The United Way of Summit County announced $1 million in strategic investments today for educational programs that support the Cradle to Career Alliance, a process of analyzing data and administering intervention at pivotal moments in a student’s academic career.

The concept has been trumpeted locally by the Summit Education Initiative. The education think-tank and research firm has pinpointed academic milestones that can be analyzed to predict later success. Studying these “transition points” can illustrate the need for collaboration among service providers and opportunities for timely intervention.

It’s a road map for educational stakeholders to fund worthwhile endeavors and the driving force behind the United Way’s new method of allocating funding.

“The United Way has moved away from funding educational programs that might ‘do good work’ on their own merits, but instead has become very educated on the Cradle to Career transition points and what the triggers for success are along that pipeline,” said Donae Ceja, senior vice president of Community Impact for the United Way.

The backbone of the effort is coordination. The United Way expects SEI’s guidance in aligning goals and fostering partnerships to be reinforced by the grants, which require recipients to report program performance data back to the Summit Education Initiative.

“We’ve come to believe that making a meaningful difference in academic outcomes for our kids, especially in the urban core, depends on everyone involved being on the same evidence-based page,” Ceja said.

Assessing education programs

The United Way is expected to release more funding later this year. Each program given initial funding was selected for educating students or providing intervention prior to one of SEI’s six “critical” transition points: kindergarten readiness, third-grade reading, eighth-grade math, on-time completion of ninth grade, graduating ready for success and persistence in college and career.

To assess each program’s impact and to continue the research that drives the United Way’s funding methodology, SEI has been awarded a $113,000 grant.

The United Way dedicated nearly half of all funds to programs that reach children before they enter school — funding three preschools, three home-visitation programs and an organization that will train grant recipients on data collection.

Funding for site-based learning initiative include a $118,000 award to the Akron-area YMCA’s Early Child Care & Education program and a $40,000 award for the Salvation Army’s Learning Zone, a preschool and day care center for children 18 months to 12 years old.

The Greenleaf Family Center’s SPARK (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) program will support its home visitation initiative with a $45,000 grant. The program places tutors in homes where they can help students prepare for kindergarten, give parents the confidence to teach their children and provide eligible guardians with access to community and health services.

Asian Services in Action Inc., also administers in-home instruction as part of a holistic effort to help non-English speaking residents, primarily from the North Hill and University Park neighborhoods, overcome language and culture barriers. The program serves immigrants and refugees, many from Asia.

“The children are in the same predicament that the families are in,” said Program Specialist Ed Kollin, who cultivated the “Ready Program” from a 2009 Akron Community Foundation grant.

The program hosts community information forums; contracts interpreters for courts, schools and hospitals; and provides on-site day-care and preschool when necessary.

The United Way’s $37,706 grant targets the Ready Program, which benefits children from birth to kindergarten. The grant doubles the program’s annual budget and will support a full-time staff position, which will expand the reach of home visits from 10 families to 24.

Funding also is allocated for education-based intervention programs hosted by the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Western Reserve, Big Brothers Big Sisters Serving Summit, Medina and Stark Counties, the Boy Scouts and other organizations.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

Ohio ranks among the top states for seized methamphetamine labs.

Authorities have uncovered 1,010 labs, chemicals and glassware used in the drug’s cooking process since 2000, putting Ohio in fourth place nationwide.

Indiana tops the rankings with 1,797 labs, followed by Tennessee (1,616) and Missouri (1,496).

The numbers come from the National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System, a database the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration compiles.

Ohio moved up from seventh in the rankings in 2012, when it also ranked behind Kentucky, Illinois and Oklahoma, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Ohio had 709 reports of labs, materials and chemicals seized in that year.

“The labs that they’re seizing [in Ohio] are the mom-and-pop styles,” said Ralph Weisheit, a criminal justice professor at Illinois State University and an expert on methamphetamine. “The typical meth cooker doesn’t learn from the Internet or from a book. He or she learns from friends, from people. That’s why meth spreads like a disease; it goes from person to person.”

Summit County has served as the “meth capital of Ohio” for years. The Beacon Journal reported earlier this year that 395 of the DEA sites in Ohio were located in Summit.

The Summit County Drug Unit also had identified nearly 900 meth labs and places where meth equipment was dumped in the county since 2001.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said last month that methamphetamine has hit epidemic proportions across the state, especially in rural Ohio, where investigators find remnants of labs in fields and along highways.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation tracks meth lab seizures by federal fiscal year. The state’s police officers report voluntarily, so there probably are more seizures than the statistics reflect.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic again is calling for the city’s rival hospitals to quit competing and to merge.

During his State of the City address in front of 650 attendees at the John S. Knight Center on Wednesday, Plusquellic urged Akron General and Summa health systems to join forces.

“The idea that we need two adult hospitals duplicating costs and competing makes no sense,” he said.

The mayor said he’s concerned that Akron’s hospital industry is turning into a battlefield, with larger, out-of-town health-care systems taking potential ownership interests in the local facilities.

Akron General is in talks to find a larger partner, and Summa entered a deal last year giving an auxiliary of Cincinnati-based Catholic Health Partners a minority ownership stake.

The mayor compared the potential influx of outside hospital ownership to the downfall of the local tire and rubber industry. One by one, local headquarters operations at B.F. Goodrich, General Tire & Rubber Co. and Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. closed or pulled out of Akron decades ago.

“I do not want these outside interests coming into Akron, the blue coats and the gray coats, with the result that we become a Gettysburg of health care, left to pick up the pieces after the battle is done by shifting health-care decisions from local, caring people in white coats to some executives in three-piece suits somewhere far from Akron,” he said.

When asked whether a partnership with Summa could be possible, Akron General spokesman Thomas R. Neumann wouldn’t completely dismiss the idea but said “that’s not a likely decision.”

An Akron General-Summa merger could create increased wait times for patients and potential job losses, Neumann said. The move also would likely face scrutiny by the federal government for potential antitrust issues.

