This weekend, Andrew “Andrew Z” Zepeda will present a concert for the first time: the First Annual Miller Lite Music Fest. It will feature Naughty by Nature (“OPP”), Coolio (“Gangsta’s Paradise”), Tone Loc (“Wild Thing,” “Funky Cold Medina”) and Young MC (“Bust a Move”).

“The music’s going to be pumping, it’s just going to be a big party,” Zepeda said.

In between acts, DJ Rob Sample will play music so concert-goers will never have to watch an empty, silent stage.

“It’s a concert-party mix — it’s a carty,” he said, adding that the newly coined word is not a nod to Toledo’s former mayor.

He said he wanted to do something that had never been done in Northwest Ohio before: a fun, dance concert featuring bands from the 90s that people in their 30s will remember from high school.

Local rap group Snow Storm, which consists of four of Zepeda’s employees from one of his restaurants, will open both shows.

The bands will perform for two nights, Friday June 18 and Saturday June 19. Zepeda said this is because he wants as many people as possible to be able to attend the concert, despite how busy the weekend will be with Rally by the River and ZOOtoDO.

Booths will have food and alcohol available for concertgoers. Both nights, there will be an afterparty at his restaurant, Andrew Z’s Sportz Pizzeria in Perrysburg.

“It’s just going to be a lot of fun, and if people show up and have a good time, we’ll definitely do it again,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see if people are into a show like this.”

The concert will be at Levi’s Commons in Perrysburg. Gates will open at 4:30 both nights. The first act will take the stage at 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $20 in advance and at the door. VIP tickets are $100 and come with a variety of perks, including catering, backstage viewing and private bathrooms.

Some of the event’s proceeds will benefit the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Northwest Ohio.

Perrysburg High School seniors gathered in the high school auditorium to watch their class video as part of their May 26 senior day celebration. Hidden behind the curtain were three new Hyundai cars — and a senior was about to win one of them.
Michael Skaff, 18, drove away a 2010 Hyundai Elantra. The car was valued at about $19,000.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what to do. I was shocked. I still think it’s unbelievable,” Skaff said.
Steve Taylor, owner of Taylor Automotive Group in Perrysburg, had heard about another car dealership giving away cars as a promotion. He discussed the idea with a parent group at Perrysburg High School.
“We’ve had a great year with Hyundai. Hyundai’s got nothing but fantastic press, great reviews,” Taylor said. “I thought it’d be good to give back to the community that gave back to us.”
This isn’t the first time the dealership has given back. Taylor Automotive has sponsored school athletic teams, yard signs for graduates and the “Sundaes from Hyundai” program where grade-school students earn ice cream for good grades.
“We’ve been involved in quite a few things in the community and schools,” Taylor said. But this is the first time they’ve given away a car.
Since the beginning of the school year, Perrysburg seniors who showed good attendance, good academics and good participation in extracurricular activities could earn entries into the drawing for the car. Michael Short, the high school’s principal, said students who had disciplinary problems were automatically eliminated from the drawing.
From about 350 seniors, Taylor said, there were about 2,000 entries.
All year, seniors knew one of them would win the car, and Skaff said it frequently came up in conversation.
“We talked about it all the time,” he said.
He said students worked harder to get As because of the drawing.
After the senior day video, the curtain was pulled back, revealing three cars. Taylor drew 10 names from the pool. Those 10 students were called on stage, and each drew one envelope. Seven envelopes contained gift cards and three contained keys. The students with keys each chose a car and tried to start it. Skaff’s key started the engine and he won the car.
“It was shocking. It was very shocking, unbelievable,” Skaff said.
His friends were also excited about his win, he said.
“They were just as shocked as I was,” he said. “They just started asking me for rides and taking them places and whatnot. They still do.”
Taylor said the Elantra was chosen because it would please both high school students and their parents.
“That car’s won all sorts of awards as far as safety and reliability,” he said. “It’s got a good body design and a good style. We thought it was something a high school senior would be excited to drive, and also something the parents would like.”
Skaff said he drove a 1996 Mazda before he won the Elantra.
“My favorite part [of the Elantra] is the power windows, because in my old car there weren’t any power windows,” he said. He had to open his old car’s windows manually.
“Cruse control,” he added. “I didn’t have cruise control in my old car, either.”
Taylor said the dealership has already committed to donating another car next year, but he wants to amp up promotion of the giveaway throughout the year.
“What I want to do is get more involved,” he said, “[to] keep it fresh in their mind that one of these seniors is going to win this car.”
He said he’s thought about doing “some promotional-type things” at football and basketball games.
“We don’t really know what they’re going to be yet,” he said. “We’ve got some crazy ideas up our sleeve.”
This fall, Skaff will drive the Elantra to Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he plans to study video game animation.

