The Cannon Paper Company’s last day of normal business will be Feb. 27.

Tony Cannon, president of Cannon Paper Company, which has been operating for nearly 60 years, confirmed the facility is closing due to a competitor in Michigan acquiring its book-publishing division.

In a letter to employees, customers and vendors, Cannon wrote that sales and deliveries will continue on a limited schedule after Feb. 27 until their inventory is depleted.

The decision has the approval of the Board of Directors, Cannon wrote, and the company “will be able to cover all short term and long term debt. Simultaneously our company will be aggressively collecting our receivables, and liquidating our assets. These actions will benefit our creditors and will allow us to exit the marketplace with the esteem all our business partners have been accustomed to over the years from The Cannon Paper Company.”

Cannon said it is a sad day for the company and 21 employees will loose their jobs.

The paper company has served Toledo since 1952.

For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there’s a new twist to their financial pain: Even as they’re collecting unemployment benefits, they’re paying bank fees just to get access to their money.

Ohio is one of 30 states that have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp, an Associated Press review of the agreements found. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 _ even though they could decline charges for more than what’s on the card.

“It’s a racket. It’s a scam,” said Rachel Davis, a 38-year-old dental technician from St. Louis who was laid off in October. Davis was given a MasterCard issued through Central Bank of Jefferson City and recently paid $6 to make two $40 withdrawals.

The banks say their programs offer convenience. They also provide at least one way to tap the money at no charge, such as using a single free withdrawal to get all the cash at once from a bank teller. But the banks benefit from human nature, as people end up treating the cards like all the other plastic in their wallets.

The fees are raising questions from lawmakers who just recently voted to infuse banks with taxpayer money to keep them afloat.

Steven Adamske, spokesman for the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, said he wasn’t aware of the debit card programs before he was contacted by the AP, but was concerned about card holder fees.

“Our hope … would be that banks who are getting federal assistance would forgo these kinds of fees as we’re trying to help everyone in society deal with this recession,” Adamske said.

Some banks, depending on the agreement negotiated with each state, also make money on the interest they earn after the state deposits the money and before it’s spent. The banks and credit card companies also get roughly 1 percent to 3 percent off the top of each transaction made with the cards.

Neither banks nor credit card companies will say how much money they are making off the programs, or what proportion of the revenue comes from user versus merchant fees or interest. It’s difficult to estimate the profits because they depend on how often recipients use their cards and where they use them.

But the potential is clear.

In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it’s 25 cents a call), the bank’s revenue would jump to more than $521,000. That would yield $6.3 million a year.

Rachel Storch, a Democratic state representative, received a wave of complaints about the fees from autoworkers laid off from a suburban St. Louis Chrysler plant. She recently urged Gov. Jay Nixon to review the state’s contract with Central Bank with an eye toward reducing the fees.

“I think the contract is unfair and potentially illegal to unemployment recipients,” she said.

Central Bank did not return two messages seeking comment.

Glenn Campbell, a spokesman for Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., said the congressman would support a review of the debit card programs nationwide.

Another 10 states – including the unemployment hot spots of California, Florida and South Carolina – are considering such programs or have signed contracts. The remainder still use traditional checks or direct deposit.

With the national unemployment rate now at 7.6 percent, the market for bank-issued unemployment cards is booming. In 2003, states paid only $4 million of unemployment insurance through debit cards. By 2007, it had ballooned to $2.8 billion, and by 2010 it will likely rise to $10.5 billion, according to a study conducted by Mercator Advisory Group, a financial industry consulting firm.

The economic stimulus plan signed by President Barack Obama this week will increase federal unemployment benefits by $40 billion this year. Subsequently, there will be more money from which banks can collect fees. The U.S. Department of Labor allows the fees as long as states create a way for recipients to get their money for free, spokeswoman Suzy Bohnert said.

“Beyond that, the individual decides how to manage his drawdowns using the debit card,” she said in an e-mail.

A typical contract looks like the agreement between Citigroup and the state of Kansas, which took effect in November. The state expects to save $300,000 a year by wiring payments to Citigroup instead of printing and mailing checks.

Citigroup’s bill to the state: zero. The bank collects its revenue from fees paid by merchants and the unemployed.

“If you use your card the right way, you’re not going to pay fees at all,” said Paul Simpson, Citigroup’s global head of public sector, health care and wholesale cards.

But that’s not always practical.

Arthur Santa-Maria, a laid-off engineer who lives just outside Albuquerque, N.M., said he didn’t pay any fees the first time he was laid off, for several months in 2007. His unemployment benefits were paid by paper checks. He found a new job last year but was laid off again last fall.

This time, he was issued a Bank of America debit card – a “prepaid” card in industry lingo – but he was surprised to learn he had to pay fees to get his money. He asked the bank to waive them. It said no. That’s when Santa-Maria called back to ask how to check his account online. He logged on and saw that the call cost him a half dollar. To avoid more fees, Santa-Maria found a Bank of America ATM at a strip mall and withdrew $80 at no charge. When he got back to his car, he decided to take out the rest of his money _ $250 _ and deposit it in his bank account.

