Saturday, September 25, 2004

VOA Park bracing for Bush

Tylersville Road to close six hours; 30,000 expected

By John Kiesewetter
Enquirer staff writer

TICKETS
Up to four free tickets per person for President Bush's Monday afternoon rally at Voice of America Park in West Chester Township are available at six locations. The name, address and phone for each person must be provided; be prepared to show an ID.
Cincinnati: Bush campaign headquarters, 108 E. Seventh St. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Phone: 621-3420.
West Chester Township: U.S. Rep. John Boehner's campaign headquarters, 7908 Cincinnati-Dayton Road. Hours: noon-5 p.m. today and Sunday. Phone: 779-8435.
Fairfield: Butler County Republican Party headquarters, 4783 Dixie Highway. Hours: noon-5 p.m. today and Sunday. Phone:893-5292.
Middletown: Middletown Republican Party headquarters, 2226 Central Ave. Hours: noon-5 p.m. today and Sunday. Phone: (513) 705-6472.
Lebanon: A recreational vehicle parked at Henkle-Schueler & Bunnellhill Construction, 3000 Henkle Drive. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. No phone.
Miamisburg: Bush headquarters, 23 S. Alexandersville Road. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Phone: (937) 866-1446.
IF YOU GO
Time: Gates open at noon and close at 3:30 p.m. The president is expected to speak after that.
Road closing: Tylersville Road between Cox and Butler-Warren roads, will be closed noon-6 p.m. Monday. Motorists should expect heavy traffic on Tylersville Road and Interstate 75.
Entrances: All traffic will be routed into Voice of America Park at VOA Park Drive off Cox Road, north of Tylersville Road, and through Butler County's Freedom's Voice Reserve Park off Hamilton-Mason Road. Pedestrians must enter through VOA Park Drive too.
WEST CHESTER TWP. - While President Bush's campaign staff and township officials worked Friday on the details of getting 30,000 people in and out of Voice of America Park, school officials were trying to figure out how to get 17,000 students out of the way.

The township announced that part of Tylersville Road - a congested east-west corridor linking Interstate 75 in Butler County and Interstate 71 in Mason - will close for six hours Monday for Bush's afternoon campaign rally at the park.

Lakota Schools then announced that all students will be dismissed two hours early, and that afternoon preschool and kindergarten classes will be canceled. Students at the International Academy of Cincinnati in West Chester and Mother Teresa School in Liberty Township also will head home two hours early Monday - but not nearby Mason schools.

"This is strictly based on traffic issues,'' said Jon Weidlich, Lakota spokesman. "We felt this would be a good way to ensure that kids would get home on time.''

Lakota, the eighth-largest district in Ohio and the second-biggest in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, also canceled Monday sports events for its four junior schools.

The noon closing on Tylersville Road, used by 43,600 vehicles a day, will affect traffic all afternoon. Gates open at noon and close at 3:30 p.m. Bush will speak sometime after that.

The only two entrances into the 330-acre township park will be through VOA Drive - off Cox Road north of Tylersville - and through the adjacent Freedom's Voice Reserve Park operated by the county off Hamilton-Mason Road. Pedestrians also must enter off Cox Road at VOA Park Drive.

Butler County Republican Party leaders said they want to draw as many as 35,000 people to the World War II-era VOA station, which broadcast pro-democracy information for 50 years.

More than 27,000 tickets had been distributed by late Friday, said Joe Statzer, Butler County communications director for the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Butler County Republican Party.

If the crowd tops 32,500, it would be the president's largest rally in his re-election campaign.

Friday, workers mowed the grass, repainted parking stripes, erected temporary metal barricades and cut openings in the fence.

The Bush-Cheney campaign has rented the site for $1, Gully said.

At the new Freedom's Voice Reserve Park up the street, crews hustled to cut tall grass and install a split-rail fence at the VOA Park Drive entrance.

Michael Clark and Sue Kiesewetter contributed to this story. E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com

[photo]