Monday, April 03, 2000
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Mom, daughter rescued from fire
A woman and her 8-year-old daughter were rescued from the fourth floor of a burning apartment building in Over-the-Rhine late Saturday, Cincinnati fire officials said Sunday.
The three-alarm fire on West 13th Street caused $80,000 damage, with most of the damage occurring in the room in which the fire broke out at 9:30 p.m. The cause remains under investigation.
No injuries were reported.
Toledo Zoo seeks to boost revenues
TOLEDO — Polar bears and monkeys aren't the only draws at the Toledo Zoo these days.
The northwest Ohio attraction has added meeting facilities, catering, teleconferencing and gift sales via the Internet — services it hopes will appeal to businesses and other groups.
The goal: to generate new revenue and make the zoo more self-sufficient.
“We're one of the few zoos in the country to tie a business operating plan with a master plan,” said Toledo Zoo Director Bill Dennler.
“We've definitely increased after-hours events, and we are looking at drawing more business people in here,” he said.
“It's important to get the support of the business community ... and one of the ways to do that is to show them that we're a business, too.”
Help sought for FunWalk in Mason
MASON — Warren County COMPEER will have a FunWalk FunRaiser at 9 a.m. May 6, at Pine Lakes Park. The purpose of the walk is to raise awareness of the needs and resources for mental health concerns in Warren County.
There will be displays and refreshments at the free event. If you would like to help plan the day, call Rosalyn Dadas at 459-9551 or 800-478-3505.
Villagers seeking links to burial ground
MOUNT STERLING, Ohio — Some residents of this central Ohio village want to know whether their family trees have roots under a church playground and parking lot.
Concerns about the contents of an old burial ground recently resurfaced after local media ran several stories about workers unearthing broken headstones 15 years ago when First United Methodist Church decided to cover a gravel driveway with asphalt for parking spaces.
As a result of the 1985 discovery, the church and village split the $1,914 cost of a monument bearing the names of 113 people buried in the old cemetery.
Accounts from the 19th century indicate the burial ground was abandoned after serving as a final resting place for several hundred residents, including many village pioneers and church founders.
Mayor Rob Roy said it won't be easy to resolve everyone's concerns about who may or may not be buried in the old plot.
“It is a challenge for us to do the correct thing,” he said.
Antioch graduation might be picketed
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio — While Antioch College students have been known to protest a variety of issues through the years, this year's commencement might mark the first time they will be the target of a demonstration, a prospect that worries graduating seniors.
The threats of a protest at the April 29 ceremony came after students invited Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Pennsylvania death-row inmate convicted of killing a police officer, to give the commencement address via audiotape.
The school's announcement last week that students would hear Mr. Abu-Jamal's speech triggered a flood of outraged letters, e-mails and faxes from law enforcement organizations and victims' groups. Many of the letter-writers, including the slain officer's widow, promise a large protest if Mr. Abu-Jamal is allowed to give the commencement address.
Teishan Latner, a graduating senior and commencement committee member, said he would be disappointed if protests overshadow the culmination of four years of hard work.
Mr. Abu-Jamal, 45, a radio journalist and former Black Panther activist, was convicted of shooting Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 after Mr. Faulkner stopped Mr. Abu-Jamal's brother for driving the wrong way down a city street.
Death penalty opponents and Mr. Abu-Jamal's supporters say he was targeted for political reasons and framed, and Mr. Abu-Jamal repeatedly has said he is innocent.
If Antioch follows through with its plans, Mr. Faulkner's widow, Maureen Faulkner, told the Dayton Daily News that she intends to lead the demonstration against Mr. Abu-Jamal's taped address, clutching a picture of her dead husband as she did when Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., played a taped Abu-Jamal commencement speech last June.
“I'm not going to let people tell lies about this case,” she said. “I'm not going to let people vilify Danny.”
Klan complains about anti-mask ordinance
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — A Ku Klux Klan group vowed Sunday to file a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Barbourville for hastily passing an ordinance forbidding the group from wearing masks in public.
Klan members went ahead with a rally Saturday but complained that the March 28 ordinance dampened the turnout and infringed on their First Amendment rights.
“It stopped probably another 50 people from coming. They would have lost their jobs,” Jeff Berry, National Imperial Wizard of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said Sunday. Mr. Berry spoke in a telephone interview from his Butler, Ind., home.
Seventeen Klan members attended rallies in Barbourville and Pineville on Saturday.
Mr. Berry said his group plans to argue in federal court that the ordinance had a chilling effect on Klan members' individual rights to attend the rally and express their views.
“If they look in the Constitution, it says everyone is entitled to free political speech anonymously,” Mr. Berry said.
The ordinance bans the wearing of hoods or masks for anyone 13 or older in public places or on another's property.
The city first considered the ordinance March 27 and gave it final passage at a special meeting the next day, four days before the rally.
Klan members also did not wear hoods in Pineville, where an anti-mask ordinance has been in place for more than a decade.
The Barbourville rally was held in response to the assault of a white man, 22-year-old Michael Napier, by a group of black men at a convenience store.
Police have said there is no evidence suggesting the case was racially motivated.
Some schools mandate silence in lunchrooms
COLUMBUS — Some elementary school administrators are trying to make their lunchrooms more quiet so students will eat rather than chat.
At least three of the city's public schools are trying a “silent lunch” period in which students are asked to keep their voices down while eating.
Silence at mealtime is a good idea, though few schools mandate lunchroom quiet, Diane Wilke, a central Ohio dietitian, told the Columbus Dispatch for a story Sunday.
“Eating time is not playtime. It's a time when everyone should sit still and be quiet. There are some really good reasons for that,” Ms. Wilke said.
“The less stress at mealtime, the better food can be digested and absorbed.”
Mixed reviews for fiber-optic network
Murder defense to focus on memo
Tunes clog university computers
Hamilton County ads attract prospective foster parents
Hardware for late-night repair
Kenton residents want parks nearby
Mason prepares road projects
USA cable might bench Schott bio
Another Lucas takes office
Area police proud of accreditation
Ceremony filled with emotion
Overhaul expected for schools
Program to draw viewers to workplace
Proposal would mandate 'cybermolester' jail time
Wyclef Jean has fun amid chaos
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