Afterward, Santa-Maria logged on to his account and saw a charge of $1.50 for two withdrawals in one day.

“They’re trying to use my money to make money,” Stanta-Maria said. “I just see banks trying to make that 50 cents or a buck and a half when I should be given the service for free.”

New Mexico authorities bargained with Bank of America to get lower fees for unemployment recipients, said Carrie Moritomo, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Workforce Solutions. The state saves up to $1.5 million annually by switching from checks to debit cards.

Bank of America spokeswoman Britney Sheehan pointed out that the fees charged in New Mexico are similar to those charged in the 29 other states with unemployment debit cards. The bank believes “the fee schedule is reasonable and consistent with similar programs,” she said.

Banks could issue unemployment debit cards with no fees for cardholders, but that would likely mean that states would have to pay more of the administrative costs, said Mark Harrington, director of marketing for Citigroup’s prepaid card services. If a state demanded no cardholder fees and could pay the difference, Citigroup might enter such a contract.

“We would be open to that,” Harrington said. “We’re not looking to structure any programs where we would lose money, but we’re definitely flexible.”

Simpson noted that the cards can save money for jobless workers who have no bank accounts. In the past, these people had to use corner check-cashing shops that charged fees as high as 2 percent, or $6 for a $300 check. Now, they can swipe their cards at McDonald’s, Wal-Mart or elsewhere for free.

Kenna Gortler, a laid-off paper mill worker in Oregon, said her union is advising members to avoid the debit cards and sign up to get their benefits through direct deposit. More than 300 of her fellow workers have lost their jobs at the mill in the last three months, and horror stories about ATM fees and overdraft charges are starting to filter back to others who are just now signing up for their benefits.

“It’s discouraging,” Gortler said. “People have limited funds and they don’t need to be giving money to the banks. They need to be keeping that money to feed their families and pay bills.”

Hungry to prop up their ailing economies, U.S. states including Ohio are locked in a fierce competition to lure Hollywood filmmakers to their gritty cities and picturesque towns with tax breaks and other incentives.

The movement remains intense despite state budgets facing near crisis, largely because the movie and TV industry has emerged as a tough survivor in hard economic times. California, facing a $42 billion budget deficit, approved a film tax credit Thursday.

The film industry’s economic health has pushed some states like Ohio to take a second look at tax breaks for filmmakers and TV producers after years of viewing such financial incentives as luxuries the state couldn’t afford. The state shuttered its film commission for five years in 2002 because of state budget cutbacks.

Ohio lawmakers are poised to approve film industry tax breaks soon, once they work out whether to offer to make the breaks big or bigger.

Gov. Ted Strickland vetoed the bigger tax breaks favored by legislative Republicans in December, saying he wanted to weave the breaks into discussion of his proposed two-year operating budget.

Strickland

Republican lawmakers were eager to continue the recent momentum from “Spider Man 3,” parts of which were filmed in Cleveland.

Strickland said Thursday an incentive program capped at $20 million every two years, rather than $100 million each year, is all Ohio can afford. “I could not and I do not support the larger commitment on the part of the state,” he said.

Lawmakers in Indiana overrode a governor’s veto of film industry incentives there a year ago.

Ohio is one of only a handful of states left that don’t already offer a state-level tax break to filmmakers or a giant pot of cash that producers and directors can tap for incentives.

Vans Stevenson, who oversees state government issues for the Motion Picture Association of America, said the incentives states offer are more than offset by the economic benefits that result from film and TV production.

“The perception that this is a giveaway in inaccurate,” he said. “States have recognized that show business is an economic development engine, and they want to get on board.”

In Maryland, state officials realized just how important such incentives were to a state’s economy in 2004, when they lost the film “Annapolis” – a story set in the Maryland city – to neighboring Pennsylvania.

Karen Hood, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, which houses the state film commission, said production crews were ready to roll when Pennsylvania officials drove into town touting their freshly minted film incentive program.

“They literally parked their trucks outside and said, ‘Maryland can offer you two or three million? Well, we’ll offer you 10,”’ she said. “That was our ‘Omigod moment.”’

The rush of states to offer movie incentives began about six years ago when U.S. film-making was going increasingly out of the country – to places like Canada, Bosnia, Romania or France that offered low costs and cash rebates or payouts.

For many states, the investment paid off.

A study conducted for New Mexico, where films such as the Oscar-winning “No Country For Old Men,” “The Book of Eli” and “In Plain Sight,” showed positive results. The review by Ernst & Young, released earlier this month, found that 30 films produced in 2007 in that state generated about $253 million in spending and directly created 5,989 jobs.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson boasted in his recent State of the State speech that the state had “created a new industry” over the past six years through its film industry incentive program.

