Sunday, April 23, 2000
Fence didn't prevent death
By Tom O'Neill
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As she stood at the gate of the Northside warehouse where her 10-year-old cousin died, Summer Bonner's swirl of emotions always came back to a single word.
“Why?” the 23-year-old Avondale woman said Sunday.
“Why did this happen? We just want answers. Why?”
Anthony Smith, who had been visiting relatives in Northside all week, was found at 8:25 p.m. Saturday by cousins and playmates, ages 10 and 12.
Anthony got into the warehouse and was operating a forklift down a ramp when it toppled, crushing him.
He was dead when paramedics arrived.
Cincinnati homicide investigators on Sunday said they had not yet determined who owned or operated the paper-recycling warehouse at 1258 Knowlton St.
Signs for Smurfit Recycling Co. adorn the front of the warehouse, as does a for-sale sign from Coldwell-Banker realty firm. Smurfit Recycling is not listed in the Cincinnati-area phone book. The property owner listed in the 2000 Haines address-reference directory — Container Corp. of America — has a disconnected phone number.
Sunday, a reporter walking the perimeter of the warehouse property found three points of entry to the fenced-off property.
Two are holes about 4-feet-by-4-feet each in a back fence that runs along an abandoned alley and is partly obscured by trees. On the ground at one hole lay a sign reminding employees to “report promptly any condition liable to cause an accident.”
The other is a space between a locked set of chain-link sliding doors that a child could easily slip through.
“Although he knew what he was doing was wrong, still,” Ms. Bonner said as her sister, Theresa Bonner, 23, also of Avondale, and a third relative from Northside peered through the chain-link gate. “Where's the no-trespassing signs?”
Anthony lived with his father in Colerain Township and went to school there, but also stayed with his mother in Westwood. Anthony had played Little League baseball in Avondale and was a big basketball fan.
At about 7 p.m. Saturday, Anthony and several cousins went to a neighborhood court for a pickup basketball game.
Anthony, upset that he wasn't picked to play, left.
The cousins knew where to find him, Ms. Bonner said, because they had all been playing in the warehouse earlier Saturday.
Bank robbers not the usual
Drug firm faces suit by diabetic
Neighbors rail against trains
Neighbors retrieve gosling
Stumped by the Stooges
Results of our e-poll
Fence didn't prevent death
Late-night emergency room caters to injured pet patients
Lilies can have cats pushing up daisies
Suspect crashes into police car
Flaming Lips just kiss off rock
Games proposed to lessen tensions
Kidnapping suspect to be moved to Ky.
Safety is teens' driving force
School may need 8 trailers to fit rising enrollment
Silverton assesses future of city pool
Skeleton found near river on Ky. side
GET TO IT
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Tristate digest