On the surface, the concept presented by TPS Board of Education President Vasquez for an independent review of TPS seems appropriate and needed.  However, past attempts at conducting such operational reviews have not resulted in meaningful reforms of TPS usually due to “school board politics.”
TPS officials have consistently used these opportunities to create favorable “public relations” usually timed to influence the next levy on the ballot.
In 1999, the Corporation for Effective Government (CEG) did a benchmark study of TPS and its operational practices, which was conducted by a blue ribbon committee of Toledoans and others. Not included in the study were areas involving union contracts or labor management practices. TPS administrators and union leaders who sat on the steering committee would not participate if these areas were included. Results: Not one single recommendation has been implemented.
In 2002-03, at the urging of education reform advocates, the TPS Board of Education agreed to develop a strategic plan and hired educational consultant and reform guru Phillip Schlechty. In May 2003, the public was presented a “roadmap to success.” Results: Not one single recommendation has been implemented.
In 2002, the public approved a major building program. The board promised an independent oversight committee to monitor the program. The committee included many individuals who did business with TPS. Conflicts of interest abounded and some individuals serving on the committee were involved in some sweetheart deals. The committee met about three years — sporadically at the end before committee members lost interest and the committee stopped meeting.
When the community passed a levy to renovate Scott High School two years ago, the Scott community wanted an independent oversight committee to monitor the project. Having seen what happened with the building projects and the state of the TPS building plan, they were rightly concerned.
What they got was a hand-picked committee of folks who had ties to TPS or board leadership. The committee has not been heard from since.
There are many more instances of community committees during the last 15 years, including recently. Whenever community members get upset, TPS puts a committee together or implements a study to address the issue. The results are always the same: A waste of time and effort.
Can we expect Vasquez and the board to deliver on his latest promise?
Let’s examine Vasquez’s January 2010 promise of a cost cutting committee when TPS said a new levy was needed. Most expected the committee to be similar to Mayor Bell’s “CSI” committee.
No committee was ever established. The community and employees had no input on potential budget cuts or ideas to save school funds. Vasquez failed to meet his promise. And there are more examples of Vasquez’s failure to act while on the TPS board.
Finally, getting board consensus on the effort along with the support of top TPS officials would seem the first order of business in getting an effort like this underway.
Vasquez admits in press interviews that he did not discuss it with all board members before his announcement at a meeting of an economic development group called The Partners. A Blade reporter just happened to be in the audience. Why? A skeptic would see this as a great way to get personal attention for being a problem solver in preparation for his next run at city council.
Grandstanding never solved any problems. It can draw attention to problems, but most in this community already know that TPS has major intractable problems.
The current effort can only work if the TPS board charters the committee by vote. It must be autonomous and look at both operational and financial practices, including current union contracts. No TPS officials or employees should be members of the committee. All employees and records must be available for interviews and inspection. All committee members must be free of financial or other relationships that pose a conflict of interest.
The true intentions of the board will be evident in how it structures the committee. Without independence and inclusion of the education reform advocates, it’s just more grandstanding in preparation for a November levy.

Steven Flagg is a community activist and education advocate. For more
information, visit www.tpsinfo.com.

