COLUMBUS: Police on Saturday arrested a suspect who was with a 13-year-old Ohio boy shortly before the teen was fatally shot by a policeman investigating a reported armed robbery.

Demetrius Braxton, 19, had told the Columbus Dispatch he was with his friend Tyre King on Wednesday night and that Tyre had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm and wanted to rob someone for money.

Braxton was interviewed then and released without charges but was arrested on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon near the Ohio State University campus, Columbus police said.

It’s not clear whether Braxton has an attorney.

Police said they’re still looking for others who may have been with Braxton when the alleged robbery occurred.

Witnesses reported that a group of people — one witness suggested there were seven or eight — robbed a man of $10 at gunpoint Wednesday night east of downtown Columbus. Authorities say officers investigating the report spotted several males who matched the description of the suspects and tried to talk to them.

Braxton told the newspaper that he ran away with Tyre, and police told them to get down. He said they did, but then Tyre got up and ran and was shot.

• Akron Kenmore High School Class of 1967 will have a 67th birthday celebration 7 p.m. to midnight Oct. 1 at Dietz’s Landing, 401 W. Turkeyfoot Lake Road, New Franklin. For more information, call Linda Chapman Winkler at 330-618-0855 or send email to winkler49@aol.com.

• Akron Kenmore High School Class of 1971 will celebrate its 45th reunion at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at Old 97 Cafe on Kenmore Boulevard in Akron, 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at La Pizzaria on Dressler Road in Canton and at 1 p.m. Oct. 2 for the Browns game (venue TBD). Must RSVP by Sept. 16. For full details, contact LouAnn Morrison Crawford at 330-608-2632 or loucraw13@hotmail.com.

• Akron North High School Class of 1956 is planning a 60th-year reunion for Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. If you have not received information in the mail, the committee does not have your address. If interested, contact Marilyn at 330- 760-2144 or Jeanne at 330-923-7932.

• Akron North High School Class of 1986 will hold its 30th reunion 6-11 p.m. Oct. 8 at Golden Dragon Restaurant, 1634 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Beth Slatky at bethslatky@gmail.com or Angela Brown at Leprdess@gmail.com.

• Akron South High School Class of 1950 will hold a 66th-year reunion at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at Hartville Kitchen, 1015 Edison St. NW. For more information, call Grace Tomilson Reed at 330-877-1413.

• Barberton High School’s Class of 1944 will hold its 72nd-year reunion at noon Wednesday at Hopocan Gardens, 4396 W. Hopocan Ave., Barberton. Contact Don Slack at 330-882 2932 for reservations and more information. Guests are welcome.

• The Cuyahoga Falls High School Class of 1967 will hold a mini reunion 4-8 p.m. Saturday at the American Legion Post, 1601 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls. Come learn about plans for the 50th reunion in 2017. Attendees should bring a snack or dish suitable for sharing. Additional information is available at www.falls67.com.

• The Highland High Class of 1966’s 50th reunion will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Medina VFW Post No. 5127 at 3916 Pearl Road. Send checks made out to Carl Becks-Class Reunion for $25 per person to Carl Becks (197 Highland Drive, Medina, OH 44256) for the casual dinner buffet from 4-6 p.m. If you would like to stop by during the day and evening for snacks and to visit old friends, please do. Alcoholic drinks are available for purchase at the VFW bar. Nonalcoholic drinks (ice tea, water, and lemonade) and snacks will be provided. Bonfire and hot dogs in the evening. All Highland alumni (even if you didn’t graduate, but attended) from other classes are welcome.

• St. Thomas Nursing School Class of 1966 will celebrate its 50th class reunion Tuesday-Thursday at Geneva on the Lake Lodge. There were 28 in the class and 20 are planning to attend. The class has met each year since graduation and usually has an overnight outing every five years.

• Tallmadge High School Class of 1966 will hold its 50th class reunion on Oct. 14 and 15. There will be an informal get-together at Sammie’s at 498 South Ave., Tallmadge, $5 per person, at 7 p.m. Oct. 14. A reunion dinner will be held at Ohio Prestwick Country Club at 3751 Glen Eagles Blvd., Green from 6 to 11 p.m. Oct. 15. $50 per person. For more information, contact Linda Arnes Melia at 330-928-3275 or lkmelia13@yahoo.com.

To submit information for a reunion notice, email reunions@thebeaconjournal.com.

I had no idea so many people are fired up about flags.

I’m not talking about the American flag. That’s a whole different ballgame, filled with red-hot emotions.

I’m talking about state and city flags, which I previously believed were sort of an afterthought in the flag world.

I no longer think that after a recent column about vexillology — a V-word with which I had not been familiar.

Your Favorite Columnist also had no idea that so many people watch every episode of The Big Bang Theory. At least half a million readers told me I should have included a reference to Sheldon’s Fun With Flags segments.

Turns out flag freaks have been living among us the entire time. So I’m turning it over to them.

Revered hobby

Bob: Yes, you do know a vexillologist! And that would be me, Your Faithful Correspondent in beautiful downtown Kenmore.

Heraldry and flags have been my hobby (since age 9) before the term ‘vexillologist’ was coined by the late Dr. Whitney Smith (no relation). ...

The city of Akron flag should be in the University of Akron’s colors: blue field with yellow triangle in the middle from base to top, a gray tire tread along the horizontal base of the flag. No words, no numbers, no foolin’.

The present city flag is an advertising banner citing encomiums but impossible to distinguish in a calm and is also, well, bland.

A well-designed city flag should identify with important institutions’ color history (e.g. UA) and some element of history (e.g. the tire tread). The gold triangle could symbolize “the Summit,” as well as the letter “A.”

The Rev. Michael B. Smith

Immaculate Conception of

Mary Parish

Kenmore

Rev: Works for me! But getting the city to change its flag would probably require an act of God. Maybe you could get things started.

Special features

Bob: Great column on Ohio’s state flag. I am very proud of its uniqueness.

Not only is it one of the few that is the same front-to-back, but it is one of only five states (Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico and Tennessee) whose flags cannot be flown upside-down, as they are horizontally symmetrical!

Robin Reid

Fairlawn

Robin: I personally hope to remain horizontally symmetrical for many years to come.

Flag foe

Bob: How in God’s name could anyone call the Akron flag — it looks like a FHA creation — a flag? At the very — yes, very — best, it’s nothing but a wall hanger in a frame.

Anyone with only a little sense of time would know that it is certainly a dated object, obviously something someone thought up after Akron was named an All-American city back in the 1980s and, it seems, won the blessing of City Council, most likely.

I think you should search out when the dastardly act took place and then we could search out those persons and give them the unmerciful beating they earned for calling that ugly thing a flag. What an indignity to those — God luvum — vexillologists.

Paul Forney

Akron

Paul: I thought you were being a bit harsh until I heard from the next guy.

Beefs galore

Bob: I am not a vexillologist. I do not write scholarly treatises on flags. But I am a flag enthusiast, and I have a few comments on some of the flags mentioned.

Ohio’s flag is pretty good, as state flags go, but has one really weak element: the stars. They look like moth holes.

The pattern is obscure and fails the test of a child drawing it from memory. Could anyone of any age remember where each star goes?

And the symbolism is weak. Why 17 stars for the 17th state? That gives equal time on our state flag to 16 other states. They have their own state flags and should be content with those, instead of taking up space in ours. They are really just so much clutter.

Akron’s city flag is just pathetic. Going back a few years, we had another design for the city seal and it was also used on city flags. It was designed in the 1960s, and, while some people thought it had gotten a bit dated, it did still have a certain dynamic vibe to it.

But then a certain former mayor got the notion that he was a graphic designer and dashed off this concept on the back of a napkin, or something of that sort.

The worst part of it is that this seal is a complete rip-off of a design that Cleveland was using in the 1990s, including the extremely unoriginal stars and stripes shield, and even including the brag about having been named an “All-America City.”

Is All-America City something that anyone who does not work in city government even cares about?

Your source on flags is right that state and city flags in this country are often pretty awful. I sometimes amuse myself by designing better ones, and then arrange to have my superior designs ignored by those respective jurisdictions.

Timothy Meyer

Akron

Tim: I’m having trouble reading between the lines. What do you really think of Akron’s flag? You should be flagged for obfuscation.

Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31.

Croatian girls slipped out of their white tamburitza dresses and into black soccer shorts and sneakers Saturday while the next act — the Mon Community of Ohio — took the stage at Akron’s Global Village Festival.

Six girls — dressed in matching red skirts that symbolized the blood spilled by their ancestors and white blouses symbolizing their purity — performed a dance to show the importance of education.

It ended with each girl holding a different card revealing all the letters of the Mon alphabet.