An analysis by the nonprofit group Film Wisconsin released in December, for example, found that new breaks and incentives in that state had brought in more than $9.2 million and created at least 850 jobs. That state was home to production of the upcoming film “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Despite such positives, Wisconsin and some other states are beginning to rethink their incentives amid the national economic meltdown.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle proposed eliminating the film tax credits in his budget introduced on Tuesday, to the dismay of the state’s fledgling film industry as well as the lieutenant governor.

Doyle wants to replace the year-old program, which gives back 25 percent of qualified film production expenses, with a $500,000-per-year grant program that awards only projects that create permanent jobs in the state.

Connecticut recently drew back support for its program, which had offered 30 percent tax credits for the production of digital media and motion pictures in the state, or more for productions exceeding $50,000, since 2006.

The Maryland Film Industry Commission, a coalition of businesses and film producers that includes Maryland-born director Barry Levinson, is pushing a proposal for filmmakers to receive a “post-expenditure rebate” of about 28 percent of their qualified spending on in-state film production.

Hood said that, while the administration recognizes the value of film production to the state’s economy, such aggressive incentives are tough to swallow during this time of fiscal distress.

“It’s been a battle of incentives. Of course, Hollywood’s saying, ‘This is great,”’ she said. “The debate going on right now is, if you’re facing a fiscal crisis in your state is it fiscally responsible to subsidize Hollywood?”

The Motion Picture Association’s Stevenson said movie production can’t be viewed simply as flowing to Hollywood _ it also helps local communities.

“You’re not subsidizing Hollywood. You’re creating jobs for carpenters and electricians and plumbers and Wanda the costume designer,” he said. He said the average movie production spends $225,000 a day, the average TV show $175,000 a day.

According to the association, copyright-based businesses such as movies, home video and television programming were among the nation’s fastest largest and growing industries in the country, contributing about 6 percent to total gross domestic production.

The industry employs roughly 750,000 people, and grows at about 3 percent a year.

Government incentives to moviemakers and TV producers appear to coincide with an increase in the industry’s political generosity.

Data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that the entertainment sector gave $5.9 million to federal political campaigns and causes in 1990, $7.2 million in 1998, and $45 million last year. State-level giving between the 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial cycles more than doubled, according to figures compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Former WNWO TV 24 anchor Jim Blue has been named news director and anchor of the FOX affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind. Blue has been contributing a bi-weekly column to Toledo Free Press.
“Jim has always been a respected news voice in Toledo, and while we will miss his insight, we wish him all the best in his new job,” said Michael S. Miller, Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief.

Christy Dermer, 28, knew her pregnancy could kill her.
The doctors told her so. Her genetic connective tissue disorder, Marfan syndrome, had enlarged her aorta, making it vulnerable to tear during childbirth. Several refused to treat her. Some recommended she terminate the pregnancy.
She wouldn’t.
“She knew the risk going into it,” her boyfriend, Todd Brickman, 33, said. “She loved Olivia basically from conception, that’s all she wanted.”

Jack Dermer looks at a picture of his daughter, Christy, who died in childbirth in October 2007.