“Competition creates choices,” Neumann said. “Health-care decisions are very personal decisions. Nobody wants to be limited to one choice.”

In a prepared statement, Summa Health System President and Chief Executive Thomas J. Strauss said, “We have been very open in the past about our belief that a more formal relationship with Akron General would be positive for our community.

“ … We did initiate discussions to that end prior to the beginning of our search in 2012 for a minority partner,” Strauss said. “It was very clear from those discussions that despite both organizations’ strong desire to provide care to the community, our models simply do not align.

“With that said, we have moved on, and I can tell you that there are no discussions happening between our organizations.”

The mayor acknowledged there have been previous unsuccessful talks to merge Akron’s two adult hospital systems with Akron Children’s Hospital.

“But each time,” he said, “it’s been stymied by this overwhelming idea that competition is more important than anything else.”

If the hospitals won’t agree to merge, Plusquellic said, then community and business leaders should form a board to “be a strong voice to ensure collaboration between medical entities.”

Keeping with the theme of collaboration and merger, Plusquellic also used his speech to float the idea of establishing a unified city-county government for all the communities in Summit County.

“In today’s world, do we really need 20 police chiefs, 15 fire chiefs, 28 school superintendents?” Plusquellic asked. “ … The sooner that suburbanites recognize that the world sees Stow and Green and Mogadore as ‘Akron’ or ‘Summit County’ and the more we work together, the more everyone in the region will benefit.”

Plusquellic suggested Summit County Executive Russ Pry “is perfectly suited to take on this task” of running a combined city-county government.

After the speech, the mayor said he would be willing to abolish his own position and pledge not to seek another public office if those moves could help make the consolidation possible.

Pry said he hadn’t heard about the mayor’s proposal until Wednesday’s address.

“It would be a very large challenge to get all these communities to come together,” Pry said.

Even without a merger, Pry said, the county can continue to work more closely with the cities and other subdivisions whenever possible.

Pry and Plusquellic pointed to the merger of the Akron and county health departments and building departments as successful examples of collaboration.

The State of the City address was sponsored by the Greater Akron Chamber, Kiwanis Club of Akron, Rotary Club of Akron, Akron Press Club and Akron Roundtable.

Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/CherylPowellABJ.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier may appear on the May 6 primary election ballot.

The court denied a challenge to a decision by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that broke a tie vote in the county elections board over whether Maier, a Democrat from Massillon, met the qualifications contained in state law.

At issue was whether Maier had either two years of post-secondary education or two years of recent supervisory experience above the rank of corporal in law enforcement.

The state high court credited Maier with supervisory experience in three jobs: as sheriff since Dec. 11, as safety-service director of Massillon and as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

“The highest-ranking officer of the Highway Patrol, a colonel, reported to Maier,” the justices wrote. “At the city of Massillon, both the chief of police and the fire chief reported to him.

“Although Maier was not himself a ranked officer in these positions, he was supervising officers well above the rank of corporal, so it is clear that this experience satisfies the statutory requirement.”

Six justices concurred in the opinion denying the challenge to Husted’s decision. Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger concurred in the judgment only.

The protest against Maier’s candidacy had been filed by Massillon Democrat Cynthia Balas-Bratton. Her attorney is Craig Conley of Canton.

In a brief filed with the court, Conley wrote that Husted “did not affirmatively decide the issue before him one way or the other.”

Husted had written, in part, “While I am not confident that Mr. Maier meets the legal qualifications in the Ohio Revised Code, I am also unable to clearly conclude that he does not. Given the law and the facts in this case, I choose to err on the side of ballot access.”

In seeking to have Husted’s decision overturned, Conley wrote that the secretary of state “admitted to erring” in allowing Maier on the ballot.

Nancy Molnar can be reached at nancymolnar2002@yahoo.com.

Akron police were searching for two men they say were involved in a landlord-tenant dispute that escalated into gunfire.

According to a police report, Benjamin D. Marshall, 27, and James D. Dempsie III, 24, fired shots at the landlord shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in the 100 block of Lake Street.

The landlord told police that he was at his rental property on Lake Street when the men showed up. They argued about property they had left in the house.

The argument culminated with the men firing several shots at the landlord before fleeing in a car, police said.

The landlord was not wounded.

Marshall, whose last known address was the Lake Street unit, is wanted on charges of aggravated menacing, possession of drug paraphernalia, illegal manufacturing of drugs, illegal assembly of chemicals and possession of meth, police said.

He is described as white, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 170 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Dempsie, of West State Street in Barberton, is wanted on a charge of attempted felonious assault. Police said he is white, 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 220 pounds. He also has brown hair and blue eyes.

Police said both men should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about the men’s whereabouts is asked to call detectives at 330-375-2490.

BATH TWP.: The Revere Board of Education took four separate actions this week that streamline a portion of the district’s business administrative structure and will save the district money, its president said.

The moves were not unexpected, following the resignation of Revere’s coordinator of business services late last year.

“We are restructuring,” board President Claudia Hower said. “The resignation of our business manager was an opportunity to increase the efficiency of our management of facilities and the business office.”

Among the actions the board took at its meeting Monday was approval of a new job description for a chief financial officer/chief operating officer. Next, the board approved the resignation of Dave Forrest, Revere’s current treasurer/CFO, then subsequently re-employed him in the new position, effective through July 31, 2017.

Hower said the district’s CFO/COO will manage all business aspects of the district in concert with the hiring of a facilities maintenance supervisor, who will oversee buildings and grounds.

A third vote acknowledged the changes in responsibilities due to the consolidation of duties and set the annual salary for the newly created CFO/COO position at $118,232.50.

The board’s final action was hiring Michael Critchfield as the district’s facilities maintenance supervisor from May 1 through July 31, 2016.