“We think it’s important to remember our heritage,” Hong Ai, 15, said after the dance was over.

Akron’s Mon community — mostly Buddhists who emigrated from Myanmar (once called Burma) — began settling locally in 1992 through the International Institute of Akron, just one wave of immigrants that have helped make Akron what it is.

On Saturday, the city and the United Way of Summit County celebrated some of Akron’s newest residents with the Global Village Festival and, at the same time, thanked longtime residents who have stayed rooted here for generations. The annual festival, which started at Lock 3 in 2012, moved to the yard in front of the Jennings Community Learning Center in North Hill this year.

Elaine Woloshyn, executive director of the International Institute of Akron, said North Hill is the perfect fit for the festival because of its diversity. Older Italians and Polish immigrants and their descendants live here alongside African-Americans and more recent refugee arrivals from Bhutan, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Congo.

That diversity brings strength and energy, she said, pointing to a picture of North Hill’s Crest Bakery and Nepali Kitchen.

Crest is still using some of the same recipes it did when it opened in 1939.

And Nepali Kitchen — Akron’s first Nepali restaurant — opened last year. The two Bhutanese immigrants who opened the eatery first settled in Dayton but came north to Akron because of its larger Bhutanese community. The two men have since purchased a bar and plan to open a convenience store, Woloshyn said.

“North Hill is going to be the next trendy neighborhood in Akron,” she said.

Children — black, white, Asian, Arab and Hispanic — darted among the tables set up at the festival Saturday, blowing Native American pipes, learning origami and eating tacos.

As the breeze picked up, Victoria Wagner and others at the Asian Services in Action (ASIA) booth fought to keep brochures and fliers from blowing away.

On the nearby stage, Polynesian music began to play and Hula Fusion — a group wearing short, yellow sarongs and carrying feathered gourds called uli ulis — started to dance. Grupo Fuego, a Puerto Rican/Dominican group, was followed by Chinese musicians and the Rhodes Street Rude Boys, an African-American/Polish reggae ska band scheduled to take the stage later in the day.

Wagner, who manages interpreting and translation services for ASIA, said her office employs more than 100 interpreters who speak more than 50 languages, from Serbian and Uzbek to Laotian and Hmong. They help immigrants with everything from medical appointments and court hearings to taking standardized tests in schools and understanding documents and forms.

Northeast Ohio draws people from around the globe, Wagner said, “so you can see the world from here.”

Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.

SANDUSKY: The first shovelful of dirt had barely been thrown in the Cedar Point cemetery of dead rides, and the speculation was already flying faster than the Valravn: What will become of the Mean Streak’s valuable real estate?

Park General Manager Jason McClure said, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, that it is time to mourn the passing of the ride that once broke the world record for the tallest lift and the longest drop on a wooden roller coaster.

“We are here to focus on the Mean Streak,” he said.

Born May 11, 1991, the Mean Streak passed away before hundreds of fans and a fair number of detractors at 8:22 p.m. Friday when its entrance sign, seat and other pieces of its remains were deposited in the park’s cemetery along the midway, joining the likes of the Mantis and Disaster Transport.

During the service, park spokesman Tony Clark, dressed like a zombie to mark the occasion and the opening night of HalloWeekends, said most will not mourn the loss of the ride, with the exception of chiropractors.

The coaster, which boasted some 26 million riders over the years, was known for its rough and bumpy rides.

Clark joked that perhaps some of the coaster’s 1.7 million board feet of southern yellow pine could be converted into more comfortable park benches.

The Mean Streak’s rough-and-tumble ride will be exactly what many wooden coaster aficionados will miss.

Andrew Schaffer, 28, of Hartville, said after the park announced this summer that the Mean Streak was closing, he made extra trips to the park and “busted out” his own personal ride records.

On one outing, he hit 40 rides in the same day, including repeat “rattling” rides on the Mean Streak and 14 trips on his favorite coaster, the Millennium Force.

“This is all depressing,” he said. “The Mean Streak is a ride I wish I hadn’t ignored in the past.

“Getting rattled around is what riding a wooden roller coaster is all about.”

Park officials say one of the reasons the Mean Streak is getting the ax is because ridership had fallen off in recent years.

Bath Township’s Jenny Fiedler, 20, said she was among the faithful ones who always rode the coaster whenever she visited the park.

Estimating she has been on the coaster hundreds of times, Fiedler said it wasn’t until the park announced the closure that she had to wait for her turn to ride.

On one visit to the park this past summer, she waited more than an hour to ride the coaster.

“I have always loved this ride,” she said. “I liked that it is not like the new rides that are so smooth.

“This one was a little rough, and I kind of liked it.”

Craig Webb, who saw double after his last ride on the Mean Streak, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547. Visit his Airtime blog on Ohio.com and Facebook.

BARBERTON

Learn city’s ethnic history

BARBERTON: Barberton Public Library’s Local History Room will present a program on “Ethnic Barberton” at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The program will reflect on the immigrant populations that settled in Barberton to take jobs at factories like Babcock & Wilcox, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Ohio Brass Co., Pittsburgh Valve and Fittings, Diamond Match Co. and American Vitrified Pipe.

While jobs came easy, it was often difficult to adjust to a new way of life in a new country, so newcomers often settled in neighborhoods with others from their homeland, helping to preserve their native cultures and customs.

Light refreshments will be served during the program.

BATH TOWNSHIP

Yellow Creek program

BATH TWP.: The Friends of Yellow Creek will host a “State of the Watershed” program at 7 p.m. Monday at the University of Akron Field Station, 4160 Ira Road.

Among the topics addressed will be stream flow fluctuations and measurements within the watershed; a review of recent steam monitoring efforts; the formation of the Yellow Creek Watershed Foundation; and a history of the creation and mission of the Friends of Yellow Creek.

Refreshments will be served at the Regal Beagle, adjacent to the Field Station, following the program.

For more information about the Friends of Yellow Creek, visit www.yellowcreekwatershed.org.

CANTON

Man admits to two killings

CANTON: A Massillon man charged in the shooting deaths of two women pleaded guilty in exchange for prosecutors dropping a potential death penalty for him.

The Canton Repository reports a judge on Friday sentenced Leeroy Rogers Sr., 59, to life in prison for aggravated murder and other charges. He’ll have the possibility of parole after 61 years.

Pausing at times as he spoke, Rogers admitted he killed the women at different times and dumped one body at a creek and the other at a park.

An assistant prosecutor says the victims’ relatives supported the plea deal to make sure Rogers spends the rest of his life behind bars.

Some of them provided statements in court. One offered Rogers forgiveness. Another suggested that would be impossible.

STATE NEWS

Boy’s parents plead guilty

LEBANON: A southwest Ohio boy’s parents pleaded guilty to child endangering charges after police say an officer found the 7-year-old trying to sell a stuffed animal to buy food.

Michael and Tammi Bethel of Franklin entered pleas Friday. They’re scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 27.

Tammi Bethel’s attorney says she’s accepting responsibility and taking steps to get back her children, who were placed with other relatives.

A message seeking comment was left for Michael Bethel’s attorney.

Franklin police say Officer Steve Dunham found the boy in front of a drug store last month. The boy told Dunham he hadn’t eaten for days, so the officer took him to a restaurant.

Police say other officers went to the home and found four older boys living amid garbage and cat urine.

SUMMIT COUNTY

Councilman’s office hours

Summit County Councilman John Schmidt of District 2 is scheduled to host public office hours 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Cuyahoga Falls Public Library, 2015 Third St.

Schmidt will be available to answer questions and hear concerns from constituents.

District 2 includes most of Cuyahoga Falls, Munroe Falls and portions of Akron, including East Akron, Goodyear Heights and North Hill.

For more information, please contact the Summit County Council office at 330-643-2725.

Running a marathon is no easy feat. It takes strength, endurance and courage. That’s why Akron Children’s Hospital, as sponsor of the Akron Marathon Race Series, is recruiting kids with those qualities to help cheer racers on.

Along the route will be 13 Hero Zones featuring 24 patients who have overcome major obstacles.

“They’re not only miracles, they’re heroes,” Children’s Hospital President Bill Considine said. “They bring courage and perseverance to things that come their way.”

All but one of the zones are sponsored by area companies, universities or groups — each of which will bring personal touches for added fun, such as food, music and crafts.

Children’s will also have special commodities for Children’s Champions, 2016 marathon runners who raised $1,000 each for the hospital.

Patients will be in the zones encouraging racers and greeting and telling their stories to people who stop by.

Here’s a bit about each young hero, who chose superhero nicknames for themselves:

1. Starting line (no sponsor) — When the Spicocchi quintuplets were born, they weighed less than 10 pounds combined. The five babies’ eyes were fused shut, and they all received breathing support along with minor heart surgeries. Some became sicker, contracting infections and suffering brain bleeds while at the hospital.

