Jim Tressel’s game-day sweater vests inspired a local entrepreneur to begin a T-shirt business.
John Amato was watching an Ohio State game with his family in 2007 when he thought out loud, “Hey, somebody should make that a T-shirt, a sweater vest T-shirt.”
“Well, why don’t you do it?” his father replied.

Leah D’Emilio models John Amato’s Jim Tressel OSU sweater vest T-shirt.

“He challenged me to figure it out,” Amato said “I had a sample made. It was really a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
Amato came up with the basic design and called family friend Joe Pinciotti, of the Ulrich Pinciotti Design Group. Pinciotti took the design and finalized it on a computer.
The Tressel T-shirt is a red V-neck shirt with white sleeves sewn in, a neck portion with silk-screened tie and a silk-screened logo.
The next step was to get licensing. Amato printed the forms off The Ohio State University trademark and licensing department Web site and sent them in. The university reviews applicants once a month, Amato said.
Amato has expanded his T-shirt line to include original BGSU and UT merchandise. Once again, he came up with the ideas and turned to Pinciotti for the final artwork.
“It’s collaboration, really,” Pinciotti said.  “[Amato] says, ‘I think I want to do a shirt with UT undefeated champs 1969 and I might want to use a helmet.’ I go by his direction and create designs.”
One of the benefits of these shirts is that they are unique designs, Amato said.
“I know Toledo and Bowling Green better than any company who is making T-shirts for them. I give them something they don’t currently have,” he said.
“Kids love T-shirts and they love to support their teams. The more unique they are, the more marketable they are,” Pinciotti said.
Amato uses a 50/50 cotton blend or tri-blend to give his shirts a softer, almost weathered feel, he said. “It’s like a shirt that you’ve worn before; it fits well and it is soft.”
The T-shirts, which cost between $20 and $26, are available online at www.jupmode.com; the Student Book Exchange at BGSU; Nex Clothing Co, 1467 Secor Road, and the Barnes and Noble bookstores on UT and BGSU campuses, Amato said.
The Tressel T-shirt is available at the Buckeye Wolverine Shop, where it is the best-selling T-shirt, said manager Tim Kralovic.

When Rachel Fine was laid off from her job at a supplemental education company in December, she decided to pursue a longtime love — music.
Now, the singer is celebrating the release of her debut disc, “Own Your Own,” and another career, modeling.
“I had the pictures taken for the CD and they look like modeling pictures,” Fine said during a phone call from New York City. “A friend of mine who went to high school with me is a fashion designer and saw them online and said, ‘Hey, I’d love for you to shoot for one of my campaigns,’ and that kind of just started.
“So, the music kind of inspired the modeling, so it’s an interesting mix.”

Rachel Fine

As is Fine’s music.
“I would call it a blend of electronica and neo-soul,” she said, adding influences include Jill Scott and Portishead, as well as Philly soul and hip-hop.
The 27-year-old penned the lyrics for her disc, which can be heard in its entirety at rachelfine.com.
“I think music’s just been something that’s been relevant my whole life,” she said. “I have tapes of me singing as a little kid with my best friend from Stranahan [Elementary School in Toledo], making up songs and singing.”
Born in Cleveland, Fine lived there three weeks before her family moved to Toledo, where she stayed until the third grade.
These days she lives in Brooklyn and writes about relationships.
“I really spend time thinking about when you’re in a heightened emotional state; I write everything on paper and then I just feel better about the situation. So, everything on the CD is really intensely personal and very much written from the heart.”
Fine shared the backstory to the opening track, “Potential.”
“It’s about being in love with who you want someone to be and who you know they can be if they just applied themselves versus the reality of who they really are,” she said. “Sometimes, I think women tend to fall in love with the potential of the man more than the actuality of who that person is.”
She will perform and sign at a CD release party Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. at the Red Bull Space in Soho.
“The most exciting thing about the CD release party is we’re combining art and photography and music,” Fine said. “We took submissions from thousands of photographers and chose 11, each one doing a photo essay for each track on the CD, so they have 10 panels to tell the whole story photographically as they see for the music.”
The new model stars in the stills in the exhibit.
“I’ve shot with a 9-foot boa constrictor at a park. I’ve shot at an abandoned insane asylum in the basement with a coffin,” she said. “I just let the photographers talk about what their creative inspirations were and I’ve gone for it.”
Was she scared of that snake?
“I was more scared to be half-naked in a public park,” she said and laughed. “There were so many elements that were out of my control — school kids I was trying to hide from, the snake handlers — I was just dealing with all the components at once and trying to get an amazing shot. I think I actually was more scared when I looked at the pictures afterwards and realized it was 90 pounds of snake.”

