Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus was the keynote speaker at the banquet for the NCAA Golf Championships May 28 at UT’s Savage Arena.
The banquet took place following final play of the individual golf championships at Inverness Country Club in Toledo on May 26 through 28. The team play and championship will be determined in play by 30 teams and 156 players on May 29 and 30.
“I have a special fondness and respect for collegiate golf and my experience at Ohio State is something I still cherish to this day. I look forward to sharing an evening with these young men,” Nicklaus said before the banquet.
“They asked me, and I accepted their invitation,” he said when asked about donating his time to speak at the banquet at no cost.
Nicklaus was the NCAA and Big Ten Champion in 1961, representing Ohio State University before his professional career, which included 118 victories and a record 18 major championships.
“This week will be a special one in the lives of these young men, not only because of the level of competition they will face but also because of a venue that has such a rich and storied history attached to it,” Nicklaus said.
“It’s ironic that at age 17, Inverness was the site of my first U.S. Open and first major championship. I never won here but always enjoyed playing here,” Nicklaus said. “I can only hope these young men can walk away with the wealth of special memories I did that week.”
On June 1, Nicklaus will welcome the four college champions from NCAA Divisions I, II and III, as well as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, to the final round of the Memorial Tournament, the PGA tour event he founded and hosts annually at Muirfield in Dublin. The Golf Coaches Association of America’s Player of the Year Awards in all four divisions are named after Nicklaus.
“It’s a nice honor to be recognized by it,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve been involved in college golf for many years and was happy to see the NCAA incorporate match play in its championship because match play toughens players.”
He also said he looks forward to playing with Tiger Woods in a skins game on June 2 before Woods competes in the Memorial.
“Tiger Woods will break my record eventually, and I hope I’m around to congratulate him,” he said.
Nicklaus spoke about his career with the media for about 30 minutes at Inverness before leaving to attend the banquet at UT.
“This tournament has been great for UT, Toledo and Inverness. Everyone from UT has been wonderful to work with,” said Jon Miller, president of Inverness Country Club. “The kids are enjoying every minute of it.”
It was the second time UT has hosted the NCAA golf tournament at Inverness since UT first hosted it there in 1944. The next major tournament to be hosted at Inverness will be the U.S. Senior Open in 2011, said Miller. It will be the second time for that event last played there in 2003.

MONROE, MICH. — The Salvation Army of Monroe County and its Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) team are providing support services to response teams and volunteers searching for missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan, according to a news release.

Donations of food and beverages from local residents and businesses can be taken directly to the Monroe County EOC located at 987 S. Raisinville Rd. in Monroe.
EDS teams are stationed at the Monroe County Emergency Operations Center, preparing and serving approximately 200 to 300 meals per day. The teams plan to continue their assistance as long as search efforts continue, the release said.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Nevaeh’s family during this very difficult time, “said Major Michael Thomas of the Monroe Corps.

JetAmerica will begin non-stop service from Toledo Express Airport to Newark, N.J. and Melbourne, Fla. on July 13 and to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Aug. 14, according to an announcement by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority on Wednesday, May 27.

Jet America will provide full-size Boeing 737-800 series non-stop flights at fares 50 to 70 percent less than other major carriers, according to the airline. The non-stop, one-way seats went on sale immediately with up to nine seats per flight available at a $9 fare.

“Our goal is to fly wherever JetAmerica can offer air fares of at least 40 percent less than competitors,” said JetAmerica CEO John Weikle.

JetAmerica launched its “Let’s Get America Flying Again” campaign by choosing Toledo as its first focus city in the national promotion.

“The Jet America business model is based on flying routes to mostly secondary, underserved cities with populations of three to six million people living within 75 miles of uncongested airports that do not currently provide big jet, direct non-stop service to key destinations,” Weikle said.

JetAmerica expects to be profitable because it serves secondary cities where there are few flight options and minimal competition, according to Weikle. The Boeing jets have single class cabin with 189 seats with beverage and meal service with audio and video entertainment, all for purchase.

“We are very excited about this opportunity that creates a true value for our community,” said Michael Stolarczak, president of the Port Authority. “Not only do we have three new destinations with big jet service in Toledo, we also have a Newark schedule that will support same-day business travel to the New York Metropolitan area.”

“JetAmerica is taking a very frugal approach to growth and conserving capital. To begin with, rather than purchasing aircraft, JetAmerica is instead contracting with a seasoned air carrier to provide planes and experienced flight crews. JetAmerica is currently a Part 380 Indirect Air Carrier. When Jet America is fully operational we expect to have a fleet of four jetliners within a year and 20 within five years,” Weikle said.