Even a list of complications, including a collapsed lung, wasn’t enough to stop the siblings. Now 5 years old, the kids live in Massillon with parents Amie and Vince Spicocchi. They take regular trips to a branch of Children’s for speech, physical and occupational therapy sessions.

“Powerful” Paige, “Little Miss Giggles” Gia, “Artistic” Ellie, “Spy-lah” Ilah and “The Engineer” Enzo will all be at the starting line to kick the race off.

2. Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, mile 2½ — Just days after turning 10 in 2014, Delaney Lawson was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Shortly after, she found out she had celiac disease, too.

When she learned Akron Children’s Diabetes Camp would be going through some cuts from lack of funding, she and her dad, Todd, who also has diabetes, decided to take action and raise money for the camp.

Now, Delaney “The Sorcerer” is a seventh-grader at Highland Middle School and lives with her dad and mom, Christine, in Sharon Township.

3. Malone University, mile 4.85 — The 3-year-old Pryor twins have undergone more than 30 critical surgeries combined.

Lennix and Charlee were both born prematurely, weighing just a pound each, and were faced with a long list of brain, stomach and heart complications.

Their chances of survival were slim, but after spending nearly their entire first year in the hospital, Alexis Host and Nick Pryor’s twins were strong enough to make it through what seemed like the impossible.

“Super Warrior” Charlee and “Mighty Miracle” Lennix now receive regular physical therapy sessions and neurology, ophthalmology and psychiatry services at Akron Children’s, but they are healthy enough to enjoy one another’s company in their Dover home.

4. Kent State University, mile 6¼ — By the time Jordan Epps was 7, she had had her spleen and gallbladder removed.

As an infant, she was diagnosed with sickle cell disease, a blood disorder that can cause problems from severe pain and organ damage to growth impairment and strokes.

The 21-year-old said she wasn’t able to do things at the same pace as others growing up, but that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her goals. “J-Carrie” Jordan is now a Kent State student.

5. ComDoc Inc., mile 7.15 — Emily Kungli started 2013 as a healthy 10-year-old, but what seemed like a simple summer mosquito bite landed her in the intensive care unit at Akron Children’s with encephalitis.

After she endured headaches, confusion and a fever that led to seizures, doctors placed Emily into a medically induced coma for 12 days.

When Emily woke up, though, she was back to normal.

Emily “Bubbles” is now 13 and a healthy eighth-grader at Revere Middle School. Her mother, Gretchen Naumoff, established Emily’s Sparkle Sprint in her honor to raise money for the hospital, which has since evolved into Sparkle & Sip, a wine tasting event.

6. Youngstown State University tent, mile 8.85 — Molly Burdette warned son Colin to wear his helmet while riding his ATV on trails near his house in Hubbard with friends.

When he collided into another driver and was flung from his ATV, the helmet saved his life.

Colin fractured almost every bone in his face, had a severe concussion, broke both arms and lacerated his spleen. Dr. Niyant Patel at Children’s performed a 10-hour reconstructive surgery to repair and rebuild the bones in Colin’s face.

Almost a year later, after several surgeries and physical therapy sessions, 17-year-old Colin “Kicks” was playing soccer with only a near-invisible scar to tell the tale.

7. Pediatric Palliative Care Family Support Fund, mile 9.6 — Kendal Yovanovich started complaining about discomfort while playing sports about two years ago.

She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder with no known cure that affects connective tissue elasticity.

Around the same time, Kendal’s younger sister Makenzie lost her ability to walk. She was diagnosed with a rare form of congenital muscular dystrophy called Bethlem myopathy.

Despite the disorders, Makenzie “Mak Attack,” 8, and Kendal “Stretch,” 9, stay active with the help of their parents, Jennifer and Daniel Yovanovich, with ballet, horse riding and sports.

8. Children’s Hospital Women’s Board, mile 10.4 — When Bekah Plant was 4 months old, she underwent open-heart surgery to mend two holes in her heart.

Now, the 4-year-old only sees the cardiologist for regular checkups as well as an eye specialist for an eye movement disorder called Duane syndrome.

Around Christmas, her 2-year-old brother, Sam, had a bad reaction after eating a cashew. Their parents, Sarah and Christopher Plant, took him to the hospital and discovered he had a nut allergy.

Now, Sam “Wild Man” and Bekah “Memory Maker” eat healthy foods together — without nuts.

9. Children’s Hospital, mile 11.4 — Jordan “The Determinator” Pollock from Seville has spina bifida, a birth defect preventing spinal membranes from completely closing. After years of surgeries and procedures, the 5-year-old is able to walk with leg braces.

Luke “Lightning” Holko from Green had to relearn all basic skills after he was hit by a foul ball at a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game when he was just 4 years old. Now 11, Luke continues physical therapy to guide his muscles as they grow.

Instead of taking medicine, 15-year-old James “Piano Man” Wilson from Hudson played the piano to ease his pain during chemotherapy sessions after he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in 2014.

When 2-year-old “Amazing” Austin Rupp fell and broke his leg last year in Sterling, he was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, which may cause him to break one to two bones a year.

Jackie “Cancer Crusher” Custer from Canton was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia in 2014, which has since caused a series of complications. They haven’t stopped the 18-year-old from doing what she wants to do, though, as she attended her senior year at Jackson High School, went to prom with Cleveland Cavalier point guard Matthew Dellavedova and has been accepted to Mount Union College for nursing.

10. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, mile 13.85 — Since he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease nearly 10 years ago, 15-year-old Caleb “Cobra” Thurman from Akron has also developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, all autoimmune disorders.

His infusion therapy treatments every six weeks don’t stop Caleb, though, as he bounces between band, choir, Flying Horse Farms camp and several sports at Firestone High School.

“I’m really excited to be part of [the marathon],” Caleb said. “It’s an honor personally to represent Children’s in such a way.”

“What we go through is not easy, but Caleb has championed through everything,” said Charice Fort, his mom. “A lot of people don’t get to see their hero in person, but I live with mine.”

11. Stark State College, mile 17½ — At age 15, Katherine Schroeder has already undergone 16 heart procedures.

She was born with congenital heart disease with a hole in her heart and an abnormal valve.

Although she tires easily, “Compassionate Kat” Katherine of Plain Township still stays active and performs on stage.

12. WKDD (98.1-FM), mile 21.4 — After Fiona Smith fell at preschool when she was 3, a trip to the hospital revealed she had Wilms’ tumor, a rare type of kidney cancer.

Despite chemotherapy sessions and having a kidney removed, Aileen and Chris Smith, Fiona’s parents, said she entertained the doctors by giving them “checkups” and kept other kids in high spirits.

“As crazy as everything was that was happening, we had some fun nights at the hospital,” said Chris Smith, who is a Children’s Champion.

Now that Fiona is two years in remission, she and her dad have started working out together to stay healthy by swimming, riding bikes and even lifting weights.

“I already run tons,” said 6-year-old “Supergirl” Fiona.

13. FirstEnergy tent, mile 25.6 — Caroline Mizer had a hard time seeing her book at story time when she was 3, so her parents, Ann and Ken Mizer, took her to see an eye doctor.

At that eye appointment, she found out she had optic nerve tumors, and by kindergarten she lost her vision completely.

She still wanted to stay active, though, so “Pavement Pounder” Caroline, now 12, began running with the group Girls on the Run. Since then, she’s completed several 5K races and plans to keep up her stride.

Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom.

CANTON: A Massillon man charged in the shooting deaths of two women pleaded guilty in exchange for prosecutors dropping a potential death penalty for him.

The Repository (http://bit.ly/2d6iQld ) in Canton reports a judge on Friday sentenced 59-year-old Leeroy Rogers Sr. to life in prison for aggravated murder and other charges. He’ll have the possibility of parole after 61 years.

Pausing at times as he spoke, Rogers admitted he killed the women at different times and dumped one body at a creek and the other at a park.

An assistant prosecutor says the victims’ relatives supported the plea deal to make sure Rogers spends the rest of his life behind bars.

Some of them provided statements in court. One offered Rogers forgiveness. Another suggested that would be impossible.

By Doug Livingston

Beacon Journal politics writer

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ persuasive speeches for Hillary Clinton on Saturday were a far cry from the massive, boisterous rallies he once held when campaigning for himself.

In the morning, he spoke to a couple hundred Clinton supporters at the University of Akron. They politely clapped while seated in a theater lobby.

He then zipped over to Kent State, where he stumped another 30 minutes for Clinton, his former primary rival. There, 1,000 fans packed in and around the three-point line on a basketball court.