When students first stepped into the new Arlington Elementary School on Aug. 25, they got everything a modern, freshly built school has to offer.
But Arlington also has something that no other school in the world has to offer; something giving students, teachers, parents and visitors a sense of tradition and a sense of history.
That’s because the new Arlington Elementary School was built using the best parts of the old Arlington Elementary School.
“People get goosebumps when they walk into the building. They did a really good job,” said Arlington principal Lori Reffert. “It gives people a sense of community. It has all these things that remind people of the old building.”

Arlington Elementary Principal Lori Reffert stands next to the original doors to the school.

When approaching the new Arlington, visitors will see stone eagles from the old building lining the pathway. After the first entrance into Arlington, the double doors from the old auditorium greet everyone and offer a window in how this new building blends tradition with technology.
Reclaimed brick, salvaged terra cotta crests, decorative stone medallions and wood-framed windows — all kept from the original Arlington Elementary — keep the new building tied to the long history of the school. The old baseball field even remains.
These Arlington traditions were kept alive thanks to a large group of teachers, parents, staff and community members who gave ideas on how to design the new school. The Collaborative, Inc. — the company that did the design — then incorporated those ideas.
“It has been a part of this community for so long,” said kindergarten teacher Cindy Vogel, who participated in the ideas group. “I have students whose grandparents went to this school.”
In keeping the sense of history, The Collaborative didn’t skimp on modern amenities. The school has wireless capability throughout its campus, projectors in every room, an integrated sound system and a gymnasium that opens into a cafeteria well lit with natural light.
“It does have the traditional feel of a school, but in a contemporary sort of way,” said Karen Walker, architect and project manager for The Collaborative, Inc. “It is all blended together to something completely new.”
“The updates are great. It catches their attention, and it is fun for kids and teachers alike,” Vogel said. “We have gone from the Flintstones to the Jetsons in one move.”

I couldn’t help thinking this week about the furor over the Joe Wilson outburst during the president’s speech on health care reform during a joint session of Congress. Now, Mr. Wilson is a Republican member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, a group never particularly known for its good manners. Members of the House (and apparently those from South Carolina in particular) have not only spoken ill of each other over the years, but have actually come to blows. In May 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane on the floor of this august assemblage about a speech that he had given a few days before. As a result, Sumner was unable to resume his position for some three years as he recovered from wounds; while Brooks, recognizing that he had committed a breach of decorum (and of Sumner’s head), subsequently resigned.
We no longer seek to settle our political differences with physical violence on the floor of Congress however, and the days of dueling are long past in this country (sometimes I believe, more is the pity).  Should we, therefore, be shocked by this latest outburst during this joint session of Congress? Is such behavior unprecedented in recent politics? Not according to many, who point to the reaction of the party in opposition to the Bush State of the Union speech in 2005. Portions of President Bush’s speech were met with “boos” from some of those of the same party that now claim to be guardians of decorum.
At a time when most of what was once considered polite behavior has disappeared, drowned out by decibel-pounding rhythms blasted from moving automobiles and ringing cell phones in movie theaters, should it really be much of a surprise that our elected representatives exhibit the same lack that society does? When road rage has become a recognized disorder, can it be much of a shock that our elected representatives represent the breaches of decorum and etiquette? And more importantly, given the tenor of most political campaigns, what would lead any person with common sense to expect that common courtesy is possible of most of those seeking public office?
While we are at it though, why should we really want it? Oh, I know that we often talk about bi-partisan support and compromise in political discourse, but few of us actually want it. We, in fact, have a two-party system, which should in theory mean two differing political philosophies. If this is to be more than simple rhetoric, one would expect such philosophy to be passionately held and fervently defended. Where such passion and fervor exists, how can we not expect spontaneous outbursts of emotion to be part of the debate from time to time.
Was Wilson’s behavior rude? There is little doubt. Was such behavior in 2005 equally inappropriate? Yes. Was this breach of decorum emblematic of society in general? Absolutely!
Not content with Wilson’s apology to the president that evening, however, Democrats are demanding an additional apology from Rep. Wilson, this time on the floor of the House where his offense was committed. He was told that only by doing so could he forestall some form of censure at the hands of his fellows. He refused, and by a vote of 240 to 179, was given a “resolution of disapproval.
Is there yet another Congressional apology owed? Indeed there is. It is one, however, that all of Congress owes to the American people. It is an apology that all of the members of both parties and both houses owe us for turning politics into bad theater instead of impassioned debate on ideology. It is an apology for abandoning what they claimed was strongly held principles when seeking office, in the name of expediency and compromise once they get it. It is an apology for the for being disingenuous about the very manners that they claim to demand only to disregard such decorum when potential political advantage for their side exposes itself.
As for Mr. Wilson and his faux pas, two things — No. 1: Apology accepted and ’nuff said; No. 2):Thanks for not bringing a cane.