Maumee Council President Richard Carr is throwing a birthday party for himself. But instead of gifts, he wants to raise money for one of his favorite causes.
The fundraiser is for the Fundaninas Home for Girls in Mazatenango, Guatemala. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. June 13 at the Maumee Indoor Theatre with a presentation of the Guatemala garbage dump at 7:15 p.m. and the showing of the Oscar-winning movie, “Slumdog Millionaire” at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 per person and $25 per couple, which includes pizza, soda and the movie. The money raised will help provide mattresses, sheets and pillows for 40 abused/abandoned girls living in this impoverished country, according to the press release. For more information, call Carr at (419) 865-8021.

Lawyers for the mayoral recall group Take Back Toledo are preparing to file a May 27 response to challenges filed with the Lucas County Board of Elections by Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. A hearing is scheduled at the BOE May 29.

Take Back Toledo is asking the BOE to “deny Mayor Finkbeiner’s request to reverse the Clerk of Council’s decision to certify the ‘Take Back Toledo’ recall petition based on three arguments:

• “The ‘Take Back Toledo’ recall petition is governed by the Toledo Charter, and parallel provisions contained in the Ohio Revised Code are therefore inapplicable;
• “The ‘Take Back Toledo’ recall petition meets all applicable requirements set forth in the Toledo Charter;
• “Take Back Toledo has gathered a number of valid signatures more than sufficient to place the recall issue on the September 15, 2009 ballot.”

A draft of the filing can be read here.

GEM Inc., a mechanical and electrical specialty contractor based in Walbridge, has purchased BHP Energy Solutions Ltd., of Hudson, Ohio. According to a news release, BHP will be a wholly owned subsidiary of GEM Energy Management LLC, GEM Inc.’s affiliated energy services company.
BHP will provide GEM Inc. and Rudolph/Libbe customers with market-leading turnkey solutions for clean, energy-saving onsite power generation.
BHP is an authorized distributor of Capstone MicroTurbine power generation systems. Capstone MicroTubines are compact, affordable energy systems that reduce energy costs while helping to protect the environment with near-zero emissions.
“BHP Energy allows GEM and Rudolph/Libbe to deliver the energy solutions our customers are seeking,” said Hussien Shousher, president of GEM Inc., in the news release. “BHP provides the technology and solutions that improve efficiency, comfort, productivity and financial performance, while reducing risk and the operating costs of our customer’s facilities.”

Examples of recent BHP projects:

• Toledo’s Seagate Centre has four energy-saving turbines fueled by natural gas, and an absorption chiller integrated with the existing turbines to produce chilled water in addition to hot water and electric power.
• In July, the Lucas County Multi-Purpose Arena will have four Capstone turbines to provide heat, cooling, and electricity for the new LEED-rated project.
• Centennial Park, a LEED-rated golf course in Munster, Indiana, has two Capstone turbines generating electricity from biogas fuel.

Renata Richardson of Dayton had already picked a name for her first child: Jazmyn Rose. She was stockpiling gifts such as baby socks, hats and a bassinet.

But the baby died a month before she was to be born. Richardson was crushed not only by the death but because she knew she couldn’t afford the cremation, which would have cost $600 to $1,200. She had lost her job as an advertising manager months before and couldn’t find another in the slumping economy.

“That’s the last thing I wanted to do for her, and I knew that I couldn’t do it,” she said.

Richardson, 25, of Davie, Fla., joined a growing number of people seeking help with burial and cremation costs as the recession triggers layoffs and foreclosures and rocks the family budget. Local governments — already cutting their budgets — are stepping in with taxpayer dollars.

The numbers are up at coroner’s offices from Los Angeles to Dayton to Chapel Hill, N.C. Some states and cities have increased their budgets to meet the demand.

“They basically tell me they can’t afford it,” said Lt. David Smith, who tracks down families of the dead in Los Angeles County. “Everybody we do get ahold of is washing their hands of it.”

The median cost of a funeral for a family, including casket and vault, is about $7,300. The cost to governments, which don’t arrange funerals, can range from $150 for basic cremation to $1,400 for burial.

Most states don’t require relatives to pay for the burial or cremation of the poor. Governments step in if the dead had no assets and the families cannot pay or cannot be found.

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Broward County in Florida, which is partially funded through property taxes, paid for the cremation of Richardson’s baby.

The city of Dayton did the same for Debra Hunt, whose 32-year-old daughter, a cancer patient, died in February. Cremation would have cost $1,000, and Hunt had $400 in the bank after quitting her job with the Dayton school system to be with her daughter.

The need for financial help reached the point that Renee Donnell, owner of Alamance Funeral Service in Burlington, N.C., started a fundraising campaign to create a burial fund. To raise money, she has helped organize plays, dinners and a silent auction. Several families have applied for money since the fund was created in October.

Donnell said the economy is partly to blame; a woman whose husband had just lost his job was among those receiving money.