Since she died giving birth in October 2007, medical advances and specialized care available at Toledo Hospital’s new Aortic Center have renewed hope for the Dermer family, especially Christy’s father, Jack Dermer, older sister, Sarah Auger, and niece, MaKenna, also diagnosed with the disorder.
Marfan syndrome affects about one in 5,000 people, according to the National Marfan Foundation. First identified in the late 1800s, the disorder has claimed the lives of comedian Lucille Ball and actor John Ritter.
In October 2006, a University of Toledo basketball player suddenly collapsed and died during a practice. An autopsy revealed that his death was caused by an aortic dissection, which could be related to Marfan syndrome, said Dr. Michael G. Moront, co-director of the new Aortic Center at Toledo Hospital and a cardiothoracic surgeon treating the Dermer family.
Tough to catch
The syndrome is often tough to identify. Many of the physical signs — tall and thin stature, fallen arches on the feet, weak joints, being unusually flexible or double jointed — aren’t obvious or life threatening.
The true danger is unseen. As Marfan weakens the body’s connective tissues, those near the heart dilate or stretch over time. A healthy aorta is about 2.5 centimeters in diameter, but those in Marfan patients may stretch 6 to 8 centimeters, said Moront.
The stretching makes the aorta prone to “split like an onion,” which could be fatal, Moront said.
“The aortic wall can rupture immediately. But a lot of times what happens is they don’t actually rupture, but destroy the strength of the aorta,” Moront said.
Living with Marfan
Jack’s parents were hesitant to accept his childhood diagnosis that his hyperactivity and weak joints were related to a disorder they’d never heard of: Marfan syndrome.
But his prognosis took on a new meaning at 28 years old, when an uncontrollable nose bleed interrupted his shift at General Motors Corp. A family doctor recognized Jack’s apparent aneurysm after listening to his chest.
“I was going to be having a massive heart attack. At 28, I was unstoppable because I went 24/7 back then,” Jack, 53 of west Toledo, said of his former habit to shrug off his symptoms.
After that first surgery, Jack’s mother recalled that he was originally diagnosed with Marfan syndrome as a child.
Having difficulty concentrating in school and prone to ankle and leg injuries — all symptoms now known to be related to the syndrome — Jack’s parents took him to a specialist at the University of Michigan hospital.
“A lot of it had to do with school,” he said. “The comprehension wasn’t there. I grew out of it, but education was very hard back then. You know, very hard. And that has something to do with the Marfans and all that. That’s what the doctor explained to them. That’s why I didn’t catch on right away.”
The family dismissed the diagnosis because Jack’s father didn’t trust the young doctor treating his child.
“He had real long hair, Beatle glasses, moccasins,” Jack said of the doctor who first diagnosed him in the late 1960s. “My dad said, ‘We’re outta here. That hippie don’t know what the hell he’s talking about, and we ain’t going back.’ ”
Jack’s mother, a nurse, said later that she regretted her husband’s bias. It would be decades before Jack would, again, be diagnosed with Marfan syndrome.
“No one could diagnose what was wrong with me,” Jack said.
Instead, his childhood doctors in Toledo would use sedatives to “slow me down,” he said.
By the time Jack had children of his own — both his girls, Sarah and Christy, were also diagnosed with the syndrome — the diagnosis and treatment of Marfan syndrome had come a long way.
Doctors used diagnostic scans to monitor his daughters’ hearts, and advised against certain athletic activities that could cause unnecessary cardiac stress.
High risk
Female Marfan patients are typically told to avoid pregnancy because there is an increased risk of aortic tear during childbirth.
Sarah Auger, 31, was monitored as “high risk” as a precaution during her pregnancies with Kelsey, 10, and MaKenna, 8.
After giving birth naturally to both, she joked with her doctors at Toledo Hospital that it had been silly to fuss over the Marfan syndrome.
Her sister’s pregnancy wasn’t so simple.
Christy Dermer, 28, was about 15 weeks pregnant with her daughter, Olivia, when a scan of her heart first revealed she may be especially vulnerable to an aortic tear.
“I recommended that she should terminate the pregnancy,” Moront said.
Christy refused.
“I can still remember her saying it to me,” Jack said of his daughter’s reaction to the medical advice; I will not give this baby up. I will not take this baby’s life.”
“I think she thought that even if something happened, they could fix her,” Auger said.
The plan was to take the baby weeks early by Caesarian section. But when the time came, the decision was made that she was healthy enough to wait, her family said. About 2 a.m. that night, her boyfriend called an ambulance after she complained of difficulty breathing.
Christy died October 2007 of an aortic dissection at the University of Michigan hospital.
“They always said they were going to take that baby like a month early and they didn’t,” Auger said, shaking her head. “And that’s one of the things that still gets to me. Had they done that, would it have changed the outcome of this?”
“That’s like flipping a coin,” her father said.
New hope
The new Aortic Center at Toledo Hospital opened a month before the first anniversary of Christy’s death.
The center brings together the talents of Moront, co-director of the center and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. John Pigott, co-director of the center and vascular surgeon specializing in endografts, and Dr. Ken Rousch, co-director and cardiologist specializing in diseases of the aorta.
The center is especially equipped to treat disorders such as Marfan syndrome, which affects the aorta, Pigott said.
“These aortic problems are very complex, and sometimes you need more than one of these specialties,” Pigott said. “There’s really not an aortic disorder that can’t be treated at home with a high level of expertise.”
The Dermer family hopes the center will outfit the hospital with new tools to help patients in cardiac crisis survive while avoiding travel out of the region for emergency care.
“Hopefully this new heart wing brings that to the area,” Sarah said.
Meanwhile, the family is focusing on the positive as Jack prepares for another aortic surgery later this year. He’s enjoying his 16-month-old granddaughter, Olivia, who through genetic testing has also been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome.
Olivia “is perfectly normal; you wouldn’t tell by looking at her,” the girl’s father, Todd, said.
The family is also arranging a golf outing at Giant Oak Golf Club in Bedford Township, Mich., on June 27 to raise money for Marfan research and the medical bills for Sarah’s daughter, MaKenna, also diagnosed. MaKenna will soon take part in the medical study of a new drug to treat Marfan syndrome.
“It’s good to be around good people, just the support that you get,” Jack said. “And I’ve got a great family.”

For more information about the golf outing, e-mail jan.dermer@yahoo.com.