The job description for the CFO/COO position includes the fiscal and administrative duties Forrest handled as treasurer/CFO, among which are coordinating the district finances, maintaining long-range fiscal strategies and preparing annual budgets. In addition, he now will be responsible for overseeing districtwide operations of facilities, transportation, food services and technology.

“I am confident this is a workable situation that will benefit the district in the long run,” said Forrest, who will make $10,000 more than he was paid as treasurer/CFO.

“We researched the ‘going rate’ of compensation [for the CFO/COO position], so we were not overpaying or underpaying,” Hower said. “This move is a cost savings to the district of at least $20,000.”

Critchfield, who lives in Bath and whose children attended Revere schools, has 32 years of experience in facilities management at Akron Public Schools. He was hired at an initial salary of $57,000 for his first full contract year, which will commence Aug. 1. He will be paid a per diem, prorated salary from May 1 through July 31 of this year.

A tiara that once belonged to first lady Ida Saxton McKinley is now sitting in a pawn shop in Las Vegas, and a Canton museum is racing to get it out of hock.

OK, this is no back alley pawn shop. It’s Gold & Silver Pawn, the setting of the History Channel series Pawn Stars. And the tiara’s former owners didn’t exactly pawn the headpiece to pay the rent. They sold it to shop co-owner and series star Rick Harrison for $43,000.

Ida McKinley was a Canton native and the wife of President William McKinley, the namesake of the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton. She died in 1907, and her diamond-accented headpiece was passed down through her sister’s family.

The museum knew about the tiara and even borrowed it a couple of times to display at special events, Curator Kim Kenney said. But its sale took the institution by surprise.

Kenney sprang into action after learning from a museum member that a possession of Ida McKinley’s would be featured on the March 7 episode. She said she contacted the pawn shop but initially was told the tiara was not for sale. About two weeks ago, however, Harrison called back and offered to sell the adornment to the museum for what he paid.

“It’s been appraised at $75,000, so it’s a good deal,” she said.

There’s just one catch: The offer is good only until June 24.

Now the museum is engaging in a fundraising blitz to try to scrape together the money to buy the tiara, which is more like a metal headband accented by a pair of detachable diamond wings that can double as brooches.

Because the museum doesn’t have an acquisitions budget, it’s soliciting donations and trying the get the word out via social media. It hopes to hold a fundraising event, Kenney said, but this has all happened so fast that the museum hasn’t had time to cook up a plan.

“We never do this,” she said. “This is extraordinary for us.”

The museum, Kenney pointed out, is not one of the federally funded presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. “We’re just a nonprofit trying to stay open,” she said.­

Donations may be made by phone at 330-455-7043 or mailed to Ida McKinley Tiara Fund, McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton, OH 44708.

Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/mbbreck, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.

Every fisherman worth his salt has a good “The one that got away” story.

It will take quite the tale to top Bobby Kotch.

Kotch, 46, who lives in Green, was fishing on vacation at Lake Istokpoga in Florida when he caught a 25-inch, 10.9-pound tilapia, big enough to break the Florida state record and world record once properly weighed and certified.

Except at the time, he didn’t know it was a record-breaking fish. He weighed it, measured it and took a picture.

Then he let it go.

Kotch was fishing for bass at the time and had never seen a tilapia, so he wasn’t sure what he had caught. It wasn’t until he identified the fish on a sign back at the boat ramp that he realized it was a tilapia.

And it wasn’t until he did some research online that he realized he had released the biggest tilapia ever caught. The official record is 24 inches and 9.6 pounds, caught by a Florida woman in 2011, meaning the Florida state record is also the world record.

“I talked to my two buddies in Florida and they said they’d never seen one that big,” Kotch said earlier this week. “I didn’t even think about it until I got home. I was mad I threw it back and didn’t keep it. It was just insane. I didn’t know what to think.”

Kotch has since been told that tilapia don’t often bite but were spawning at the time.

“I was using a spinner bait, with two blades that spin around on the end, and it must have been in its nest and it tried to grab it and kill it,” Kotch said. “It was a fluke thing, really.”

Nearly a month later, Kotch doesn’t have the world record, but he does have a pretty good story. And, as legendary fish stories go, he did snap a picture with the potential world record, a key piece of evidence — at least for his side of the tale.

“It was the catch of a lifetime, and I threw it back,” he said. “I was mad, but then, how can you be mad? I know I caught it. That picture is a good thing because a fish story without a picture doesn’t mean too much.”

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sports.abj.

The Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition will kick off its 2014 Healthy Steps this week with three events.

The kickoff event, with the goal to get more people walking, will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, 155 Fifth St. NE in Barberton. Sponsors are Summa’s Barberton and Wadsworth-Rittman hospitals.

In addition, the 10th annual event will get underway on the Towpath Trail from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Lock 3 Park, 200 S. Main St. in downtown Akron.

In Tuscarawas County, Healthy Steps will kick off from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Fort Laurens Museum in Bolivar.

Those who register in advance will get a free lunch or snacks along with materials to help them get started in health and wellness goals. The first 350 people to register get free pedometers. Participants will get a health and wellness e-newsletter.

To register, go to www.ohioeriecanal.org.

Participants are eligible for prize drawings, depending on the number of steps they walk daily.

Healthy Step walkers will meet at noon Tuesdays at the Richard Howe House, 47 W. Exchange St., for walks around downtown Akron. They also will meet at noon Thursdays in Barberton starting next week.

Last year, the program had 361 individuals or teams that completed the six-week program that runs through May 10, organizer Lynn Williams said.

Sponsors include Akron General Health System, Summa, the city of Akron, Summit County, Rubber City McDonald’s restaurants, Giant Eagle, Main Street Gourmet, Zimmer, Allied Machine, ComDoc, Akron RubberDucks, Meaden & Moore, the city of Barberton, Downtown Akron Partnership, Austin BioInnovation and the Tuscarawas County Parks Department.