“We’re seeing it so much more,” Donnell said. “I decided we needed to do something about it.”

In Dayton, the number of indigent cremations jumped from 37 in 2007 at a total cost of $24,000 to 53 in 2008 costing $34,500.

Over a six-month period, Los Angeles County handled 80 percent more indigent bodies from the coroner’s office from 2007 to last year.

At the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, the number of bodies relatives refuse to take financial responsibility for has nearly doubled — from 17 in 2007 to 33 last year.

The economy is a common topic at meetings of the National Funeral Directors Association.

“Based on what we’re hearing from our members, families are reporting more difficulty paying for funerals given the recent state of the economy,” said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the group.

More people are asking the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a South Burlington, Vt.-based watchdog group, how to pay for a funeral “without going into bankruptcy,” said Executive Director Josh Slocum.

“People are unprepared for what the financial responsibility is going to be,” said Clark County (Nev.) Coroner Mike Murphy, whose jurisdiction includes Las Vegas. “Some people are so financially strapped they don’t have anything to give.”

In the rough economy, more people in general are spending less on funerals and, in some cases, selling their cemetery plots.

The recession is also reducing revenue for local governments. Layoffs and decreased consumer spending hurt tax revenue. Foreclosures cut into property taxes.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin proposed an additional $300,000 in his budget for indigent burials after the number exceeded estimates by nearly 240 last year.

The northwest Ohio city of Findlay — where the number of indigent bodies has jumped from four a year to as many as 15 — paid $11,745 for burial or cremation last year. This year, the city has budgeted $14,800.

Because of its own backlog, the Los Angeles County Morgue stopped cremating bodies from the coroner’s office in February. The coroner is using $45,000 from another fund to pay for the cremations until another solution can be found.

Some coroner’s offices also report a jump in the number of unclaimed bodies, whose relatives can’t be found.

Local governments decide whether indigent bodies are buried or cremated. Many pick cremation because it is less expensive.

Overall, cremations are becoming more common. In Franklin County, Ohio, the number of cremations increased from 2,926 in 2006 — before the economic meltdown — to 3,318 in 2008. Burials fell from 4,591 to 4,378.

The U.S. cremation rate has been steadily climbing since 1960, when it represented 3.6 percent of dispositions. The rate increased from 33.5 percent in 2006 to 34.9 percent in 2007, the year of the latest available statistics.

Cremated remains are often held for a time to allow families to surface or to find the money to pay for the cremation. If that doesn’t happen, the ashes are sometimes poured into a common grave with a simple marker or spread over a body of water, a mountain or a canyon.

Burials are in plots designated by the cemetery with little fanfare and often without markers. The Hunt family also held its own memorial service.

“It’s sad,” said Sandra Yocum, chair of the religious studies department at the University of Dayton. “There is something about honoring those who have died that is very deep in our human psyche. That’s a loss to us as a whole.”

A man who didn’t get his nightly telephone call from his mother while she was traveling mistakenly claimed his neighbors had kidnapped her and stormed into their house to kill them before police officers shot him dead in a bloody standoff, authorities said.

Richard D. Carr, who apparently believed his mother had been killed or kidnapped, was armed with two handguns when he pounded on next-door neighbor John Murphy’s front door May 24 morning and announced he was going to kill Murphy and his family, police said.

“You killed my family. Now I’m going to kill yours,” Carr said before he began shooting, according to police.

The ordeal began around dawn, when Carr called police to report his parents, who live in Monroe, Mich., about 20 miles north of Toledo, had been kidnapped or murdered and his neighbors had something to do with it, police said. Carr, 32, claimed that his mother called him every night but hadn’t called him Saturday and that there were noises coming from the Murphys’ backyard, they said.

Officers said they visited Carr but determined there “wasn’t any real evidence” to conclude something had happened to his parents and there was no reason to arrest him.

Two hours later, the shooting started next door.

John Murphy, 51, was shot at least four times, twice in the chest, and had life-threatening injuries, police Chief Mike Navarre said. His wife, Janet Murphy, 50, and their son, Eric Murphy, 25, were shot at least once each but were able to run out of the house, which is on a residential street on the city’s north side.

John Murphy was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday night, and his wife and son were in serious condition, police said.

Two granddaughters, ages 3 and 8, hid under a bed in a back bedroom when they heard the shooting, police said. They were rescued by officers who broke a window and pulled them out when they heard another burst of gunshots.

Police said they negotiated with Carr for 10 to 15 minutes while he held the wounded and bloodied Murphy hostage. They said he fired shots at officers in the front doorway and outside the house and they fired back once, striking him in the head and killing him.

Other neighbors said Carr had acted strangely on Saturday and had talked about a civil war in his parents’ hometown, which is about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

Police said they went to the parents’ home and found Carr’s brother, who said their parents had been visiting Tennessee and were doing fine.