Lloyd Jacobs

UT President Lloyd Jacobs received low ratings in a spring performance review by the university’s Faculty Senate, but received 100 percent support in an annual review by the UT Board of Trustees.
“This institution is in a phase of rapid growth — growth in enrollment, size and research dollars. We’re on a roll which brings us to a new stature and excellence in the community and for our students. From time to time with rapid change people are stretched out of their comfort zones. I see all of this as growing pains,” Jacobs said of the low Faculty Senate ratings.
For the Faculty Senate assessment, Jacobs was reviewed in 10 categories, all of which he scored an average below 3 on a 5 point scale. His overall average was a 2.2, equating to “needs improvement” on the key.
The categories Jacobs was rated in include “communication/interpersonal skills,” “problem solving & decision making,” “strategic planning,” “leadership,” “ethics & integrity” and “diversity,” among others.
One review stated Jacobs, “Obviously thinks we are idiots,” and another said he is “Quick to speak, quick to judge, slow on attitude change.”
Not all reviews were negative with one review stating “He takes responsibility for his decisions and their outcome,” and another stated, “I have been GREATLY IMPRESSED by Dr. Jacobs’ use of the MyUT website, and the videos… as well as the media.”
The spring performance review was the senate’s first attempt, since the merger, at facilitation of a performance review and will serve as a learning experience for future reviews, said Dr. Mary Powers president of the Faculty Senate in an e-mail. Previous reviews of presidents, provosts and deans were conducted in the past by the former senate, she said.
The Faculty Senate received 128 surveys out of the 955 surveys e-mailed to permanent faculty members at UT, Powers said. Since the surveys were sent at the end of the semester when the professor were preparing for exams, timing may have played a role in the low 13 percent response rate, Powers said.
“Because the response rate was less than we had hoped, it will take more work to gather responses from a broader representation of faculty. It is important to provide individual faculty members the opportunity to offer feedback, and all feedback is important in the context of institutional assessment,” she said.
The new UT Faculty Senate constitution, approved by the president and board of trustees in 2008, calls for a performance review of administrators after they have served two years and then a review every following two years, according to Powers.
A motion was passed in November to conduct a review of the president and all provosts, vice provosts and deans who had not been evaluated in the past two years.
The results of the survey were delivered to Jacobs, the board of trustees and the Faculty Senate.
“Someone’s objective and concerns if a friend or colleague was just laid off may be different than if you take the entire perspective of what the university is trying to achieve,” said William Fall, incoming chairman of the board of trustees.
The board performed its review of the president and a  review of itself at the same time. The tool of assessment was developed by an outside firm, Fall said.
“As the word assessment implies, we wanted to take stock of things broadly across the campus,” Fall said.
Fall said the assessment was performed to figure out where the university stood within its plan and what the university could do in the future to improve.
The board reviewed the president on where he stood with major stakeholders in the university on three overarching objectives, Fall said. The objectives include, improving the undergraduate experience, increase the reputation of the medical college and hospital—reaching top 100 in the country—and have a continued leadership role in economic development.
The board of trustees’ review of the president encompassed input from all board members, 11 college deans, the president’s cabinet, the president and 234 faculty members. The president was ranked on eight performance indicators, all of which he received a 3 (OK) or above on a 5 point scale.
“The board without exception is 100 percent behind Dr. Jacobs,” Fall said. “[The board’s review and the Faculty Senate review] reflect both positive and negative inputs. We honestly felt the very essence of reviews is to understand where you are where you need to go and what elements are important to continue to grow and advance the university.”

“God and Guns,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first studio release in six years, is loaded with political and survival themes, delivered with the group’s three-guitar firepower.
“This country was founded on God and guns, you know, and the Second Amendment,” said Gary Rossington, guitarist and a founding member of the Southern rock band. “We just live out in the country in Florida so you have to protect yourself from bad neighbors if there are any, snakes and gators and things like that, so we believe in guns to protect yourself. Of course, not handguns that you kill people with and run around with hidden.
“And we believe in God, and we think it was better when we used to pray in school and say the Pledge of Allegiance. We’re not really preaching it, that’s just the way we feel.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd has dealt with a lot of feelings the past three decades. The rockers took a 10-year break after a 1977 plane crash claimed the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines. Since then, five members have died.
While recording “God and Guns,” the group lost keyboardist Billy Powell, 56, and bassist Ean Evans, 48.
“It was kind of a healing process for us to finish the record for Billy and Ean and play as best we could,” Rossington said during a call from New York City last fall. “They were part of this album and played on some songs and were around when we were starting it, so we wanted to finish it not just for the fans but for them.”
Two songs on the disc, “Storm” and “Gifted Hands,” pay tribute to Evans and Powell, respectively.
“[Powell] was a roadie for us, believe it or not, and we got stuck at a show one night. It was a teen dance at a school, and we waited to load the equipment in the truck because it was raining real hard. So he just sat down at this piano that was in the gym where we played and said, ‘If I was to play ‘Free Bird,’ I’d play it like this,’ and he started playing all the beautiful stuff the way he had made it up; he was a classical piano player. So we fired him that night and hired him,” Rossington said.
Lynyrd Skynyrd — Rossington, lead singer Johnny Van Zant, guitarist Rickey Medlocke, guitarist Mark Matejka, bassist Robert Kearns, keyboardist Peter Keys and drummer Michael Cartellone — will play June 24 at DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, Mich., and July 8 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls. Both shows start at 7 p.m. and will feature Bret Michaels and .38 Special. Tickets range from $22 to $65.50.
Odds are fans will hear the new song, “Skynyrd Nation.”
“Every time we look out playing live shows, there are two or three generations out there — there’s older people and their kids and then some of their kids,” Rossington said. “It’s like a ‘Skynyrd Nation ’… You pull up and people are making hot dogs and throwing footballs and playing and having barbecue tailgate parties and then they come into the show.”
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, Lynyrd Skynyrd has sold 28 million records, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Saturday Night Special” and “Gimme Three Steps” are still staples on classic rock radio.