On the roof of One SeaGate, the January wind cuts through skin like the barbed tip of a viciously snapped whip. Thirty-two stories above the ground, the scales of distance and horizon warp perception. The Maumee River flows deep under a frozen surface of ice that stretches for miles like a thick, white rope. The city streets are gray, the sky is gray and breath leaves the body in urgent billows of gray steam that dissipate into the unforgiving cold.
Surveying the city from such heights, one might reasonably expect a patina of peace and purity to color the life below.  But there is too much knowledge for that.
It is impossible to look down on the stagnant facade of One Government Center and ignore the swirling torrents housed within its walls. A Shakespearean tragedy of lost leadership, of competence long ago drained away, of failure and ignoble ending, is playing out in that stolid white box.
It is impossible to look down on the Lucas County Courthouse and admire the architecture without recognizing the shattered lives seeking justice inside its domed structure. How many victims, how many criminals, how many weary prosecutors and defenders trudge through the system every day?
It is impossible to look down on the dishwater gray Blade building and … well, actually, it is possible to just look down on the Blade building.
The frigid reverie is interrupted by the headlong approach of a brown-feathered falcon. It flies from the south, with nothing as cinematic as majestic grace; it flies with a purpose that shatters such contrived language. It is three-and-a-half feet from wing to wing, gliding at rooftop level on unseen currents of wind, effortlessly gliding alongside its unexpected human visitors.
The falcon looks serious; its talons flex as it circles, seeking any morsel it may capture. It lands on the edge of the roof on the far side of One SeaGate, uninterested in the tons of blue glass and blue steel that supports it.
My first thought is to approach the falcon as it observes the city to snap a cell phone photo. My second, wiser thought is to cajole one of my companions to do it. He demurs, and by the time I stalk over the ice and snow to within 20 yards, the falcon lifts off and soars over Summit Street, swooping a few dozen feet before arcing back toward the Fifth Third letters that keep watch over One SeaGate.
For a heartbeat, I wonder what that feeling of swooping and flying is like, and feel compelled to leap after the falcon, to catch its draft and follow it through the freezing January air.
It would take just one running jump over the edge.
I find I lack the courage to fly.
Because I lack the courage to die.
Hours later, in the much less breathtaking atmosphere of the Costco gas station on Central Avenue, I notice a woman pumping gasoline into her car, which sports a bumper sticker I have to lean forward to read. It says: “I’m only speeding cause I really have to POOP.”
The all-cap emphasis is not mine.
Next to the phrase is a helpful illustration of said poop, complete with little stink lines emanating toward the sky.
This makes me sound like a judgmental prig, but why is that sentiment plastered across someone’s vehicle bumper?
I feel compelled to defend my sense of humor by offering Exhibit A: Sam Kinison is the funniest comedian I have ever heard; and Exhibit B: I’ll watch any “Family Guy” episode, any time. So I’m all for coarse and rude and raunchy. But on a bumper sicker for the whole city to see? Yikes.
Follow the chain: Someone at 1-800-GetSilly.com went to work one day, charged with writing a bumper sticker to sell. After a few hours of soul searching, said writer jots this down: “I’m only rushing home because I have to crap!”
Said writer takes this creative breakthrough to his or her supervising editor, who says, “I like it! Now, this will go on cars, so we should change ‘rushing’ to ‘speeding.’ Not everyone is driving home — we don’t want to alienate the car-driving, bumper sticker-purchasing apartment dwellers — so we’ll drop ‘home.’ It’s a golden rule of bumper sticker writing that ‘cause’ is always funnier that ‘because,’ and crap is harsh, so let’s change that to the much funnier ‘poop.’ Throckmorton, you’re a genius!”
At that point, a factory somewhere fires up its printer and thousands of “I’m only speeding cause I really have to POOP” bumper stickers are manufactured, boxed and sent to places like the Zazzle.com warehouse.
From there, either online or in a truck stop or novelty store counter, someone saw the “I’m only speeding cause I really have to POOP” bumper sticker, chuckled, picked it up, placed it on the counter without any embarrassment, paid for it, walked out to the parking lot and proudly plastered it on the car.
Again, at the risk of sounding snooty, why did any of these things happen? It’s “Idiocracy” come to life, right?
Is that the sliding scale for humanity, somewhere between the inspiration of a soaring falcon 32 stories high and the sewer-level sentiments on a street-level bumper sticker?
If those are the parameters, we all have to choose at which end we want to exist. As the rooftop of One SeaGate will attest, there is poop at both extremes, but the view is much sweeter from the top.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Brittany Simon is always moving, whether it is on the court or to another school.
The 20-year-old guard on the Lady Express basketball team transferred to Owens Community College in the fall to complete prerequisites for a bachelor’s degree in bio-chemistry.
Her goal was to get into the pharmacy program at UT, but she has since decided to transfer to North Texas University in the fall.
Simon will be missed.
“She is the player on our team that, when it comes down to it, is the soul of our team,” said Mike

