem Township resident who has attended the event for 25 years or more.
“It's not as bad — the festival itself anymore. I do think the camping has really, really helped,” she said.
In an attempt to discourage drunken driving, Mr. Schuchter also asks the Ohio State Highway Patrol post in nearby Lebanon for a beefed-up presence, post commander Lt. Scott Borden said.
Only a couple of people are arrested each year for festival-related drunken driving incidents, he said.
This weekend, troopers will put in 60 hours of overtime, patrolling near the grounds.
“He's very safety-conscious. They're doing what they are doing — having a wine festival. They are not promoting drinking and driving,” Lt. Borden said.
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