Tim Higgins blogs at http://just blowingsmoke.blogspot.com.

Anthony Bruno has descended into the depths of Belgian coal mines and climbed the heights of 85-foot grain heaps in Maumee to ensure his family’s well-being.
“It was hard to do everything with no car, not talking English,” Bruno, 79, said in a staccato Italian accent. “I don’t know where to go, but I learned every day.”
The table’s centerpiece includes a miniature Italian flag. After World War II, Bruno left his native Candida, Italy, to seek employment. The war devastated the country’s economy. He said it was common for Italians to leave their motherland for work.
“All the time — after the war, no one had a job or money,” Bruno said.
He took whatever job he could get and found work in a Belgian coal mine in 1952.
“I pushed a button and pulled 20 cars back and forth,” he said. “I didn’t like it. It’s the worst job you could get — a nasty job. The dust you come up with every day — black.”

Anthony Bruno

His daughter, Rose Kreutzfeld, said her father pursued work of any type to provide for his young family.
“He moved away to find something that’d give them good income, but it was a dangerous job,” she said.
Bruno always worked for his five children and to educate them in his new country. Kreutzfeld said her father set a high standard.
“It’s a hard bar to live up to,” she said. “He set the bar high. Everything he did, he did for us to put us through school.”
Even 54 years later, Kreutzfeld said her father’s first instinct is to look after his family.
“The main goal is to provide,” she said. “You can go to dinner with him, but if you dare go for your wallet — you just don’t do it.”
Bruno arrived in the United States with scant resources, but plenty of responsibilities, Kreutzfeld said.
“He’s very proud of what he has because when he came here, he came with a 5-year-old son, an expecting wife, a trunk with all their belongings and $65 in cash,” she said.
Bruno arrived on the historic ship The Andrea Doria and arrived on Ellis Island. He came to Toledo to work on the C&O Railway for a year. He soon switched to The Andersons grain division.
“Andersons, for me, is best company in U.S. to work,” Bruno said. “I like everybody. They treated me like one of the family, you know.”
“Everybody calls him ‘Uncle Tony,’” said Mike Anderson, chairman and CEO.  “In his earlier years, he was this short Italian who worked hard and was very friendly. In his older age, he’s never slowed down. His co-workers who are in their 20s and 30s are just in awe of his physical ability to just go, go. We love Uncle Tony.
“Tony’s work ethic is as good as it gets,” Anderson said. “He’s the role model of hard work and a great attitude that work keeps you going.”
He climbed the ranks and held a variety of job titles at the Andersons.
“I painted everything,” Bruno said. “I’ve done everything, even engineering. Even train engineer. I drove the train.”
His most vivid memories involved covering grain heaps with tarps. He pulled the table cloth toward him to demonstrate the process.
“It took 16 tarps and maybe 85 feet,” he said. “I put the tarp with the bolts — every tarp, it be $6,000.”
He especially enjoyed operating the dockside trains. As Bruno took out his leather wallet and opened it, he revealed a card from Andersons’ Engine Training Program.
“That’s the easiest job I got. It’s an easy job. You get the radio and when they load, back it up. ‘Go ahead, go ahead!’” he said, gesturing the signal.
Years later, Bruno still shows up at The Andersons to supervise. He refers to the younger employees affectionately as “the kids.”
“I like the kids,” he said. “Andersons, when I started in 1959, there were a lot of school kids — college kids. I was in charge of the kids a lot of times — a lot of busy.”
Kreutzfeld said many people in public will recognize and greet his father. And “the kids” affectionately named Bruno, as well.
“Even among the kids that are still there, they’ll call him Uncle Tony,” Kreutzfeld said.
During his long career, Bruno managed to build a spacious home surrounded by woods, vegetable gardens and flower beds on his Holland property. His grandson, Anthony Bruno, said he appreciates his grandfather’s hard work and success.
“I look up to him,” he said. “I think it’s impressive how they started out this way and now they have all these cars and a nice home.”
Bruno’s hard work carried into building his home. He added a basement, as well as more bedrooms. He renovated the whole house. Today, he likes tending to his vegetable and flower gardens and enjoying the fruits of his labor.
“We’ve done a lot of work in this house — put the brick, everything,” Bruno said. “I don’t sell.”
Kreutzfeld said family back in Italy look favorably upon Bruno’s tireless and selfless work ethic.
“They looked at him as a hero for paving a new way of life,” she said.