Llanas, Owens women’s head basketball coach. “We have a lot of younger players that have had successful high school careers last year and they love the game, but things kind
of went their way because they were the best on the team. With Brittany, she just lays her heart and soul out on the floor.”
That’s high praise for a player who wasn’t even a scholarship player until this semester. Simon averages 14 minutes per game, 3 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound per game.
“She’s really focused and driven,” said Stephen Perry, assistant women’s basketball coach. “She was really concerned academically if it was going to be a good fit. Also, she was really outgoing and asked a lot of questions. My first question to her was, ‘Why are you coming to Toledo?’ ”
It ended up being a long story.
Simon graduated from Lewisville High School in Texas with a 3.76 GPA and a top 10 standing in her class. Those honors earned her admittance to the University of Oklahoma; however, after seeing 500 kids in her chemistry class, she bolted after two days.
“It was too expensive,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to pay $20,000 for my freshman year in college.”
Simon then decided to give Southwestern Oklahoma State University a try. That didn’t work out, either.
“It just wasn’t my time to go to school yet,” Simon said. “I just wanted to rest and sleep all the time. I wasn’t ready to start taking life more seriously.”
Eventually, Simon enrolled at Western Oklahoma State College in spring 2007, where she earned a 4.0 GPA her first semester. She spent one and a half years there, including one year on the basketball team.
During her time at Western, Simon earned a 3.7 GPA and was accepted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. At the same time, she realized Western didn’t offer all of the prerequisite classes she needed like organic chemistry and calculus.
“I thought I was headed to Fargo, N.D.,” she said. “I certainly wanted to choose something different, someplace where I had never been.”
Ultimately, she didn’t end up going to Fargo because her friend, Chris Wade, discovered Owens Community College on the Internet. The two of them, after checking out the school, decided to come together. Wade plays for the men’s basketball team.
“It makes it easier having someone to support me and enjoy the experience with me,” she said. Shortly before their departure, a tragic event almost made Simon rethink her decision.
Her grandpa was murdered a week before she was supposed to move. Teenagers had robbed and beaten her grandpa to death in his bedroom.
“It really made me think a little about whether I should stay with my family. In the end, I decided that I was already in the process and I was going to follow through.”
Northwest Ohio ended up being a good fit, she said.
“When I first got here, I loved the weather — 80 degrees in the summer is totally different than 110-degree weather.
“Owens seems more organized,” Simon said. “The basketball program is one example. Everything seems handled properly. Coach talks to us and makes sure you know what you’re supposed to be doing. He sets goals for us. I’ve had none of that since high school.”
Simon said she is a teammate who is willing to help others.
“The coaches call me the mother hen because I’m not a selfish player,” she said. “I’m always trying to make sure everyone is up on the board.”
“We have a lot of nicknames for her — B-Lo, mother hen and the professor, just to name a few,” Perry said, laughing.
But Simon is getting ready to leave those roles behind. It’s time to focus on pharmacy.
“My parents have been supportive,” she said. “Although I like being out here, the further I am away from them, I realize that I can’t take them for granted. It makes me understand I should be closer.”

I have come to believe (mostly because people have told me so) that I have been far too negative in recent columns and on my blog. I have to say, having gone back over both for the past couple of months, there may be something in what they say. This does not mean that I still don’t believe completely in the things that I wrote in these pieces, but it does mean that I will concede that there are times when negative attitude can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a consequence, I decided to see if I could write something a little more positive while not abandoning my core beliefs.
The economy as it stands now is bad, but we just pumped in almost 2 trillion dollars in the past year that the government insisted (both administrations) will fix, so that has to be good.
Of course all of that money will have to come from someone, somewhere and that will probably be from us, our children and our grandchildren. But the government is printing money as fast as it can, so inflation is probably not far around the corner and that will reduce the actual size of the accumulated debt, so that’s good.
Gas prices are creeping up, which is bad, but oil prices continue to hold steady or even lose a bit, which is good. In addition, the overall demand for gasoline in this country (and the world for that matter) is down, and no matter what the cause for it, that’s good.
Automakers are laying people off in record numbers, and that’s bad, but the price of a car for anyone who can or wish to buy one is way down, and that’s good.
Global climate change does seem to be occurring, and that’s bad, but in fact it appears that temperatures are going down instead of up, which ought to be good. (No wait, this one may not be good if you are selling carbon credits or are invested too much intellectually in global warming. Oh, the heck with it. I’m going to leave it as a positive.)
Violent crime is up in Toledo recently and that’s bad, but overall crime is down in the city and that has to be good. I know this because Dan Wagner, head of the Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association informed all of us of the first and Mayor Carty Finkbeiner explained the second to us.
We don’t have the 700 police officers that the mayor said we needed when he last ran for office, and that’s bad, but maybe it’s not as big a problem as we thought, and that’s good. I mean, it must be OK to be at the current 630 police staffing level (and maybe a bit less, as the mayor is threatening layoffs for police if the firefighters don’t give in to manning concessions in the contract that they are currently negotiating). Surely the mayor wouldn’t be threatening police layoffs if it was bad for the city.
City council doesn’t seem to be able to do much about all of the budget problems that the city is dealing with in recent years, and that’s bad, but plans to reduce the size of the council are under discussion and that at least means that there would be less of them around not making progress, and that’s probably good. (Less government in general, and less politicians in particular, is always good.)
Less in council could mean less representation, however, and that would be bad, but that lower number would mean a decrease in their part of the cost of government, and that’s good.
You know, looking back on this column, I’m not sure that this is really any better. I have to admit, however, that it does improve my attitude about some of these situations. There are indeed positive things to see as we look ahead, both for the nation in general and Toledo in particular.