At both stops, he drew cheers for his expected condemnation of crony capitalists and billionaires who “buy elections,” never mentioning the invite-only fundraiser Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, held the night before.

The Kent State crowd cheered as he labeled Donald Trump, Clinton’s Republican opponent, a racist and a bigot. Many wearing his former campaign slogans on their shirts whistled as Sanders urged them to “not stand on the sidelines” and show Clinton the enthusiasm they once showered on him.

A bleacher full of Clinton supporters served as a backdrop for cameras recording his speech.

His pitch for Clinton, at least among millennial voters, comes as polls show Trump closing the gap Clinton enjoyed after the conventions and young voters, who have the numbers to decide the election, are not enthralled by their choices.

On the issues, the majority of college-aged Ohioans favor Clinton, who was pushed by Sanders in the primary to adopt more robust plans to make college free, raise the minimum wage and provide health care for all.

But some in the crowd, who dutifully support their Democratic nominee, and others outside the gymnasium, who couldn’t bring themselves to go in, hinted at the persistent problem Clinton has with millennials, a voting block that could outnumber any other generation except that it is less likely to participate.

Old college try

In her bid for the White House Clinton has tasked Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who will be in Cleveland on Sunday, to appeal to Ohio’s youth vote.

This “Weekend of Action,” as the Clinton campaign called it, touched college campuses in Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland, Akron and Kent.

At KSU, many taper-jeaned attendees, including Matt Brand and his friend, Addie Gall, came to hear Sanders, who was their first choice. They’ve decided to support Clinton. But it’s the issues, not the candidate, that have won them over.

Brand, a fashion design major, is facing tens of thousands of dollars in student loans before he graduates. In the primary, he gravitated toward Sanders, who gathered enough votes and delegates to push the Democratic party and its nominee toward help on college debt.

Still, what concerns most voters about Clinton also has millennials skeptical.

“Honesty,” said Brand when asked why he had picked Sanders over Clinton in the primary. Brand sees Clinton as a career politician and Sanders as an unwavering advocate for what many young voters believe to be right.

“He’s been a longtime supporter of gay rights,” Brand said of something that Clinton has not always supported. “It’s about equality. And Bernie has been about that for a long, long time.”

Gall, a journalism major, explained that many of her friends feel the election is a forgone conclusion.

“I think there are a lot of millennials who don’t think their votes matter,” she said, noting how the polls, the pundits and the media seem to pick winners before young minds are made up.

Young issues

Sanders hit all the points that made his upstart candidacy as an outsider so successful with millennial voters.

He criticized Trump for denying that climate change is real and that humans have contributed to it.

He sounded the alarm against the one-tenth of one percent of Americans who have as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. They control politics and perpetuate income inequality, he said.

He promised that Clinton would appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices who will protect LGBT and women’s reproductive rights, and overturn Citizens United, which lifted caps on political donations.

He told the crowd that Clinton would responsibly steer the country away from fossil fuels while retraining oil, gas and coal workers for new green-energy jobs.

And, making what he called “ultimately the most important” distinction between Trump and Clinton, he appealed to the multiculturalism and diversity that defines the country’s youngest generation.

“There have always been people standing up, sometimes dying, sometimes going to jail, sometimes getting beaten, who said that in America we will not be a racist, discriminatory society,” he said as the crowd waved “Love Trumps Hate” signs.

“The cornerstone of Donald Trump’s campaign is bigotry, is dividing us up,” he thundered.

Millennial breakdown

Millennials, ages 18 to 35, make up nearly a third of the electorate, according to the Pew Research Center. But their lack of interest in voting makes them less of a force in the upcoming election.

In a poll out last week by Next Gen Climate, a left-leaning environmental group founded by hedge fund manager and Clinton backer Tom Steyer, less than half of millennial respondents said they would “definitely” vote this presidential election. Those who might are twice as likely to punch their tickets for Clinton.

This is in line with other polling that show millennials embrace progressive views.

Next Gen Climate is using the polling to advise Democratic strategy in eight swing states, including Ohio. Driving turnout among the nation’s largest and least politically active generation is the goal.

When asked, 72 percent of likely millennial voters said, to some degree, Trump is racist. About the same percentages said they would be ashamed or scared if he were elected.

Trump’s approval ratings among likely young voters in the poll have dropped from 25 percent in July to 23 percent in August. Clinton’s net favorability, however, climbed from 35 to 44 percent from July to August — far from the 67 and 70 percent favorability ratings of President Barack Obama and Sanders, respectively.

Polling shows millennials are more cynical about institutions. They don’t trust a government they see rigged by career politicians like Clinton and corporate interests.

They also are more racially diverse than the generations before them. Nearly nine in 10 say diversity makes America stronger, a slogan Clinton has latched to her campaign.

Former ‘Berner’ stays out

As the event concluded, Gwen West stood outside the KSU rec center, explaining to a reporter that she had never seen Sanders speak.

“It was hard for me not to go in there,” she said as the crowd of Clinton converts and longtime supporters poured out.

West, 41, seeking a master’s degree at KSU, was once a “Berner,” having backed Sanders during the Democratic primary. His push for free college and single-payer health care would have benefited her now, and her four children in the future.

“I have a whole world of worrying about what life will be for them,” West said.

The Barberton woman would have liked to hear Sanders. But that was then. And, oddly enough, it was Sanders who told her to stop listening to him.

“He — in interviews more than once — has said that his version of Democracy demands that if he ever tells you who to vote for, you should not listen to him,” West said, subscribing to the purest form of Democracy Sanders has pitched: one person, one-vote; no undue influence; no coercion.

“I took that to heart,” she said, passing out a flier for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is on the Ohio ballot along with Libertarian Gary Johnson.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug.

BARBERTON: Partly by design, partly by coincidence, Barberton has four distinct events colliding into one bustling weekend that will have downtown hopping.

Festivities kick off Friday afternoon with the induction of four more honorees on the Walk of Fame, then swing right into Tuscany on Tusc, a wine-food-and-music affair that will unveil the city’s new downtown canopy of lights.

Both events run parallel with Barberton Fourth Friday, a monthly event in which business owners in the arts and entertainment district stay open late to offer special deals and activities.

Then Saturday and Sunday, Lake Anna Park will show off its colorful wardrobe for Mum Fest 2016, featuring everything from water ski shows and a canoe race to music, food and the million-bloom flower display.

Here’s more on all four events:

Walk of Fame

In March, the city celebrated its 125th birthday by installing the first six honorees in a new Walk of Fame. Living inductees and family members of posthumous winners flew in from both coasts for an event that included traditional speeches and Barberton High School band music.

But it was always the city’s intent to time the inductions with Mum Fest week, so this month the event will fall into its proper schedule with the induction of four more hometown heroes at 5 p.m. Friday in front of the Lake 8 Movies Theatre on West Tuscarawas Avenue.

The walk is Barberton’s spin on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame and includes large plaques embedded in the sidewalk featuring residents that made a significant impact in their community or their chosen careers.

The second class of nominees include:

• Arthur “A.O.” Austin (1879-1964), an inventor and one of the pioneers of high-voltage transformers, insulators and lightning effects on power transmission lines.

• Roy Burton (1897-1987), who broke through racial barriers to become the city’s first black councilman in 1955, serving three terms. The Georgia native also served on the Barberton Board of Education in the 1960s, becoming the first black member of a school board in Summit County.

• Glenn “Jeep” Davis (1934-2009), who won three Olympic gold medals in track and field before becoming a local teacher and coach.

• Esther Ryan, a retired school nurse and humanitarian who partnered with Magic City Kiwanis in the 1990s to create the Esther Ryan Shoe Fund for children in need.

Tuscany on Tusc

Attending the Walk of Fame ceremony? Stick around. The city is installing a canopy of lights across a portion of West Tuscarawas Avenue, and it will be illuminated for the first time at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

As part of the occasion, the second class of the Barberton Community Leadership Institute will host Tuscany on Tusc, an event modeled after Taste of Akron and featuring wine, beer, food and music on the closed street near the Lake 8 theatre.

From 5:30 to 9 p.m., participants can purchase tickets to exchange for the food and beverages, with proceeds to benefit the leadership class scholarship fund.

Fourth Friday

Downtown businesses stay open late on the fourth Friday of each month while featuring live musicians, art demonstrations or tours of their historic buildings.

Stroll along Tuscarawas from 5 to 9 p.m. to explore all the action.

Mum Fest 2016

Some 17,000 chrysanthemums creating a million colorful blooms is what makes the Mum Fest one of biggest events in southern Summit County each year.

