COLUMBUS — Gov. Bob Taft on Monday signed into law a bill that increases the penalties for harming children's services workers and allows those agencies to withhold employees' home addresses and telephone numbers from public records.

        The bill, sponsored by Rep. Amy Salerno, a Columbus Republican, makes assaulting or menacing children's services employees a fifth-degree felony. The bill was introduced in response to increasing concerns about the safety of those workers and members of their families, sponsors said.

        The law, which takes effect in 90 days, also shields the home phone numbers and addresses of those workers. An exception is allowed for members of the working media, who must submit a request for the information in writing.
       

Free eye exams for
working families

               Low-income working families in Ohio can sign up through the end of this month for free eye exams to be offered in March.

        To qualify for the Ohio Optometric Association's free exams, people must have a job or live in a household with at least one part-time worker, have no insurance coverage for eye exams, meet income criteria based on household size and have not had an eye exam at a doctor's office in the past two years.

        To apply, call (800) 766-4466; access the association Web site at www.aoanet.org, or call Sen. Mark Mallory's office, (614) 466-5980.
       

Sen. DeWine joins
Appropriations panel

               WASHINGTON — Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, was appointed Monday to the Appropriations Committee, the panel that decides which items get federal funding each year.

        Because of limits on the number of committees on which senators can serve, Mr. DeWine relinquished his seat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he held a subcommittee chairmanship.

        Mr. DeWine said he will be the first Ohioan since Harold Burton in 1945 to serve on the Appropriations Committee.
       

Crossing Lake Erie
via ice dangerous

               PORT CLINTON, Ohio — Patches of ice on Lake Erie near the Bass islands are not safe to be on, according to the U.S. Coast Guard's Marblehead station.

        High winds and warm temperatures over the weekend along with fluctuating water depths have created unsafe areas of ice, the Coast Guard said.

        People already have been traveling between the mainland and islands by foot, snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle, but it is not safe, said S.H. Betters, master chief petty officer for the Marblehead station.

        Petty Officer Adam Carron said people should use extreme caution on the ice.

        “We can't tell you how thick the ice should be for it to be safe because of liability reasons,” Petty Officer Carron said. “Instead, we try to educate people about the things they should always take with them or do to be as safe as possible.”
       

University of Dayton
ends homecoming

               DAYTON, Ohio — Homecoming at the University of Dayton will be suspended indefinitely because of street parties that included excessive drinking, furniture fires and general rowdiness in the student neighborhoods, the school announced Monday.

        President Raymond Fitz said the homecoming celebration at the Catholic school of 10,000 has become inappropriate, being used by some people as an occasion for a weekend-long party. He said the street parties draw not only students, but young alumni and college-age outsiders.

        “There is extensive and excessive drinking and trashing of the student neighborhoods,” the president said. “This behavior is unacceptable at any time.”

        A street party during homecoming last fall attracted 7,000 to 8,000 people. Two students and six others were arrested, and neighbors complained about drunken and lewd behavior, noise and parking problems. At least two couches were set on fire in the street.

        William Schuerman, dean of students, said the parties have grown out of control and steadily escalated over the years despite the university's efforts to curb them. He said that during the parties, street fires are started, couches are burned and bottles broken.

        “Part of the escalation is the trashing of the neighborhood by a lot of people that don't even belong here,” Mr. Schuerman said. “It's an unhealthy and dangerous situation.”

        He said it will be at least three years before the school will even consider reinstating homecoming. Students are unhappy.

        “That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard,” said Tom Zabor, 22, a senior finance major from Cleveland. “That's like the main event for the school. It's too great of an event to end that tradition.”

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