For more information, contact Williams at 330-374-5657 or lwilliams@ohioeriecanal.org.

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.

United Way of Summit County raised a record-breaking $12.2 million in its 2013 United Way/Red Cross Campaign.

The agency announced the total Wednesday, noting that this is the fourth consecutive year the charity has set a fundraising record.

Donations last year topped the previous record, set last year, by $400,000.

“United Way provides an uncommon value that no other nonprofit can offer,” Jim Merklin, United Way campaign chair and partner of Bober Markey Fedorovich, said in a prepared statement.

“We raise money that benefits not only our funded agencies, but really provide a conduit for philanthropy in our community.”

The United Way is reviewing where to distribute the money.

“Summit County residents are amazingly generous with their time and dollars,” Katie Rennard, United Way’s senior vice president of resource development, said in a statement. “We owe a debt of gratitude not only to the thousands of individuals who give to United Way, but also to the hundreds of leaders who volunteered their time, passion and influence toward the campaign’s success.”

GRANGER TWP.: Christopher Mark Heben said it felt like he had been kicked in the gut by a mule when he was shot in a Montrose parking lot, but his Navy SEAL training quickly kicked in.

The Granger Township man is recovering from a gunshot wound to the stomach after he was shot Friday outside the Mustard Seed Market in Bath Township.

“It was as if someone folded you in half,” Heben, 44, said Wednesday. He was released Tuesday from Akron General Medical Center.

Heben, who served as a SEAL from 1996 to 2006 and had multiple overseas deployments including in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said he went to Montrose around dinnertime to buy food for a birthday party when he got into a verbal fight with another motorist.

The argument, he said, started after a car backed into him as he walked in the parking lot.

He said he exchanged words with the car’s driver.

“I said, ‘Dude, you almost [expletive] ran me over — you need to pay attention to what you are doing,’ ” Heben said he told the man.

The driver, Heben said, countered that he was the one who needed to pay attention.

After exchanging a few more words, Heben said, he started to walk to the store when he remembered that he left his wallet in his truck.

A second confrontation ensued when Heben returned to his truck.

The driver, who is black, Heben said, told him, “You got a big mouth white boy. You need to learn some [expletive] respect.”

Heben said he then told the driver: “Look dude, in my world, you have to earn respect” and offered to “help him out right now.”

When the driver turned to a passenger in the front seat, Heben said, his SEAL instincts told him to “blade” and turn so the front of his body was not exposed.

In an instance, he was bent over in pain.

“I felt like a mule kick to my stomach,” he said.

Heben said his SEAL instincts kicked in and he gathered himself and jumped into his truck to catch up with the car.

“They cruised out and I got in my car as quick as I can,” he said.

After the two cars left the parking lot and headed north on Cleveland-Massillon Road, Heben realized he was bleeding and put a finger in what he believed to be a bullet hole in his lower abdomen.

Heben said he began sweating and his vision became blurry.

“I go from seeing stars to looking like I am looking through a lava lamp into a kaleidoscope and obviously I am going into shock,” he said.

He realized he could not continue to chase the car and decided he needed to seek help.

“I am making these microsecond calculations,” he said.

Heben said he does have a concealed-carry permit and did have a gun in his truck. He said he made his way to the Bath Township police and fire departments on Cleveland-Massillon Road.

He said doctors removed a metal object from his stomach, but he did not know what type of bullet it was.

He said had he been wounded more seriously, he probably would have called 911 instead of chasing the shooter.

“I was adrenaline fueled and pissed off and I was definitely on the hunt,” he said.

He said he wanted to at least get a license plate number, which he did not get, but did manage to get a description of the car, a gray low-profile sports car with tinted windows and a raised spoiler on the back.

Heben’s Facebook page, that has more than 19,000 likes, blew up over the weekend when news of the incident was posted.

“Just wanted to deliver a quick and heartfelt video ‘THANK YOU,’ to everyone, for all the prayers and well wishes,” Heben wrote on his page. “Your messages have been a blessing to me.”

Hundreds of people, including those from the Navy SEAL community, posted support for Heben, who is the father of one son and recently began to serve as a spokesman for the Montrose Auto Group and is president and founder of the INVICTVS Group.

He has been featured as a special operations expert in hundreds of news interviews over the years and is currently working on an album called The Patriot Project.

After he left the Navy, he said he worked for the military contractor Blackwater.

“I am an aggressive guy by nature,” said Heben, who grew up in suburban Cleveland. “My absolute thought was I am going to go get these guys and at the very least get a plate or a better description.”

Bath Township Chief Michael McNeely said the department has been reviewing security videos from the plaza and have received about a dozen tips. Anyone who may have information about the incident is asked to call 330-666-3736 or email Detective Dan Lance at dlance@bathtownship.org.

Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.

Cleveland and Cincinnati are the two Ohio cities still in contention to host the 2016 Republican National Convention with the list of possible cities narrowed to six on Wednesday.

Columbus, the third Ohio city to bid for the convention, has been knocked out of competition along with Phoenix.

The Republican National Committee said the four other sites still in the running are Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Mo., and Las Vegas.

A Republican team will visit the six cities for a more in-depth look at financing, convention venues, media workspace and hotels. The selection committee will then decide after the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting which of the six cities will receive official site visits from the full committee delegation. The final decision is due by fall.

At stake is a national convention that brings in as many as 45,000 visitors and up to $200 million for the local economy.

Ohio has not hosted a national political convention since 1936, and the Ohio Republican Party chairman said in a statement Wednesday that the state party will do everything possible to support Cincinnati’s and Cleveland’s bids. No Republican has ever taken the White House without Ohio.

“The road to the White House runs through Ohio, which makes us the perfect state to host the Republican National Convention,” state party Chairman Matt Borges said.

Las Vegas has emerged as an early leader in the competition, but Cuyahoga County Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost said having three cities bid and two make the latest cut illustrates Ohio’s importance in national elections.