This year’s tradition will keep revelers busy from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Along with the mum display on the northeast corner of Lake Anna Park, Saturday events include the Diaper Derby Dash at 11 a.m., water ski shows from noon to 4:30 p.m., Akron Zoo animals at the gazebo from noon to 2 p.m., a canoe race at 3:30 p.m. and roving and musical acts at the gazebo throughout the day.

On Sunday, the schedule includes more water ski shows from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., balloon art at the gazebo from noon to 2 p.m. and more musical acts throughout the afternoon.

There is also a Barberton Library Book Sale both days, a swiss steak dinner at Lakeview United Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon, a Barberton Kiwanis Silent Auction both days at the Masonic Temple and a variety of children’s activities near the gazebo.

Off-site parking will be available at Barberton Middle School, 477 Fourth St. NW, with free shuttles leaving every 15 minutes. Admission is free.

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741.

To celebrate their recent adoption of their daughter Maya through Summit County Children Services, Amanda and Vanessa Burke of Kent held a “Gotcha Day” party for family and friends to meet and celebrate Maya. Rather than buying gifts, guests were encouraged to bring school supplies, which were donated to Summit County Children Services’ annual School Supplies Program. “We had hoped to get 15 filled backpacks, but got twice that and boxes of additional supplies,” Amanda Burke said. “We feel great about Maya’s contribution. She will be able to make a lot of school-aged children smile.”

Goodwill Industries serving Summit, Portage, Medina, Ashland and Richland counties recently recognized 60 outstanding employees in the community at its 15th Annual Employee of Distinction Awards Luncheon.

This year, 26 area organizations nominated employees for the top honor.

The 2016 Employee of Distinction Award Winners include: Stacey Custer, school-based case manager, Child Guidance & Family Solutions; Marvelle Ramsey, residential aide, Community Support Services Inc.; Denise Ronk, treatment services community rehabilitation specialist, Community Support Services Inc.; Jeff Sturmi, recovery court program coordinator/deputy chief probation officer, Akron Municipal Court; and Jennifer Walls, math teacher, Firestone High School, Akron Public Schools.

About 300 children participated in the second annual Soap Box Derby Kids Day presented by Move It Now Akron earlier this month. Children from all around Northeast Ohio — and some from as far away as Florida — stepped up for the opportunity to race down the world famous Derby Downs track in a Soap Box Derby car. They also were able to enjoy inflatables, a mini Soap Box Derby car station, food from the Retro Dog, presentations by Summit Metro Parks and the Akron Police K-9 unit as well as appearances by Pozzie from the Canton Charge and the Blue Heron from the Akron Waterways Renewed.

Hannah Urbach and Nathaniel Caporini represented Portage Lakes Career Center during the National Skills USA Competition during the summer. Urbach, a visual design and imaging student from Springfield, placed second in the nation in Advertising Design. She was awarded a $8,000 scholarship to Sullivan College of Technology and Design and other prizes.

Hartville resident Bradley Dunn has been named as the regional director of the Akron region of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. The commission receives and investigates charges of discrimination in employment, housing, places of public accommodation, credit and higher education on the basis of race, color, sex, age, ancestry, religion, national origin, disability, military status and families with children.

Dunn is a graduate of Coventry Local Schools, the University of Akron and the University of Akron School of Law, where he graduated cum laude and was a member of various honor societies and a past president of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Dunn has been employed by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission for 20 years.

Keep Akron Beautiful recently awarded Daniel Zampelli the Board Member of the Year — Dan Weisenbach Spirit Award and Tom Deuri the Volunteer of the Year Award.

University of Akron professor Gary Doll has been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship. The fellowship will allow him to improve his interactions with the United Kingdom’s research base in tribology and surface engineering, and to facilitate collaborative research at the University of Manchester, one of the top research universities in the U.K.

Six St. Hilary School students were grade-level winners for the Northeast Ohio region in the 2016 Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness Poster Contest. Four were also state grade-level winners in the contest. State winners included Julia Arnold, grade 2, for her poster depicting winter weather safety; Elizabeth Nester, grade 3, for her poster about winter weather safety; Andrew Siefker, grade 5, for his poster addressing winter weather safety; and Clara Hoffert, grade 6, for her poster depicting flooding safety. Region winners from St. Hilary also included Alexxis Schmitt, grade 1, for her poster showing thunderstorm safety; and Caelan Stefancik, grade 4, for his poster depicting a weather safety kit.

Jessica and Steve Garton recently raised $675 for Akron Children’s Hospital with a one-time, nine-inning softball game. Players committed to donate at least $20 via cash, check or PayPay at GartonCharity@gmail.com. Many others who were unable to play still chose to make donations, from as far away as California.

The weekly Good News column features awards and recognitions, military and scholastic achievements, civic accomplishments and other good works. Please fax information to 330-996-3033, email it to goodnews@thebeaconjournal.com or send it to Good News, Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Include a photo if one is available.

Who needs Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Charlie Chan, Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot?

We have Beacon Journal and Ohio.com readers who can use their detective skills to solve a few mini mysteries.

So put on a deerstalker cap, grab a magnifying glass and follow this trail of clues.

Happy sleuthing!

Works like a charm

For nearly 25 years, Cuyahoga Falls resident Pat Nagy has been searching for the owner of a charm bracelet. She’s hoping that today will be her lucky day.

The bracelet was found in June 1993 after the wedding reception of her daughter Michelle Nagy and Lane Meeker Vargo at Our Lady of the Elms in Akron.

She asked friends and relatives if they knew the owner. When that didn’t pan out, Nagy began looking for clues in the charms. There are eight of them, including one Alpha Chi Omega sorority charm, one “Big Sis” charm, one pelican charm, one small printed “j” and one large cursive “J.”

There’s also a “1969 senior” charm that is red and black, the colors of Kenmore, Manchester, Norton, Canton McKinley and who knows how many other high schools.

Nagy called the sorority’s national headquarters in Indianapolis as well as chapters in Akron, Mount Union and Miami of Ohio. She called the Akron Board of Education, Kenmore High School and Kenmore Historical Society. She pored over yearbook photos at the Kenmore branch library and took out a lost-and-found ad in the Beacon Journal. Still no luck.

Then last year, Nagy lost her own beloved charm bracelet, one that she had treasured for 52 years, during a vacation to Ocean City, Md. The loss inspired her to renew her efforts to find the owner of “The Bracelet,” as she calls it.

If the charms sound familiar or you can help identify the owner, please call Pat Nagy at 330-618-9396.

Luck be with you.

Carved in stone

Stow author Craig Erskine recently discovered some 90-year-old graffiti near Akron’s Perkins Stone Mansion that piqued his curiosity.

The volunteer was picking up trash from the sidewalk on Copley Road near Trigonia Drive when he noticed initials and a date chiseled into a rock that’s south of the Perkins property. It seems to read “MB - 1926.”

He speculates that a road worker might have carved his initials while taking a break, possibly when the Copley Road grade was being lowered for better automobile access to the hill.

“The patina on the surface of the rocks and interior of the grooves themselves, reflects decades of exposure to the sulfur and carbon-black-laden air that once defined Akron,” Erskine said.

The Summit County Historical Society was unaware of the graffiti. Do you know anything about it? Did your father or grandfather ever proudly point out his handiwork on that rock?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Sharing the Gospel

For decades, Akron resident Beatrice Woolridge has taken good care of a family heirloom. The only problem is that it isn’t her family.

She has been safeguarding a 19th century Bible from the Warner family of Coventry Township. It records the 1800s wedding dates for many couples, including Elizabeth and Adam Warner, Mary and Henry R. Warner, and Elizabeth and Henry E. Warner.

Woolridge believes that her parents, Sam and Marjorie Glinn, discovered the Bible in the 1950s when they bought a furnished house on Fifth Avenue in East Akron. According to a city directory, the previous occupants of the home were Algernon and Gwendoline Marcellus, who apparently left no direct descendants.

Woolridge would like to return the Bible to its rightful heir.

If you have more information, please call the phone number at the bottom of this column and leave a message.

Behind a badge

Stow resident Dennis J. Myers, an Akron native, has a question about a keepsake that his grand­father Clyde B. Myers gave to him long ago.

It’s a deputy’s badge — No. 388 — from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. Myers contacted the office and was told that, decades ago, county badges that began in the “300s” were for “special use.”

A retired machinist from B.F. Goodrich, Clyde B. Myers died in 1955 at age 72. He was a councilman in the village of Kenmore before it was annexed to Akron in 1929. He was born in Lodi, lived 53 years in Kenmore and spent the final 15 years of his life in Munroe Falls.

Dennis Myers wonders if the “special use” category was related to his grandfather’s council years. County records apparently don’t go back that far. He hopes to find out which deputy wore badge No. 388 and if there is a connection to his grandfather.

“I’m 81 now, and I’d really like to close that chapter,” he said.