Critics have called Ani DiFranco’s 2008 disc, “Red Letter Year,” her “happy” record.
“I’m a much more relaxed, happy person than I was five years ago when I was really lonely and had way too much time to overthink everything,” she said. “Then I fell in love, and then we [husband Mike Napolitano] had a kid, and now I have no time to do anything but just sort of be in the moment and play with the baby.
“It’s a very Zen turn for me,” the singer-songwriter continued. “Parenting can be boring sometimes, but it’s also really gratifying. It sort of really slows you down and puts you in touch with the simple things in life, and that’s been really good for me.”

Ani DiFranco

DiFranco sounded serene during a phone interview before her show in Kalamazoo, Mich. And she talked about her daughter, Petah Lucia, 2.
“She’s hysterical, so she keeps it lively. She’s finally out of diapers, so that’s pretty big. And [she’s] just learning how to talk and express herself in English, that’s pretty radical.”
DiFranco has never had trouble expressing herself. Since her 1990 debut, she has written and sung about politics, religion, sexism, racism — no topic has been taboo.
“I would never worry about being too outspoken,” the 38-year-old said. “Oftentimes in my life, I don’t say the right thing; I don’t express myself well or accurately. I think that’s why I write songs mostly is cause I, in the day to day, in the one on one, I get it wrong so much that it takes me time to sit down and think of what I really mean to say. But I think the most important thing is to be open with each other and honest about what we feel and think even if we’ve got to take some stuff back or make some mistakes along the way.
“It really kills me, this sort of culture of the language police that we live within now. I just think it’s really destructive to make people scared to speak, for people to be scared to make mistakes. As a feminist, that’s something I was aware of very early on that women, they often silence themselves — because of the gender dynamic, the forces of patriarchy — it’s sometimes hard to find our own voices.”
Having a voice and artistic freedom led DiFranco to start her own record company, Righteous Babe Records, in 1989.
“What I basically sing about is being unashamed of myself, being unafraid in the world and being a self-realized person on the planet, not follow blindly or accept instantly everything that’s handed to me,” she said. “I just hope to inspire other people to do that for themselves.”
DiFranco will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $37.50 and $32.50.