“I think that’s a real strength,” Frost said, adding that it was up to Cleveland to show it can meet all the requirements for the convention.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said that city’s fundraising efforts are “coming along well.” He declined to discuss the details.

Republican officials have stressed that the city hosting the convention must raise $55 million in private funds and have sufficient convention and hotel space and adequate accommodations for the media.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said in a statement that Cincinnati is confident it will be at the top of the list once the committee sees all the city has to offer.

In a statement congratulating Cincinnati and Cleveland, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman said Columbus was proud of the work it had done to pursue the convention. The city is planning to pursue the Democratic National Convention, Coleman spokesman Dan Williamson said Wednesday.

Ohio has been hoping to reassert its political clout with the three bids for the Republican convention. But the state is competing against fast-growing states with newer infrastructure and the more diverse electorate that the party is trying to attract.

Whether this campaign has any impact on our littering problem remains to be seen, but the billboards are ready to roll.

Keep Akron Beautiful’s anti-littering contest has multiple winners. KAB decided to give away two $100 gift cards and produce two different boards, both of which will be displayed throughout the city starting this month.

Avid readers of this column will remember every detail of the contest. For the other 100 percent of you ... KAB wanted to localize a national anti-littering campaign it participated in last year called “Littering is Wrong.” That campaign featured billboards with things most folks believe just ain’t right:

“Networking at a funeral.”

“Proposing on a blind date.”

“Tattooed typos” (featuring a drawing of a guy whose tatt reads “Mohter”).

The local folks figured we could come up with plenty of no-nos unique to Akron. Given the subject matter — litter — they immediately thought of your favorite columnist, who agreed to publicize and help judge the contest.

The competition was fierce. Among the top entries:

“Zippy cheering for the Flashes” (submitted by Janine Pavkov).

“Calling Akron a suburb of Cleveland” (Cari Miller).

“Running radar at the Soap Box Derby” (Patti Howell).

“Believing Black Keys are only on a piano” (or similar from both Cari Miller and Adam Staller).

“Driving clockwise in a roundabout” (Kevin Tucker).

Good ones all. But to this judge, none of those quite brought home the unique feel of Akron as well as this:

“Not looking up when the blimp flies by.”

Nothing says “Akron” more than the blimp. And failing to look skyward after hearing the unique drone of the blimp’s engines is indeed an Akron atrocity.

At least that was my reasoning. And that’s why Sherryl Owen of Cuyahoga Falls is now $100 richer.

The retired nurse and decorative painter has “lived in this area my whole life, and it’s just a fact of life, having the blimps around.”

Like most of the rest of the world, the 62-year-old Falls High and University of Akron grad has never been in a blimp but has always wanted to be.

Owen and her husband of 40 years, Steve, have had any number of blimps fly directly over their house — and they still look skyward every time.

“When [the contest idea] came to me,” she says, “I thought, ‘Gosh, what’s more Akron than the blimp?’ ”

Exactly.

The folks at Keep Akron Beautiful were so enthralled by a second entry that they are handing another $100 to Patti Howell of West Akron, who came up with “Removing the marathon blue line” — another move that would clearly engender bad karma.

Several other entries were intriguing but a bit too edgy for an ad campaign in which you are trying to win over the broadest possible audience. Case in point: “Taking your talents to South Beach” (Nicholas Hakim).

KAB’s rules prohibited anything containing a business name, eliminating entries such as “Getting a Swenson’s Galley Boy without the special sauce” (Brady Marks).

KAB officials say everyone who entered will get a “Littering is wrong, too” drink koozie.

When your koozie wears out, just toss it out the window of your car.

Word origins

Bob: After a recent $1,300 run-in with two craters and their ejected contents on an exit ramp from the [Akron] Innerbelt, my husband and I pondered the origin of the terms “pothole” and “chuckhole.”

The former might refer to an opening large enough to contain a cooking container. But what is a chuck? And why would it have a hole?

Are these colloquialisms unique to our area, like ‘Devil’s Strip,’ or limited to sections of the country that routinely incur pavement damage from freeze/thaw?

We agreed that if anyone might determine the reason we use these terms for road hazards, it would be our favorite learned journalist, Bob Dyer.

Kaye & Mike Stoneking

Kaye and Mike: Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place. The “chuckhole” got its name because it is big enough to contain Charles Barkley.

Strafing runs

Bob: It’s said that Goodyear’s new rigid airship, soon to fly the skies, includes a bathroom — and you can see out of it.

Do you suppose that means when you lift the lid and look down you see the clouds, kind of like the train cars in the old days?

Sounds like there’s a new product line for Goodyear to market: blimp umbrellas. Their slogan could be: “Look out below!”

Craig Erskine

Stow

Craig: You are a sick individual. I admire that in a reader.

Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.

STARK

Malone, Arthur A., 88, of Alliance. Died Tuesday. Cassaday-Turkle-Christian.

Meilinger, Mary L., 86, of Massillon. Died Monday. Paquelet.

Wilson, Edward, 49, of Alliance. Died Friday. Cassaday-Turkle-Christian.

WAYNE

Bart, George J., 94, of Wooster. Died Tuesday. McIntire, Bradham & Sleek.

Smith, Raymond L., 93, of Homerville. Died Tuesday. Matteson, West Salem.

AKRON

Violence charge

AKRON: A 34-year-old Akron man faces a felony domestic violence charge after police said he attacked his grandmother.

Corey E. Jackson was arrested without incident Tuesday night, police said, and was booked into the Summit County Jail.

According to a police report, the 88-year-old woman called police to her Flanders Avenue residence about 7 p.m. She said that her grandson had punched her in the face and choked her.

When officers arrived, the woman answered the door with a bloody mouth and swollen lip. Jackson was in his bedroom.

According to court records, Jackson was found guilty of felony domestic violence last June and was sentenced to a year in prison. He was released late last year under conditions that he not commit any offenses for two years.