TO THE EDITOR,

So, Maggie Thurber “cut ‘n pasted” some material for a Memorial Day column and failed to give certain material appropriate attribution, an unbreakable rule in the principled world of journalism.

Big deal – for those who actually have and live by principles; no biggie for the rest. Just another golden opportunity to dredge up ancient history, make smarmy, adolescent, intellectually bankrupt comments hiding behind phony names, cross-posting on every blog and buzz board, trolling for admirers to stroke their egos. Welcome to Toledo: A City with Prudes.

And so goes the cyber-croaking in Frog Town. This must be how “life” (as in “get a life”) is defined in a small, politically embarrassing, intelligence-bereft town with nothing else to do but trade kindergarten-grade online “insults.” Laughable if not so tragic: seeing an entire region sitting on a gold mine, going to waste because of contagious apathy, aggressive ignorance and cyber-narcissism.

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” – Adolf Hitler

No wonder so many idiots and criminals get elected. And re-elected.

For her sin of omission, Thurber fell on her sword.

Big deal. Very big deal. In a land where class, principle, ethics and courage are nearly extinct, displays of common sense should be celebrated. A public person actually takes individual responsibility publicly for her actions. The attacking cretins are so perfectly ignorant they are unable to recognize the merit of this action: That someone would give up part of their occupational life for the sake of an ethic, a principle – what a concept! No physical injury. No property damage. No laws broken. No injury sustained, physical or otherwise. But out of respect for the respectability and integrity of an institution and its guiding ethics, an individual makes a principled choice at her own expense – and is reviled for it.

Rather than celebrate the moral fiber of the individual with intelligence and sheer guts to publicly acknowledge, inform and resign, the bottom-feeders, who eagerly search for any opportunity to toss ad hominems and hyperbole at anyone with whom they disagree, never fail to put their prejudices on parade. It’s a spectacle only a proctologist could love.

Such are the visible rewards for altruism in a land where the majority have to look up the word.

Brian Wilson is Program Director and Afternoon Host on WSPD 1370 AM. WSPD employs Maggie Thurber as host of “Eye on Toledo.”

President Barack Obama says General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC must emerge from their restructuring as “leaner, meaner” companies and that a substantial market awaits them if they make the right decisions.

Obama said in an interview broadcast Saturday on C-SPAN that the beleaguered automakers should aim to have product lines that appeal to consumers – and that means fuel efficient and high-performance vehicles that Americans hunger for.

The automakers employ thousands of people at several Ohio plants.

Obama defended government intervention in the industry, saying the administration could not let either company simply dissolve.

“Our auto industry is the foundation for economies all across the Midwest,” Obama said, “and ultimately, for the country as a whole. And had we allowed GM or Chrysler simply to liquidate that would have been a huge anti-stimulus on the economy as a whole, and could have dragged us even deeper into recession or even depression.”

The president said that he believes GM ultimately “is going to be a strong company and we are going to be pulling out as soon as the economy recovers and they’ve completed their restructuring.”

Nevertheless, several members of Congress appealed directly to the administration Friday to slow down the restructuring, saying they were worried about shuttered car dealerships, job losses and the big unknown of a GM bankruptcy. They said that a pending June 1 deadline for a GM bankruptcy created more uncertainty for the industry and could lead to a rash of additional job losses and dealership closings.

GM borrowed an additional $4 billion from the government Friday on top of $15.4 billion it previously received. The administration has demanded that the restructuring include cutting labor costs, reducing debt, shedding dealerships and brands, and closing excess factories.

“Keep in mind what’s happened in the auto industry,” Obama said. “Right now, we’re seeing – we’re projecting that maybe this year the auto industry as a whole sells 10 million cars in the United States. Well, replacement numbers for the auto industry, you know, that the number of cars to replace cars on the road is closer to 14, 15, 16 million. And what that means is when the economy recovers and consumers say, you know the old clunker has finally given out. I need to get a new car.”

“You are looking at a substantial market that is going to be available for U.S. automakers if they’ve made some good decisions now, and if they are building the kinds of fuel efficient, high performance cars that American consumers are hungry for,” he added.

Obama said he believes have been “weighed down by a legacy of some bad management decisions, health care costs and the whole host of other things that they are now in the process of cleaning up.”

“We’re confident that they can emerge and take advantage of that new market and actually be very profitable and thrive,” the president said. “But it means going through some pain now, and the thing I worry about most is that so much of that pain is borne by workers and communities that have historically been the backbone of the auto industry and so we’re going to have to work intensely with those communities.”

“If some of those auto jobs don’t come back, then what we’ve going to have to do is make sure that those workers are effectively retrained,” Obama said.