It takes about three days to convince yourself that the baby they hand you in the hospital is actually your child, about three weeks to make your child feel like part of your everyday routine and about three months to make it seem completely inconceivable that there was ever a time when your child did not exist.
Our latest family addition arrived almost six months ago and life just hasn’t been the same ever since. Of course, things have been quite a bit busier, quite a bit crazier. More noticeably and importantly, however, things have been quite a bit better.
Even though we’ve been through it twice before, there is nothing like seeing the world from life’s most basic perspective. There are so many things that we take for granted by the time we are adults: reaching, grasping, walking, talking. As babies and small children, we spend countless hours attempting to master these skills, yet retain no memory of them ever taking more than half an ounce of effort.
Watching my own flesh and blood discover that she is in control of the fives fingers swimming in front of her face or seeing her figure out the logistics of using her little legs and feet to bounce herself into a state of sheer bliss, gives me a sense of awe the likes of which simply cannot be matched. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the whole thing is that it never seems to get old. She keeps learning and we keep loving it.
This time around my husband and I have the pleasure of sharing the wonder of our child’s world with two fellow captivated companions. Witnessing the eyes of a baby through the eyes of a three-year-old and a six-year-old enhances the experience all the more. Having already mastered the skills their sister, Lucy, is currently attempting, and having become accustomed to all of those around them having already mastered the primary skill set as well, I wonder what it is that places such an amazement factor into the pint-sized onlookers.
My older children have rolled over and laughed and taken bites of cereal hundreds and hundreds of times. Yet, when Lucy does it, it’s as if no one has ever accomplished such a feat in the entire history of time. The smallest Lucy triumph supersedes most any other household activity and elicits immediate, uninterrupted attention by all.
No matter what our mood before, seeing Lucy’s determined little face as she tries to reach a little further or jump a little higher can easily set her parents and her siblings into a rollicking chant of “Go, Lucy, go!” Each one of us considers it a duty to the rest of the family to bring everyone’s attention to the slightest exciting moment in the history of our baby girl. No milestone is too small nor too ordinary to stop and take note.
Her brother and sister have even made it their job to formally declare each and every first in the life of Lucy. “Mom, this is Lucy’s first time going to New York! Mom, this is Lucy’s first time seeing my school! Mom, this is the first time Lucy has ever seen you open a bag of frozen peas on a Tuesday afternoon!” And the excitement marches on.
After showering Lucy with unconditional love from the day she was born, one day she just looked up and started returning the favor. Of all the wondrous things her brother and sister notice, my favorite is when nothing more than a beaming grin on her sweet face brings about the confident declaration, “Mom, Lucy loves me!”
Cheering on the basics is just the beginning of the lifelong cheerleading we take on as members of a family. As our children grow, new triumphs continue to follow. No matter how many others have come forth before and accomplished certain feats, there is just something special about them being done by the ones you love the most.

Shannon and her husband Michael are raising three children in Sylvania. E-mail her at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Eighteen-year old Tamela Mitchell speaks two languages.
The first is the speech of her youth. Challenged by a speech impediment, Mitchell faced ridicule and humiliation growing up.
The second is poetry. Frustrated with the strain upon her speaking voice, Mitchell supplemented her speech with the written word. Once held back a grade by the challenges she faced, she recently placed second at the June 26 Freedom Sisters Poetry Contest in Detroit en route to enrolling with Owens Community College in the fall.
“Poetry is a second language to me,” Mitchell said. “Poetry talks about life. It tells you what other people are going through and what they are thinking. It is the humanity of poetry that gets people to understand you, understand your pain.”