What is the ‘W’?

We’ll fold today’s column with a mini mystery that was tucked away in an old Akron schoolbook.

Charlie Thomas found a note from Eddie Major, 1927-1928 circulation manager of the Lariat, the school newspaper at West High. In the scolding letter to a student’s parent, Eddie noted that the girl had pledged support to “the ‘W’ book,” which has “over 1,000 subscribers,” but apparently didn’t follow through. The note continues: “We feel that the light consideration of a pledge on the part of young people is an undesirable thing which may lead to great embarrassment in later life.”

An attached pledge slip says “I WANT THE W BOOK” and “Cost not to exceed 25 cents.”

“We are all just curious what this mysterious ‘W’ book is,” Thomas said.

The yearbook was the Rodeo, so it can’t be that. Can anyone confirm if the “W” book was some kind of a student handbook?

Unless we get some answers, these mysteries will remain unsolved.

That’s it for now, fellow sleuths. Thanks for getting on the case.

Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of the book Lost Akron from The History Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

As Caitlyn Bromley hugged the concrete curb, her first thought came slowly, methodically:

“Did that just happen? This isn’t a movie. You were just hit by a car. You. Just. Got. Hit. By. A. Car.”

Her next thought came as the silver vehicle sped away, leaving Bromley alone and injured, without her cellphone, a mile from her own vehicle with no other human being in sight:

“She’s driving away. I got hit by a car. She’s leaving me. She’s. Driving. Away.”

Bromley lay at the intersection of Bunker Lane and Wexford Boulevard in Stow for a full 10 minutes, afraid to move, watching her leg swell.

Seared into her mind was the image of the driver. Young. Blonde. A cellphone in her hands. Panic in her eyes as the two women briefly looked at each other through the windshield before Bromley’s body slid off the hood of her car and into the street.

That was four years ago.

Bromley still trains for the Akron Marathon on the trail that runs behind Stow-Munroe Falls High School — just as she did that day — but she avoids crossing the intersection where she could have lost her life.

Her daily routine takes her close enough to glance at it, though. And she does glance at it. She can’t help it. The memory of that day still haunts her. The impact of the car. The feel of the cold pavement beneath her prone body. And the face of the unidentified woman who abandoned her.

Delayed start

Bromley, 27, decided she was a runner in the seventh grade. She had resisted it up until then. Her dad was a runner and always encouraged her, but she had no interest in following in his footsteps until she tasted victory at an elementary school event.

“After that race, my dad said, ‘You’re joining track and field next year!’ ” and she didn’t argue with him. “Turns out, I was gifted in running and I actually enjoyed it.”

She ran track and cross country for four years at Stow-Munroe Falls High School and two years at Heidelberg University in Tiffin before deciding competitive running wasn’t her future and she needed to focus on her career as an athletic trainer. But she continued to run for fun, mostly in local 5k races, then half marathons. She’d only run in a full marathon once, a college “bonding” event with friends. The 2012 Akron Marathon was to be only her second attempt at that distance.

Distracted disaster

It was late May when she parked her car, put in her earbuds, and starting padding down the path behind Stow-Munroe Falls High School. She’d measured an 8-mile course for herself, which required her to leave the trail for the length of a single street before returning to the off-road path.

As she approached the four-way stop at Wexford and Bunker, she didn’t see any cars near the intersection. Nice, she thought. She wouldn’t need to break pace.

She stepped into the intersection. From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of silver, but not in time to stop. The car’s passenger side smacked her. She flew onto the hood briefly, long enough to see the wide eyes of the young woman in the driver’s seat.

“She wasn’t speeding,” Bromley said, “but it was a stop, and she wasn’t slowing for the stop. When I was on the hood of her car, I saw the phone in her hand. I don’t know what she was doing, but she was definitely paying more attention to her cellphone than anything going on in the neighborhood.”

And then, without a word, the woman pulled away and drove off from where Bromley’s body lay on the pavement.

Bromley was stunned, too stunned at first to feel anything. But soon enough, she started to feel pain, and then panic.

“I could see the bruise on my leg, and it was swelling up huge, but I started thinking, ‘What if it isn’t just my leg? What if something else is wrong and I can’t see it? What if I die here?’ I went to a dark, dark place,” she said.

What finally motivated her to get off the ground was thinking about her mom. They’d had a fight that morning. All she could think about was getting to her cellphone locked in her car a mile away so she could hear her mother’s voice.

Even today, she can’t explain why she didn’t hobble to a house to ask for help.

Instead, she limped, dazed and in pain, the full mile to her car as the sun began to set.

She said the police spent a couple of weeks going door to door in the neighborhood, the intersection being in a residential area that suggested the driver might live nearby. And Bromley’s mom staked out the site a few times, hoping to catch a glimpse of a silver car with a young, blonde driver on her way home at the end of the day.

It took four months for the swelling in Bromley’s leg to decrease enough for an MRI to see the torn meniscus in her knee, and a year to complete two surgeries to repair it.

But in many ways, the mental and emotional damage was so much worse.

“Every time I would close my eyes, I would see the car. I would go through the accident all over again. For months, sleep was almost impossible. It was like it was looped on a replay,” she said.

“And all the time I’m losing sleep, I’m thinking this person who hit me is probably sleeping just fine,” she said.

Bromley had to stop working for several weeks, had to find a way to get her student loan payments delayed, had to wait almost two years to run again.

“I was an active 23-year-old and I wanted my life back,” she said.

An emotional finish

Then in 2014, she ran the Akron Marathon’s half marathon. In 2015, she ran the full marathon. Both times, she finished the race in tears.

“Every finish is such an emotional experience for me now,” she said.

On Saturday, she’ll run the half again. She lost some training time because of a career change.

But even now, she’s often “plagued with mental doubts” that she’ll ever be the runner she once was — something she is reminded of every time she trains without doing special exercises to appease her “angry knee.”

“I want to be the bigger person and say I forgive her, and I count my blessings for not being as bad off as other people I read about who have been injured or killed” by distracted drivers, Bromley said. “At times I’d get mad and say ‘How dare you? How could you not care enough about me to not pay attention to what you were doing? To not stop and help me after you hit me?”

But she fears forgiveness will elude her until the woman who hit her comes forward.

“I saw the panic in her eyes. I know she was scared. Fine. Be scared, but don’t drive away. Own up to it,” she said.

“I kept hoping someone would go to the police and say, ‘I was terrified, I was truly terrified, but I’m the person who did this,’” she said. “That’s all I wanted.”

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.

This Week

Thursday

William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum 70th Anniversary Celebration — 6 p.m. at the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton. Cocktail reception and dinner with speaker Allyson Bussey, The Power of Tourism. $45. 330-455-7043.

Saturday

Concordia at Sumner Fall Fashion Show — 10:30 a.m. at Fairlawn Country Club, 200 N. Wheaton Road, Akron. Proceeds will benefit a new Therapeutic Healing Garden on the senior community’s campus. $45, includes hot lunch, valet parking and the fashion show. Call Rowena Wilkins at 330-664-1315 or go to www.concordialm.org.

“The Readapt: Artwork Inspired by the Permanent Collection” Closing Party — 5-7 p.m. at Massillon Museum, 121 Lincoln Way E. Work by 10 Ohio artists, commissioned to reinterpret objects from the permanent collection, will be raffled. Proceeds benefit the Massillon Museum’s Capital Campaign. 330-833-4061 or www.massillonmuseum.org.

Deadlines

Comunale Foundation Havana Nights — 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at the home of Steve Comunale, 2300 Sourek Trail, Akron. Auction, raffle, dinner stations by Beau’s Grille, and performance by the Spinners. Benefits the Stephen A. Comunale Jr. Family Cancer Foundation, which provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families. Reservation due by Sept. 23; call 330-835-5985 or email Monica Stevens at monica@stephencomunale.org.

Columbus Day-Italian Heritage Month — Oct. 9. 9:15 a.m. wreath ceremony at Columbus Square at Akron Fulton International Airport with the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus and Summit County Italian clubs; 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony Church, 83 Mosser Place, North Akron, followed by lunch. Presale $12 adults, $6 children under 10; $15 at the door. Mail check payable to “Summit County Italian Council” by Sept. 28 to Tomasina Elavsky, 5006 Pamela Drive, New Franklin, OH 44319.

Golf Outings

Stark F.D.R.U. — Sunday at Great Trail Golf Course, 10154 Great Trail Drive, Minerva. 8 a.m. shotgun start. $75, includes coffee and doughnuts, drinks during play, hot dogs and beans on the turn, steak or chicken dinner. Call Cathy at 330-327-7514 or Steve at 330-701-7852.