E-waste drive

AKRON: Certified Nerds is conducting its third annual E-Waste Drive through April 30.

The public is invited to drop off e-waste at two Certified Nerd locations: 1720 Merriman Road in Akron and 297 N. Main Street in Munroe Falls.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

E-waste may include old work stations, printers, laptops, monitors and backup batteries.

For more information visit www.certifiednerds.com.

CLEVELAND

FBI seeks help

CLEVELAND: The FBI is asking the public for help in identifying a man suspected of sexually exploiting a child.

Still images and video of the suspect, which were first recorded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in November 2012, show him and the victim inside a residence with what appears to be a blue sofa chair and a picture hanging on a wall in the background.

The FBI said the suspect appears to be a white male, possibly in his 30s or 40s, with a receding hairline. He wears wire-rimmed glasses.

Photos and an informational poster of the suspect, who is referred to by the FBI as John Doe 28, can be viewed at www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap.

There are no details linking the suspect to a particular state or region of the U.S., and both his identity and whereabouts are unknown.

Anyone with information can submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov/ or call the agency’s toll free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

Anyone with questions should call Kelly Liberti, special agent in charge of the Cleveland office of the FBI, at 216-522-1400.

HARTVILLE

Alarm fee set

HARTVILLE: Village Council has approved legislation to charge residents and businesses for excessive false alarms.

There is no cost for the first two false alarms in a calendar year. The charge for the third false alarm is $50, and the fourth and fifth, $75. All additional false alarms can draw fines of $100.

The legislation approved Tuesday says that responding to false alarms is “disruptive to the safety and peacefulness of the community.”

The police chief or a designated representative will decide whether to charge for a service call.

In other action, the council approved a new fee schedule for building, heating, electrical and zoning permits. Some fees are unchanged.

Council also updated legislation regarding canvassing and soliciting. The rules exempt children who go door to door for nonprofits from requirements for applications and permits.

HUDSON

Building uses

HUDSON: The city is seeking proposals for the use of the first floor of Hudson Town Hall, 27 E. Main St.

Officials would prefer a not-for-profit user. Proposals are due June 27.

Hudson Town Hall ceased operation as the primary location of offices for the city in early 2013, but the second-floor meeting room (Council Chambers) still is used for public meetings in the evening.

The structure, built in 1879, has functional heating, water, electricity, security and telephone systems and includes three restrooms.

For more information, call the city at 330-650-1799.

MOGADORE

Renacci office hours

MOGADORE: Staff members from U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci’s local office will hold mobile office hours from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at the Mogadore Branch Library, 144 S. Cleveland Ave.

Constituents who need help dealing with a federal agency can obtain assistance.

For more information, go to http://renacci.house.gov or call Renacci’s office in Wadsworth at 330-334-0040.

NORTHEAST OHIO

Self-defense class

RAVENNA: The REALIZE Firearms Awareness Coalition will host a free self-defense program at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Maplewood Career Center, 7075 State Route 88.

Mike Hasychak, an NRA-certified instructor, will lead the seminar, which will focus on using “whatever you have handy in your defense.” Those items can include a knife, pen, keys, pepper spray, cane, umbrella and hat.

The Kent-based coalition puts on seminars each month.

For more details, go to www.realizefac.org.

STARK COUNTY

Sheriff on ballot

COLUMBUS: The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier may appear on the May 6 primary election ballot.

The court denied a challenge to a decision by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that broke a tie vote in the county elections board over whether Maier, a Democrat from Massillon, met the qualifications contained in state law.

At issue was whether Maier had either two years of post-secondary education or two years of recent supervisory experience above the rank of corporal in law enforcement.

The state high court credited Maier with supervisory experience in three jobs: as sheriff since Dec. 11, as safety-service director of Massillon and as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

For more details, see a longer version of this story at www.ohio.com/news/.

akron

5K to benefit charity

AKRON: The Color Me Rad 5K will be coming to Akron on April 12 and will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Racers can register online for the $55 race at http://www.colormerad.com/race/cleveland-akron and enter the promotion code “RMHAkron” to received a 10 percent discount and direct 10 percent of the proceeds to go to the Ronald McDonald House.

Runners and walkers are encouraged to dress in all white clothes and accessories and will be splashed with nontoxic cornstarch paint through the course.

The 3.1-mile race begins at 9 a.m. at Lock 3 Park.

NORTON

Volunteers wanted

NORTON: The city of Norton is seeking citizens interested in gathering for the Annual Road-Side Litter Clean-Up Day at 8 a.m. April 26.

The event will begin with coffee, juice and donuts at the Norton Administration Center at 4600 Columbia Woods Drive while getting area assignments. At 11 a.m. the cleanup will end and volunteers will return for lunch, which will conclude at noon.

Interested individuals should call 330-825-7815, ext. 314, or email annc@cityofnorton.org.

SUMMIT COUNTY

Burglary sentence

AKRON: A Coventry Township man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of burglary related to break-ins at homes in Barberton and Coventry last October, authorities said.

Adam D. Caskey, 29, of Flynn Drive, was scheduled to go to trial April 16 on a three-count indictment.

In a final pretrial hearing Tuesday, Caskey pleaded guilty to the Oct. 21 burglary of a Barberton residence on East Tuscarawas Avenue Extension and an Oct. 30 burglary of a Coventry residence on Apple Drive.

In exchange for Caskey’s guilty plea, a charge of petty theft was dismissed.

These were among the other highlights Mayor Don Plusquellic shared during his State of the City address on Wednesday:

• The mayor has had recent conversations “with one of the top U.S. EPA officials” to come up with a possible solution to the ongoing combined sewer overflow issue.

“I’m very hopeful that we will make progress that will help our citizens and still keep on track keeping the effluent out of the river,” he said.

During his speech, Plusquellic harshly criticized federal Judge John Adams for rejecting previous plans and imposing what he called “a tremendous burden on the citizens of Akron.”