Tamela Mitchell

Kelly Trzcinski, Mitchell’s site coordinator and youth specialist with Youth Opportunity Program (YOP), said she saw the agony Mitchell’s speech problem caused her. Mitchell felt so frustrated, Trzcinski said, she enrolled her in an anger management class, in addition to her regular speech therapy.
“Tamela did not speak unless spoken to or made to speak,” Trzcinski said. “Once Tamela came out of her shell, she turned into this butterfly. She just evolved. Anything she could be involved with she joined.”
“It hurt me a lot when people teased me about my speech,” Mitchell said of her formative years. “People called me mush mouth. It was like a knife through my heart.”
Inspired by the support YOP gave her, Mitchell said she soon enrolled with speaking groups like Making a Direct Difference (Madd) Poets Society and Toastmasters. Soldiering on with the poetry she started in fifth grade,  she soon found reciting the lines she wrote helped her speak more clearly and passionately.
“I didn’t know I had a talent for poetry as I was so afraid to recite it in front of people as I would get teased for speaking,” Mitchell said.
“When people tease me, it makes me push on harder and do better. Poetry helps me speak to people and helps them understand me.”
Inspired by the story of Rosa Parks, she wrote a poem at age 16 about the civil rights leader’s struggles. Two years later, she said, she delivered the poem at the Freedom Sisters contest, channeling her struggles into Parks’ own. Five years after her first moments in YOP, Mitchell said, she is graduating from Waite High School in Toledo by finishing her last credits through summer courses.
“Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed in and opened my eyes, so I just wrote about her,” Mitchell said. “I don’t do poetry for the claps or fame. I do poetry to get my voice out there and let others hear my story. I can be anywhere or do anything and people can get to know me through my poetry.”
Elizabeth Daniels, Mitchell’s legal guardian, said Mitchell’s success at the Freedom Sisters contest offered proof of her bright future. Rather than feel defeated by her impediment, she said, Mitchell has surmounted its challenge.
“I taught her not pay any mind about teasing as people will sometimes talk about others and tease them,” Daniels said. “She has determined she is going to make something of herself regardless of her disability.”
Mitchell said she will pursue a career in law at OCC Toledo this fall. As the second college student in her family, she said, she is excited for her graduation as she will then help low-income families with their law troubles.
Trzcinski said she would miss Mitchell, but it is time for her departure. She said she was confident Mitchell would continue overcoming obstacles in the future.
“I feel fortunate Tamela has allowed me into her life and let me watch this transformation,” Trzcinski said. “Her future is limitless.”

I just do not understand people. The Sept. 15 primary election was your chance to narrow the field of candidates for Toledo mayor and only a slim percentage of you bothered to head to the polls.  We should be proud of our right to vote. We should exercise that right.  Instead, many ignore it. Those same people are the first to complain about the person they didn’t bother to vote for or against.
Let me break the numbers down. The Lucas County Board of Elections reported that of 217,144 registered voters, only 40,069 people voted in the primary election in Toledo and Oregon. That is just 18.45 percent of registered voters.
In the Toledo mayoral race 36,307 voters cast their ballots. It seems sort of sad considering more than 45,000 signatures were collected in Take Back Toledo’s effort to recall Mayor Carty Finkbeiner from office.  Assuming all of those signatures belonged to registered voters, not everyone who wanted Carty recalled cared enough about who could become Toledo’s next mayor to head to the polls.
I would love to hear some of the excuses people have for not voting. It was a sunny, warm day, so weather couldn’t have been a factor.  Polls were open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thirteen hours should be enough time to scoot over to your polling place, right?  OK, you probably had to work.  Wait — early voting began Aug. 11. I guess a month just isn’t enough time.
The best excuse I heard was related to me by a co-worker. He stopped by a gas station on his way home from covering the election and the clerk told him she didn’t even know there was an election until she watched the coverage on the news.
I guess all of the stories Toledo’s newspapers, TV and radio stations had been covering for the past nine months were lost on her.
Is it ignorance or simply laziness that prompts people to sit back and watch? I really can’t decide; they pretty much go hand in hand.
Let’s see if it’s any better come November. Care to place any bets?

Heather Miller is a reporter for FOX Toledo First at 4 and First at 10.

This week with the loss of another Icon, Patrick Swayze, we are reminded that being prepared is the best answer to planning an estate.  Most families have made a last will and testament and usually leave all the assets to the surviving spouse and then the children.  Typically the “I love you” will is when one spouse says to the other, “I love you and leave all of my worldly goods to you.” Whoever survives usually gets it all.  What then happens when the second spouse dies?  Who gets it then?  The kids, right?  There is no guarantee that your kids will get anything, especially when someone has been remarried.

If everything is left to the spouse, they can do with it what they wish.  What happens if they re-marry?  Will they write another “I love you” will that leaves it all to the new spouse?  If the new spouse has their own set of children from a previous relationship and they are the second to die, it will probably all go to their children completely leaving your children out.  Imagine how devastating this could be to the children.  Some may try to solve the problem by leaving all to the children and nothing to the second spouse.  This may not go over to well and in most states there are laws that allow a surviving spouse to “take against the will.”  This means that even though the spouse was left out of the will they are entitled to a portion of the estate anyway.  A pre-nuptial agreement can solve this problem, but again in many relationships this is not what both spouse’s are comfortable with.