Shaw JCC — Sept. 26 at Silver Lake Country Club, 1325 Graham Road, Silver Lake. Registration at 10:30 a.m. with lunch at 11 a.m. and shotgun start at 1 p.m. $175, includes lunch, golf, cocktails and heavy appetizers, contests, prizes and more. www.shawjcc.org/golf-outing.

Plan Ahead

Cheers for a Child — 4:30-7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., 529 Grant St., Akron. Benefits Christ Child Society of Akron’s charitable programs. $25 in advance, $30 at the door, includes drink ticket for beer or nonalcoholic beverages, heavy hors d’oeuvres and homemade desserts. Celebrity bartenders, raffle. Contact Mary Jo Kormushoff at maryjokormushoff@gmail.com or see www.christchildsocietyakron.org.

Empty Bowl Dinner — 4:30-7 p.m. Sept. 30 at Quirk Cultural Center, 1201 Grant Ave., Cuyahoga Falls. Benefits Good Neighbors of Cuyahoga Falls, which helps families in need. $15, $12 ages 12 and under. Reservations required at 330-971-8425 or 330-971-8225.

Break the Cycle: Addiction Recovery Mile — 5:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at Lock 3 Park, 200 S. Main St., Akron. Free family-friendly event will include messages about recovery, 1-mile walk, activities, food. Registration is recommended at 330-315-3770 or www.commhealthcenter.org/walk.

Cuyahoga Valley Art Center Benefit Dinner & Auction — 6-9 p.m. Sept. 30 at The Pavilion at Falls River Square, 2085 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls. Dinner, music, auction. $50 330-928-8092.

Battered Women’s Shelter presents Dueling Pianos — 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at Akron/Fairlawn Hilton, 3180 W. Market St., Fairlawn. $80 in advance, $100 at the door. Call Kathy Bean at 330-860-5637 or email KathyB@scmcbws.org.

Susan G. Komen Benefit Concert with Tom Keifer and Devilstrip — 8 p.m. Sept. 30 at Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park, 10777 Northfield Road, Northfield. $18-$38. 800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.

Hale Harvest 5K Run — 9:15 a.m. Oct. 1 at Hale Farm & Village, 2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath. 5K run benefits InHale, an educational initiative that uses historic and natural resources. Cost is $30. To register, go to www.wrhs.org/events/hale-harvest-5k.

Project Grad Akron’s Achieving Dreams Celebration — 5-8:15 p.m. Oct. 6 at Greystone Hall, 103 S. High St., Akron. Food stations, auctions, raffles, entertainment. 330-761-3113 or email info@projectgradakron.org.

A Taste of the Wild “A Night 2 Build Hope” — 6-9 p.m. Oct. 6 at Akron Zoo, 500 Edgewood Ave., Akron. Food, beer and wine, silent auction, raffle and mystery prizes to benefit Habitat for Humanity. $70, $125 couple, $80 at the door. www.HFHSummitCounty.org/AN2BH16.

L’Amour du Vin — 6-9 p.m. Oct. 6 at Avon Oaks Country Club, 32300 Detroit Road, Avon. Wine from around the world and food from area restaurants to benefit the Arthritis Foundation. $75, $95 VIP. 216-285-2822 or https://arthglr.ejoinme.org/lamourduvin.

OPEN M Fire and Ice — 6-10 p.m. Oct. 7 at Todaro’s Party Center, 1820 Akron-Peninsula Road, Cuyahoga Falls. Cocktail event with heavy hors d’oeuvres, music by Dan Wilson, basket raffle and live auction. $100, $75 young professionals. 330-434-0110, ext. 418 or www.openm.org/events/FireAndIce.

Cattle Baron’s Ball — Oct. 8 at High & Low Winery, 588 Medina Road, Sharon Township. Food, dancing and auction to benefit the American Cancer Society. Call Jamie Heinl at 330-517-2068.

Ballet Excel Ohio Gala: New York State of Mind — Oct. 14 at Portage Country Club, 240 N. Portage Path, Akron. Cocktails and silent auction, dinner and live auction, performance, music and dancing. $60. www.balletexcelohio.org.

Mercy Service League’s Black & White Harvest Ball — 5:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at Canton Memorial Civic Center, 1101 Market Ave. N., Canton. Dinner tickets $175, raffle tickets $250 with chance to win the $10,000 cash prize. Call 330-430-2750 or email foundation@cantonmercy.org.

Safety Forces Chaplaincy Center Scotch, Bourbon and Wine Tasting — 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at Our Lady of Cedars, 507 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road, Fairlawn. Scotch, bourbon and wine paired with food. $80, $150 couple, designated driver discount available on couple tickets. 330-376-0091 or https://scotchbourbonwine.eventbrite.com.

Good Samaritan Hunger Center: Soup for the City — 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Greek Community Center, 129 S. Union St., Akron. Buffet of soups from area restaurants, music by Patrick Munford Project, silent and live auctions, raffles, wine grab bags. $50. www.GoodSamaritanHungerCenter.org.

Send information about social and charity events to The Scene, c/o Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309. Or email lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com with ‘‘The Scene’’ in the subject line. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance. Merits of all organizations have not been investigated by the Beacon Journal, so potential donors should verify the worthiness of a cause before committing.

AKRON

‘Nerds’ to visit Canal Park

AKRON: The Summit County Historical Society and Knight Foundation will host their third Nerds’ Night Out from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at Canal Park, 300 S. Main St.

The groups will celebrate the life of professional baseball player George Sisler, who grew up in Summit County.

Participants will take turns in the batting cages and learn about other professional athletes from the county.

The event is free, but pre-registration is required and can be made at tinyurl.com/z3yjl49.

HUDSON

Fire safety trailer returns

HUDSON: The Hudson Fire Department’s fire safety house trailer is back after a nine-month renovation, and will make its first new-and-improved appearance at the annual Fire Safety Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Hudson Safety Center, 40 S. Oviatt St.

The renovation includes a new awning, doors, flooring, carpet, siding and other updates that make the trailer more safe and functional. The renovation was made possible by the city of Hudson, Kamper City and the Hudson Fire Department Association.

The trailer is an interactive tool to teach children fire safety in a hands-on way, showing potential fire hazards and teaching children how to get out of a bedroom in the event of a fire.

The trailer also has the capabilities to simulate a strong storm with simulated lightning, thunder and wind, during which children can practice a tornado drill, including how to listen to the weather radio and where to go during a storm.

northeast ohio

Office hours for LaRose

State Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Hudson, will hold district office hours Saturday at three locations in Wayne, Summit and Stark counties.

No appointment is necessary.

The hours will be: 9-11 a.m., Stow City Hall, 3760 Darrow Road; 12:30-1:30 p.m., Orrville Public Library, 230 N. Main St.; 2:30-3:30 p.m., Canal Fulton City Hall, 155 E. Market St.

PENINSULA

Music on the Porches set

PENINSULA: The eighth annual Music on the Porches — a villagewide celebration of music — will be held 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Merchants and residents will welcome musicians of all genres to their porches.

Also this year, the Peninsula Foundation Inc. and Ohio Arts Council will offer free workshops throughout the day, as well as an evening ticketed musical event featuring Kristin Andreassen and Rayna Gellert of Uncle Earl fame, with special guest Rachel Baiman of 10 String Symphony.

There will be more than 20 musical acts at places including the Train Depot, Elements Gallery and Terry Lumber on Mill Street; Fisher’s Cafe, G.A.R. Hall, Yellow Creek Trading Co., Bronson Church, Boston Township Hall and Silver Fern Bed & Breakfast on state Route 303; Spicy Lamb Farm on Akron-Peninsula Road; and Log Cabin Gallery on North Canal Street.

Visit www.explorepeninsula.com and www.peninsulahistory.org for details about the day’s events.

STOW

City event to discuss future

STOW: The city will hold a community meeting and open house to discuss the Stow Comprehensive Plan currently being updated.

The event will be 6 p.m. Sept. 27 at Stow City Hall, 3760 Darrow Road.

The plan was last updated in 2001 and serves as a guideline for long-range development of the city by establishing goals and policies for land use as the city makes decisions on things such as zoning, development and capital improvements.

At the meeting, officials will present demographic and development trends for Stow and the region and explain existing land use policies.

Attendees can then visit different stations to ask questions or make comments on specific aspects of the plan so the city can collect feedback.

To view the plan under consideration, visit http://stowohio.org/businessdevelopment/compplan.

GARRETTSVILLE: The parking lot at SkyLane Bowling in Garrettsville pulsed with noise as country singer Chris Higbee performed on a tractor-trailer stage in front of a cheering crowd overflowing into the street.

But when Aaron King, the co-owner and general manager of the bowling alley, drew one ticket out of nearly 150,000 from a massive tumbler, the crowd fell silent.