Tim Higgins blogs at the Web page justblowingsmoke.blogspot.com.

In football, there are dozens of statistics that you can pay attention to while watching a game. Of course, the team with the best statistics typically is the victor. Of all of the statistics that are tracked throughout the game, my favorite statistic has always been time of possession. Time of possession shows how long your team has control of the ball.  With control of the ball, you can control your own destiny. You can do the same in business, but you need to understand who you are competing against and which statistics you can control.
Contrary to popular belief, you are not competing against other businesses in your pursuit to make a buck; you are competing against yourself. The main reason businesspeople are not able to win during their normal business week is because they lose the battle for possession of their own time. Every business week contains a finite amount of time, and you are the person who makes the decision of how this time is spent. You can do things that make you look busy or you can spend your time doing things that accomplish your goals.
The time you spend each week can be tracked, but you may not want to see the results laid out in a spreadsheet. Imagine seeing your statistics set before you right now. How much time have you logged surfing the Internet, having unproductive conversations with colleagues or having fruitless meetings?
Numbers do not play favorites, are not swayed by office politics and cannot be talked into something they are not. Your numbers will always give you an accurate reading on how your week turned out. You only need to focus on one number: Time spent in front of people who can say yes to you. The true number is most likely much lower than you would like it to be.
When you are in front of people who have the ability to say yes to you, you are moving toward success. This one number will prove to be the most important business number you monitor; this one number holds the power to transform the effectiveness of your week and the amount of money in your paycheck.
Being in front of somebody who can say yes to you means that they are thinking of you, they are learning about you and they are connecting with you. People buy from people they know and trust, and the more you are able to connect with everybody, the more known and trusted you become, the more sales you make, the more people you help and the more product you move.
In today’s business world, there are countless new ways to put you in front of these people. You can use web conferencing, host teleseminars, post online updates about new developments, produce an online newsletter or a number of other things.  However, there is a great deal of potential in the recent emergence of social networking sites and it is largely untapped by the business world.
Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter have more power than you may realize. In addition to the fact that they provide you with a way to stay in front of those who matter most to your business, these sites also provide you with a platform to develop who you are as a businessperson. These new sites allow you to show the passion you have for your business and your product. They allow your passion and your personality to read as clearly as a marquee above your head. Said most simply, these sites allow people to learn who you truly are: a passionate, competent businessperson.
Success in business comes with lasting professional relationships. Develop them by utilizing every method available to connect with potential clients. Don’t wait for others to push you onto the field; get out there, take the ball, and run with it.

Tom Richard is a Toledo-based sales trainer, gives seminars, runs sales meetings and provides coaching for salespeople. For more information, visit www.TomRichard.com, call (419) 441-1005 or e-mail tom@tomrichard.com.

Editor’s note: This is a continuing series on Toledo International Youth Orchestra’s planned trip to Tanga. Toledo Free Press Special Sections Editor Brandi Barhite plans to travel to Africa with the group.