“It’s not fair, and it’s not right,” he said.

• The city was notified on Wednesday that it’s getting $2 million in state support for a new economic development project within the Akron Global Business Accelerator, Plusquellic announced.

The project, in partnership with Stark State, will open Bits and Atoms, a place for inventors to create and make new products, he said. Although a location hasn’t been determined, the center could be housed within the Morley Health Center building once public health services move to a new location on West Market Street.

• Plusquellic announced plans to launch “I-Value — Akron Values” to seek input from a variety of community groups about priorities.

“We’ll meet with those people first and then extend to assure everyone has an opportunity to provide input and be able to have direct influence on our choices on how we prioritize and plan for the future,” he said.

• He talked about the importance of boosting educational opportunities for residents of all ages and highlighted programs that he said are working, including Akron’s early college high school initiative.

Akron has a new professional football team that wants to satisfy fans’ spring football yearnings and give young players another shot at the NFL.

The Akron Blaze, a member of the four-team Rivals Professional Football League, will open with a preseason game May 16 at InfoCision Stadium.

Unlike previous leagues that spent a lot of money on talent and had aspirations of vying for national exposure right away, this league has expressed modest first-year plans.

The Blaze will play only two home games, both in the preseason. The team’s three regular-season games will be on the road.

Players will make $250 a game with incentives that could push salaries to $7,000 a year. The league has budgeted $80,000 payrolls for each team. People who try out are expected to pay a $145 fee to show their skills with a chance of being drafted April 26.

Anyone 18 or older will be eligible — even high school players who never went to college. Many former college players and pros from indoor football and the Canadian Football League also are lining up to play.

The league’s president and chief executive is Quentin Hines, a former University of Akron running back who was released by the New England Patriots about two weeks ago.

“We are building this as a developmental league to the NFL, so I have been using all my connections with the league and I’ve been in touch with the [Jacksonville] Jaguars, the [New York] Giants, the Chicago Bears about scouting our guys,” he said.

Hines, 23, hasn’t given up his NFL hopes. The Patriots cut him because he could not pass a physical after offseason surgery. He hopes to resume playing this fall and could be in the unusual position of being the top executive of one professional league and a player in another.

Football schedule

The first Blaze game will be May 17 against the Southern Michigan Mustangs. The second and final home game will be May 31 against the Chicago Kings.

After that, they hit the road.

“I wanted them to play a home game bad, for the regular season, but they just didn’t have the dates that would work with us,” Hines said of the University of Akron. “Next year, I will, for sure, have them playing five games at InfoCision, guaranteed.”

A spokesman for the university confirmed the two home dates but would not confirm that stadium availability was the reason no other home dates could be scheduled.

The Detroit Cougars are the fourth team in the league. Akron will play only three regular-season games; the other teams will play five.

The league has a player-selection process that keeps costs down.

The first of three tryouts was held March 16 at the university’s Stile Athletics Field House. The league already has $70,000 in revenue from tryout fees. In exchange, the players receive health insurance from Mutual of Omaha, a league sponsor, Hines said.

Two more tryout sessions are planned this month in Michigan.

Blaze coach Gary Hutt handed out 41 of his 50 draft invitations after that tryout. The other teams also have 50 invitations each for a total of 200 players to be drafted.

Detroit’s WADL-TV will record the draft for later broadcast in Michigan.

Hines, the grandson of former Detroit Tigers outfielder Willie Horton, said he resents earlier demeaning descriptions of the league.

“A lot of the outlets are downplaying us and calling us ‘semipro’ and we are not semipro,” he said. “You can’t be semipro if you are paying a player $7,000.”

However, Hutt conceded the players will not be able to give up their regular jobs, even if they make a roster.

Hutt, who formerly coached as an assistant at Coventry, McKinley and other high schools, has not given up his job as a drywall salesman. The Blaze will be his first head-coaching job.

Previous leagues

Upstart football leagues have a checkered past, especially in Akron.

The Akron Pros were champions in the first season of the American Professional Football Association. That league evolved into the National Football League. The Pros folded in 1926.

The 1967 Akron Vulcans of the Continental Football League lasted only four games. The owner skipped town owing about $100,000.

The United States Football League was prominent nationally in the 1980s but eventually failed.

The new league hopes to have two divisions next season with expansion teams in Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville, Fla.

Akron will be the league’s smallest market, but Hines expects the Blaze to thrive.

“Football is so big there in Northeast Ohio, I could never pull the Akron team,” he said.

Dave Scott can be reached at 330-996-3577 or davescott@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Scott on Twitter at Davescottofakro.

NEW FRANKLIN: City Council on Wednesday agreed to hire a full-time finance director on a trial basis through Dec. 31.

As stipulated by its charter, a part-time employee has handled the city’s fiscal matters since New Franklin became a city in 2006, with occasional help from outside financial service companies.

Mayor Al Bollas, who offered the resolution to council in March, said Wednesday’s action came in response to a recommendation from a state Auditor’s Office representative who said he didn’t know of another city the size of New Franklin that handles its fiscal matters with a part-time employee.

“He said that because of the size of the community and with our annual budget of between $12 [million] and $13 million a year, all the other cities in Ohio he was aware of have full-time finance directors,” Bollas said.

New Franklin’s charter establishes the finance director position as part time until “otherwise determined by the Mayor and Council.”

The resolution was approved on a trial basis because the city charter is being reviewed by a commission for needed changes. The commission, headed by former New Franklin Councilman Joe Parsons, is expected to review the qualifications as stated in the charter and determine if they are too restrictive to attract many candidates for the job.

The Charter Review Commission has completed its preliminary read of the document, Parsons said Wednesday.

“We have identified several areas that will be discussed in more detail, one of which is the position of finance director and what those qualifications are. We will be reviewing that provision in detail,” Parsons said.