SkyLane Bowling held its weekly Queen of Hearts raffle Sunday, attracting nearly 15,000 hopefuls from as far as Canada who were trying to finally be the game winner.

Once King drew a ticket, that person had a one-in-four shot to pick the Queen of Hearts.

When he flipped over the nine of hearts, the crowd erupted again with the realization that no one had won and they had at least one more chance.

“We just can’t seem to find the Queen of Hearts,” King said.

For 50 weeks, SkyLane hasn’t seen a winner, but it has managed to grow the jackpot to $2.3 million and cram a crowd seven times the population of the village of 2,300 into the small bowling alley and its parking lot.

King estimates that jackpot will hit $3 million by next week’s drawing.

The rules

The game works like this: 54 cards are placed face down on a board and numbered on the back. People buy tickets for $5 each (or five for $20) and write their name and selected number on them.

Each week, King then chooses one ticket from the giant barrel for the Queen of Hearts game. Whichever card number the person picked on the ticket is flipped over. If it’s the Queen of Hearts, the lucky person wins 90 percent of the jackpot while the other 10 percent rolls over for the next drawing.

A separate drawing also is held for a 50/50 raffle.

The winner of the 50/50 raffle takes home half the pot while the other half is donated to local charities. This week, $91,977 went to one person while the other half was donated to the Portage Animal Protective League and the Garrettsville Freedom Nelson Volunteer Fire Department.

Since the Queen of Hearts game started, King made it a rule that if the winner wasn’t present, he or she would only take home 50 percent of the winnings.

But on Sunday, he announced that won’t be the case anymore.

He, the mayor and local safety forces agreed it would be best to revoke that rule and give the 90 percent whether the winner was present or not, especially as the game gains popularity with each passing week. King has already hired 11 police officers from three cities to be at the bowling alley each Sunday.

“We’ve pushed it as far as we can go,” King said.

Neither of the buyers of the tickets that were drawn on Sunday were present, so King called them and left a simple message, “Hello, you’re going to want to return this call, please.”

When King couldn’t reach the buyer of the drawn Queen of Hearts ticket by phone, he flipped over the selected number ­— 42 ­— and revealed the game would continue for at least one more week.

Numbers 5, 36 and 46 remain.

Sunday fun day

The game has been challenging for the staff members, who spend 16 hours each day selling tickets.

Despite that, King has made a fortune on food and beer sales and enjoys donating to charity.

“Sundays, those are fun days,” King said. “I’m looking forward to changing somebody’s life dramatically. It’s been great to help out and kind of put Garrettsville on the map.”

All day long, the crowd was abuzz, filling out tickets with the hope that the Queen of Hearts would finally show her face.

“They’re going to pick a winner today.”

“Are you ready to watch me win $2 million?”

People started arriving as soon as the alley opened at 6 a.m. A crowd filed in throughout the day, buying food and tickets from vendors outside and dreaming of becoming a millionaire.

And with the queen yet to be turned over, that dream still lives on.

Millionaire dreams

Barb Miles from Warren gave up her son for adoption 18 years ago, but last December he found her and contacted her.

Since then, she’s connected with him and his kids, who all live in Illinois.

“If I won, I would try to do what I could for my grandkids and be close with my son and his family,” Miles said.

She’s been playing the Queen of Hearts game since it hit $1 million. Since it started, she said it’s rejuvenated Garrettsville, which is still recovering from a fire that destroyed its historic district in 2014.

“I feel bad for the owners, but this is awesome,” Miles said. “I hope it goes the whole way.”

Dave Fisher from Bristolville has only been playing the past two months, but he had come to the bowling alley before the game ever started.

“There used to be five people here,” Fisher said.

King estimates nearly 20,000 people will play in the next drawing, which takes place at the bowling alley at 6 p.m. Sunday. Whoever is picked next week will have a one-in-three chance at winning the jackpot.

When the raffle was over, the crowd slowly left the littered parking lot — but not before pulling out cash to buy tickets for next week.

Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com.

In a Browns season filled with uncertainty, one thing is certain — fans still love Jim Brown and cling to the greatness he brought to the field.

All it took was a glimpse of the 80-year-old former running back making his way to the Browns-logoed cloth covering his statue at FirstEnergy Stadium’s University Hospitals gate for the fans who gathered some three hours before kickoff to erupt into cheers.

One man yelled, “Touchdown Jimmy Brown” while a woman shouted, “We love you, Jimmy.”

With one hand resting on an ornate cane, Brown gave the adoring crowd a quick wave.

The importance of the day — this is the first statue of a Browns player ever put up at the stadium — was not lost on the dozens of other former Browns players gathered for the team’s home opener and alumni weekend.

Even Browns coach Hue Jackson broke from his pregame routine and left the locker room to duck outside of the stadium to attend the ceremony.

“[Jim] is not only the greatest Cleveland Brown of all time, but the greatest NFL player of all time,” said Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.

And that is no hype as Brown’s stats as a Cleveland Brown have stood the test of time.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer finished his career with 12,312 rushing yards and one of the top per-carry averages (5.2) ever established by a running back.

Drafted in the first round in 1957, Brown earned nine consecutive Pro Bowl honors and led the team to the postseason four times, including three berths in the league championship and the 1964 world title.

An eight-time first-team All-Pro, he led the NFL in rushing during eight of his nine NFL seasons and became the franchise’s all-time career leader in rushing yards, attempts and touchdowns.

The Browns retired his No. 32 when he retired in 1965 to pursue an acting career.

While Hollywood called, Brown stayed connected with the Browns over the years mentoring young players, the team’s coaches and owners and working with Cleveland youth.

Looking at the statue that is about as impressive as he is, standing some 11 feet tall and weighing more than 2,000 pounds, Brown joked that it is a fair “representation” of him.

“This is a fantastic moment for me,” he said. “It is a great moment because I feel it throughout my body, particularly my heart, my mind.”

The statue was created by Lakewood artist David Deming who said he spent about three hours with Brown and pored over countless photos of the Browns legend to get it right.

“The whole time I was talking at him, I was checking his ears,” Deming said in a video shown at the unveiling.

Brown said he is honored by the tribute, but, like playing in the NFL, the accomplishments in his life have been a team effort — from fellow running back Ernie Green throwing blocks to those he has worked shoulder to shoulder with to end the cycle of violence on the streets of Cleveland.

“This represents one of the highest moments of my life, because when I look at the audience, about 95 percent of the people I know personally, and most of them I know through the work that they do and the work that I do and the work that we do together in the community to make it a better community.

“And that’s a fabulous kind of thing to feel — the diversity,” he added. “The ones who have the money, that have put up their money. The ones who work in the community and risk their lives.”

Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.

A 61-year-old man was fatally shot by an Akron police officer when police say the man pulled out an assault rifle following an altercation in a Kenmore neighborhood on Sunday afternoon.

Police say the man died after being transported to Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center.

Officers were responding to reports of a fight with injuries in the 1000 block of Florida Avenue around 3:30 p.m., according to police. The caller reported that he had been in a fight with his neighbor and had his arm slammed in a car door by the 61-year-old.

Officers said when they arrived at the scene, they found the man in the back parking lot of the apartment building. Police said he was walking toward a van parked in the lot. When he reached the van, police say he reached for an assault rifle.

Officers said they shouted for the man to stop and not touch the rifle. Police say the man refused to obey and pulled the rifle from the van. One officer opened fire, hitting him in the torso.

Police confirmed that no officers were injured during the incident. The officer who opened fire has been with the Akron Police Department for nearly two years. He will be placed on administrative leave, per departmental policy.

Police say the incident is still under investigation and the name of the deceased is being withheld pending identification and family notification.

The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy.

Areas of dense fog restricted visibility early Monday, making driving conditions hazardous in some areas of the region.

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement regarding the dangerous conditions in Summit, Medina, Portage, Stark and Wayne counties.

The fog restricted visibility to between a quarter of a mile and a half mile in some areas. Conditions were expected to improve after 9 a.m.

State traffic cameras in the greater Akron area showed thick fog in areas – the fog in some places blocked cameras from showing traffic.

There were only speed advisories posted on area highways and no accidents as of 7:45 a.m.

Drivers were urged to exercise caution during the morning commute, using low-beam headlights and allowing extra time to reach their destinations.

Beacon Journal staff report

Akron police are investigating the stabbing of a 57-year-old man who was taken by his brother to Cleveland Clinic Akron General about 10:30 p.m. Saturday with a wound to his chest.

The man told police he was stabbed at his home in the 300 block of Litchfield Road by two unknown male suspects. No further information about the incident is available.

Anyone with information on the stabbing is asked to call the Akron Police Department’s detective bureau at 330-375-2490.