An estate planning tool that can be used in a situation like this is a Marital Trust.  Such a trust can be set up to pay the surviving spouse income from the remaining assets for the rest of their life and then when the surviving spouse dies the assets can go to the children.  This works well in cases of previous marriages because it allows the surviving spouse use and enjoyment of income from remaining assets, yet guarantees that the first spouse’s children the proceeds of the trust when the second spouse dies.  If this is a strategy that is chosen, be careful to think things through and get the advice of an estate planning attorney.

Another valuable tool can be used in the situation of blended families is life insurance.  What is attractive about using life insurance is that in many cases it allows leveraging of dollars.  If the concern is providing for both a second spouse and children from a first marriage, this may be the way to go.  An income tax free death benefit can be created to pay to loved ones.  One way to do it could be that the life insurance is paid to the children and the surviving spouse gets the assets of the estate, or vice versa.  The beauty of the life insurance is that it usually pays out very quickly and there is no waiting for an estate administration to be completed that can take months and even years.  The leveraging comes in because in most cases you are creating new dollars to be distributed later that weren’t there before.  There are some insurance policies that you can deposit a lump sum and not pay premiums ever again.  This can allow a person to shift assets to a place where they may be getting more value.  Some policies even offer special riders to help pay for long term care expenses before you die.  Check with an investment professional to see what is available and what fits best in your situation.

If you have a blended family, things can get complicated.  Not just in relationships but also with ultimately who gets what.  A good estate and financial plan can address the situation ahead of time.  Be sure to look at both the legal and financial side of things.

For more information about today’s column and The Retirement Guys, tune-in every Saturday at 12pm on 1230 WCWA and every Sunday at 11am on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysradio.com.  Securities are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC.  The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group.  1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, Ohio 43537.

BONUS EDITION:  The surprise wedding renewal!
By Nolan Baker

I must admit, today life is not only good, it is incredible.  It hasn’t always been that way, there have been and will be challenges to overcome in life.  I have wonderful children, great friends, a successful business, and a beautiful wife.  Karen and I are one of those rare original high school sweethearts.  What else could top that?  Well, I decided it would be a surprise wedding renewal out in Las Vegas a few weeks ago to remind my wife how much I love her.

We were traveling to Las Vegas at the end of August for the Senior Market Advisor Expo.  This is a major national event to educate over 600 investment professionals who focus on retirement planning.  I was honored to be one of the featured speakers at the event.  My wife thought my presentation was going to be the featured event.  So she didn’t have any clue when I invited some great friends and coworkers out for the surprise wedding.  The stage was set.

The proposal.

On Sunday, we all decided to take a trip over to Paris Hotel for a breakfast of champions and then a little sightseeing high atop the Eiffel Tower.  The view was breath taking.  We could see the entire Las Vegas Strip and I paced around nervously about “popping” the big question.  I knew we were still in love, but after the years the magic of the moment still sent my heart racing.  As I got down on one knee and proposed again, I think she still didn’t know what was happening.  In fact, I even messed up my proposal saying seven years instead of eight.  Thus, I wasn’t surprised when she thought it wasn’t for real until hours later when it probably all sank in for her.

We got married that night in the Las Vegas Chapelle Du Paradis.  Amy, her Maid of Honor, surprised her with a dress she picked out and brought with her.  It was perfect and so beautiful.  It was simple, yet elegant, and sexy, yet reserved, just as my wife is.  The marriage symbolized the love that we still have for each other.  The bond we have today is stronger than ever before.  And it was a small gift of my appreciation for what Karen honored years ago when she said “faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold.  So I give you my life to keep.  So help me God.”

Some may not see this message as financial advice.  And it may not be.  Love is priceless; there is no cost, no better alternative, and something that will stand up in the best and worst of economic times.  Marriage as I’ve learned over the years isn’t just about money.

The chapel wedding

This message may hit home for others.  Life is more about values than it is about valuables.  Money can do as much good as it can do evil to a family.  A family could save for generations, have the best legal plan in place to avoid taxes and attorney fees, and leave all of the money in the world.  Yet, money without meaning is really meaningless.