Any changes the commission recommends would require voter approval in November, Bollas said.

The resolution for the temporary position sets a maximum salary of $48,000 for the year, retroactive to Jan. 1. The job holder would be entitled to health benefits and contributions to Ohio Public Employee’s Retirement System.

Ward 1 Councilman Paul Adamson said Wednesday that he didn’t think council needed more time to evaluate the legislation because its seven members had been given all the information required to make its decision.

“We’ve talked about this on several occasions over the last few months,” he said.

Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.

Kent State University was on alert Wednesday night as city and campus police searched for a man who fired a single shot into the ground on campus.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred outside Bowman Hall about 8:10 p.m., university spokesman Eric Mansfield said.

The shooter was described as a black male wearing basketball shorts and brandishing a silver handgun. Beacon Journal news partner WEWS reported the suspect was arrested by Kent police around midnight Wednesday. See their coverage of the incident here.

A lockdown order was lifted for all campus buildings except Bowman Hall and the Business Administration Building around 10:30 p.m., and the two buildings were cleared soon after that.

University and city officials will host a news conference at 11 a.m. for updates about the incident. President Lester Lefton, police Chief John Peach and Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Shay Little will address local media.

KENT: As police officers searched the Kent State University campus for a man suspected of firing a gun Wednesday night outside Bowman Hall, texts and emails buzzed into thousands of cellphones and computers.

One such message stopped Arbrion Chambliss in her tracks.

Chambliss, a 20-year-old public relations student from Cleveland, said she and her friend, KSU junior Jazmine Woods, were about to leave Woods’ off-campus apartment, shortly after 8:30 p.m. They were headed to the Kent State library to work on a project when Chambliss received a text from a classmate already at the library.

It warned her not to come because the library was in lockdown mode.

“We instantly shut off the lights in the apartment, and we just got on the floor because you never know. You never know. The fact that they hadn’t caught the suspect yet, that definitely sent us into a fright,” Chambliss said Thursday as the sprawling campus returned to normal.

“My heart was beating so fast,” she said. “I mean, I was terrified. I was shaking all night, praying for the best.”

Chambliss said she and Woods stayed at the apartment until about 11:30 p.m.

About that same time, a few miles away, shooting suspect Quavaugntay L. Tyler was being placed under arrest.

Tyler, a 24-year-old KSU student from Cleveland, is in custody at the Portage County Jail. He is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony.

More charges are likely after Portage County prosecutors review the incident, KSU Police Chief James Peach said Thursday.

Peach said Tyler was quarreling with two female KSU students, both apparently friends of his, when he pulled out a 9mm semiautomatic Ruger pistol and fired once.

The shot struck his left hand.

“Clearly, it was concealed,” Peach said of the gun. “He took it out rather quickly. But we are not able to determine a motive at the present time.”

Within minutes of the gunshot, university officials issued lockdown alerts for the entire campus through the thousands of text messages and emails to students, their relatives and faculty and staff members.

Announcements also went over speaker systems in campus buildings, Peach said.

Eric Mansfield, the KSU’s director of media relations, said university officials sent out a total of 53,728 “flash alerts” Wednesday night.

There are 26,000-plus students enrolled at KSU and 5,000 staff members, Mansfield said. When students sign up for the flash alerts, they also can provide contact information for relatives, he said.

Tyler’s arrest was made about three hours after the shooting, when officers responded to a call from Robinson Memorial Hospital staff that a man matching the suspect’s description had been admitted for emergency treatment of a gunshot wound.

Peach said Tyler was cooperative when taken into custody there.

Blood in parking lot

Initial reports that helped contribute to Tyler’s arrest came from a witness who saw someone matching the suspect’s description at the school’s Business Administration Building, Peach said. One of the women involved in the quarrel also called police and said the suspect was wounded.

Responding officers found a large pool of blood in the Bowman Hall parking lot, the chief said.

The school’s dean of students, Shay Little, said officers later recovered the Ruger. She said Tyler had the gun and ammunition in a backpack and asked an acquaintance at Johnson Hall to hide it, which she did.

Peach said that person could face charges.

Tyler is no stranger to law enforcement. He was on five years of probation, Peach said, in connection with a felony theft offense in Brimfield Township. Federal authorities could charge him with possessing a weapon while on probation.

Peach said Tyler was a suspect in several thefts on campus.

The lockdown order was lifted for all campus buildings, except Bowman Hall and the Business Administration Building, around 10:30 p.m. Those two buildings were cleared soon after that.

Chambliss said she felt university officials and police handled the flash alerts “fairly well.”

“I think they did a great job of shutting down campus immediately,” she said. “I wish notifications would have come out a little quicker, because like I said, I got my info via social media before I got it through my email and text.”

Early confusion

Freshman Nicole Jelinek, a broadcast journalism student from Pittsburgh, was on the fourth floor of the library when the lockdown alert came over the speaker system.

“Everyone kind of looked around to see everyone else’s reaction,” Jelinek said. “Everyone was confused. No one knew what to do, per se, because they just told us to stay where we were. And in a situation like that, where you’ve never seen something like that happen before, you don’t know how to react to it.”

All campus buildings were open Thursday with normal operations and class schedules.

University President Lester A. Lefton told faculty, staff and students via email Thursday morning that the “safety of everyone on campus has and remains my top priority.”

“We will do whatever is necessary to provide that security so that our students can learn, our faculty can teach, and our staff can support us all in a positive environment. I’m confident we are providing a safe learning environment each and every day.”

Freshman Tyra Elton, a marketing major from Akron, said she was in her dorm room at Prentice Hall when she received a flash alert via text.

Her dorm door locks automatically whenever it’s closed, so she stayed in her room all night, she said, and followed developments through social media.

Instagram photos of police actions on campus, one including a SWAT team sniper taking up a position definitely left an impression she said.

“You always hear about things like this happening,” Elton said, “but you never really think it’s going to happen here.”

Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.