Recent UT graduate Rachel Dove is paving the way for a group of Toledo musicians to join her in sister city, Tanga, Tanzania. It hasn’t been a smooth road.
“I came here with less than $4,000 and I have been able to live on that for the past nine months, but I won’t last too much longer, which is why I am looking for a job,” Dove stated in e-mails to Toledo Free Press during the past month. A power outage and her travels to an island with no electricity hampered communications.
“I survive on very little, but I am comfortable and I have made very many close friends each place I have been in Tanzania and Zanzibar,” Dove wrote. “Often, friends like to teach me how to make local foods so being invited over to friends’ houses usually means we will cook together, which has helped me a lot.”
Dove said her life changed forever when she met John Henry Fullen of Toledo Sister Cities International. Fullen’s brother, Louis, was volunteering in Tanga with an organization called Tanga Youth Development Association (TAYODEA). Fullen asked Dove if she would be interested in finishing his brother’s work and facilitating  the logistics of bringing over Toledo International Youth Orchestra (TIYO) and the medical mission.
Dove, 23, lived meagerly when still in Toledo, meeting with TIYO in April 2008 before leaving for Tanzania. She worked at Goodwill Industries in Bowling Green and saved just enough for her flight and small expenditures. Dove thought once she arrived in Tanzania, everything would fall into place. Unfortunately, TAYODEA’s promise of room and board, in addition to a volunteer permit, did not happen.
Dove has lived in two orphanages; numerous hotels; with Swahili, Indian, Hindu and Muslim families; in a tent where all of her belongings got wet; in the back of vintage British Army Land Rover; and in an African mud hut.
She’s gotten used to taking showers out of a bucket and brushing her teeth with bottled drinking water. The native language is Swahili, but many speak English. When she first arrived at UT, she was pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, but she became interested in learning the Arabic language and changed her major to political science and international relations with a focus on the Middle East, also taking Arabic classes for two years.
Dove said she wants to help the region, in addition to preparing the day-to-day program for TIYO, including housing, meals, safaris and performances.
Dove answered additional questions about Tanga and her experiences. Here are some excerpts:
Toledo Free Press: What is most remarkable about the Tanga people?
Rachel Dove: I think the most remarkable thing about the Tanga population is that there is such a wide diversity of cultural groups co-existing peacefully. There is a small community of each of the following: Borha Muslims, Hindus, Singhs, Goans, Swahilis, Indians, Ismailis, various Christian groups, Sunnis, Shiites and people from the neighboring countries of Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zanzibar, Pemba and also a number of expats, many of whom come from the German sister city of Tanga, Eckernförde. There are so many different ethnicities, and with what has happened in Rwanda and Sudan and Somalia, it is amazing that Tanzania, as a whole, remains so peaceful and accepting. Even more amazing, is the fact that everyone wants to share their culture and teach you what it is about them that makes them so unique.
TFP: Tell me about how the Tanga people react to Americans?
RD: Tanga people have much respect for Barack Obama and the American people who come to volunteer and help. They seem to be very politically aware of America’s involvement in other countries, how much we have given in aid, and they draw a lot on past experiences they have shared with volunteers and tourists coming from America. However, they do seem to perceive all Americans as filthy rich, and some seemed to be shocked when I told them about how we have similar social problems plaguing our society (drug abuse, homelessness, unemployment). The people in Tanga also really like American rap artists and famous black American entertainment personalities. When I tell people in Tanga where I am from, they always say it is their dream to make it there someday. However, most people in Tanga are completely unaware of Toledo and Tanga being sister cities.
TFP: What type of work are you performing in Tanga?
RD: In Tanga I was working and living in an orphanage, teaching English and mentoring boys and girls, ages 6 to 20 with varying educational backgrounds. I then went onto teach English at the Toledo Secondary School to Form 1, 2 and 3 students (equivalent to 8th, 9th, 10th grade) and also work on alternative disciplinary methods rather than caning. Then, I started working with the Civil Affairs Unit, which was teamed with USAID to have nine cases of storybooks donated to the Toledo Secondary School, which we used to set up a library and incorporate the books into the current curriculum.
TFP: What surprised you there?
RD: I was very surprised at what people carry on the backs of their bicycles in Tanga. I saw a man use coil rope (rope made from coconut husks) to attach a stingray to his bicycle, and I also saw a man attach a refrigerator with the rubber from spare tires sewn together and strapped tightly to the frame of the bicycle. I was also very surprised by how many questions people ask in a matter of seconds as you are just passing by. Where are you going? Where do you live? How long have you been here? What is your name? What do you do?
TFP: When TIYO travels to Tanga in June, how will you suggest members share their musical talent?
RD: TIYO will be sharing its  valuable musical knowledge and expertise in a variety of ways. First and foremost, TIYO will have performances for the Tanga International School, as well as the Toledo Secondary School, in order to raise funds for electric outlets, textbooks and possibly a computer, by charging entry fees for the concerts. After the concerts, TIYO students will hold short classes for students from both schools about their instruments and a baseline explanation of how their instruments are played, made and maintained. As there are no musical programs for youth in Tanga, this will be monumental, but the classes in Tanga will be of a more introductory level. However, when TIYO comes to Zanzibar, it will be working with the Dhow Countries Music Academy. They will be able to be more interactive with the audience as they will be playing for other music students from around the Dhow Countries. We are still putting together the framework for the classes, and the venue in Dar es Salaam is still being decided.
TFP: What do the people of Tanga need?
RD: This is an exhaustive list, but most importantly I think learning the value of sustainable management of resources and accountability would benefit the people most. Too often, NGOs (nongovernment organizations) and other organizations in Tanga rely solely on external funding, which cripples and debilitates the ambition and motivation of people as they are expecting and waiting for more external funding rather than coming up with sustainable programs that need only “seed money.” More effort seems to be spent on seeking external funding rather than effectively managing and strategizing the use of available resources. Also, the educational system is in dire need of books and classroom materials, as well as teachers passionate about affecting the future through proper education and guidance. The agricultural sector in Tanga is at a crucial point right now in which they would benefit greatly from expertise in the areas of co-op farming, sustainable farming techniques and how to farm in an environmentally safe manner. And to those who donate to charities … be conscious of where the money is going and keep in mind it is always better to send resources and materials or yourself as a volunteer.
Follow Rachel Dove’s work in Tanga, Tanzania, by visiting racheldove85.blogspot.com.