Well, the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen this week out of the Right Wing Wackos, or as William Safire once wrote for Spiro Agnew, the nattering nabobs of negativity, is the idea that soccer, and the World Cup, are some kind of leftist plot to destroy America.
As reported in Media Matters, the June 11 Glenn Beck Show regaled us with “I hate it so much, probably because the rest of the world likes it so much — and they riot over it, and they continue to try and jam it down our throat.” On G. Gordon Liddy’s June 10 show, Liddy claimed that soccer “… originated with the South American Indians and instead of a ball, they used to use a head, the decapitated head of a defeated warrior.”
The Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor, a guest on the show, added, “the problem here is that soccer is designed as a poor man’s and poor woman’s sport” and “the left is pushing it in schools across the country.” He later added that “the sport of soccer is being sold” as necessary “due to the browning of America.”
Mark Belling, the guest host on the June 11 Rush Limbaugh Show, said, “I haven’t talked about the World Cup. I haven’t talked about how they’re force feeding this down our throats.”
Now I ask you, is there anything left in the world that isn’t some kind of leftist, socialist plot to these idiots? How did these morons even get a venue to spew this crap? Is this really what passes for rational thought? Beck even compared the World Cup to Obama’s policies. Evidently, as long as they can get enough cretins to buy the manure they’re spreading, they will continue to flourish on the airwaves.
I personally have never been a huge fan of soccer. No one I knew played it when I went to school, either with soccer balls or warrior heads. I also didn’t see the point in watching a game where only some guy on the field knew how much official time was left in the game, and where the game could end abruptly in a tie after several hours and everyone left with no winner. None of my kids played soccer either. My grandkids however, do play soccer, and my son, with no soccer training whatsoever, coached an elementary school team for several years with great success using basketball and hockey strategies. I have yet to notice any socialist tendencies out of the four grandchildren who have played and/or are still playing soccer. Somehow, I think the world, or at least the narrow minded world that we seem to be regressing into in this country, is still safe for democracy. I also have yet to see any third-grade riots, although I have witnessed several peeved parents from time to time, over some call that a high school-aged or even middle-aged referee made or didn’t make. (Disclaimer: I’ve even been slightly peeved from time to time myself). Having said that, I’ve also seen the same and felt the same at any sporting event I’ve ever attended, including that great American pastime, baseball. My personal opinion is that this right wing rage stems from the fact that the rest of the world calls soccer football, and we Americans know what real football is!
The real point is, this country has devolved into this idiotic frame of mind where we feel the need to show our patriotism and superiority by the most inane means possible. Do you remember when we had actual votes to change calling french fries in the Congressional dining room to “freedom fries?” There are hundreds of equally dumb examples that could fill the pages of this paper, but my fingers would be worn down to stubs typing them all. Are these really the examples the world should look at to see that we are the greatest country on Earth?
Telling the rest of the world how stupid they are and using the arguments that are proliferating the media today doesn’t seem to me to be a winning strategy. In fact, it doesn’t seem to be a strategy at all.
Maybe it’s time to start leading by example again, instead of by criticizing everything anyone does and everybody who does anything at all. The problems we face require real solutions, not constant criticism. One thing I’ve become aware of during the years is that just when I think I’ve seen or heard the dumbest thing ever, there’s sure to be someone along directly to top it. To me, that’s a pretty sad state of affairs.

E-mail columnist Don Burnard at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Mark belongs to a local church that has been in the process of a building expansion over the last few years. The congregation had outgrown the facility and there was a great need for more room. Especially for the youth of the church who are considered the future of what we would like to accomplish as a group. The goal is to provide a place for individuals and families to hear and experience the gospel, to grow in their faith and to let others know what is going on and invite them to join us.

All of us on the church email list recently received an email from the pastor talking about “paying it forward.” The email talked about the temptation for all of us to ask the question “what’s in it for me?” I can imagine this question may be on the minds of many of the older folks in the congregation as they are asked to sacrifice both with their time and their finances. If they have already “served their time” and “paid their dues,” why should they continue to sacrifice when they themselves may not be around a long time to reap and enjoy the benefits?

The email included a poem that we will not reprint, but here is the gist of it. An old man was spending his time building a bridge when a traveler asked him why he was wasting his time and labor when his journey would end soon and he would probably never pass that way again. The old man replied that following after him there would be youth that would need the bridge to cross over the chasm. He was building the bridge for them. Obviously the old man felt strongly enough about the cause to spend much of his remaining time building something for somebody else. He knew how important it would be to provide a place for future travelers to cross.

At the church the same thing is happening. Older folks that are generously giving of their time and money are building a bridge for the generations to come. They are building something that has the potential to have an enduring influence in our local community and our world. What a great way to be! What a great thing to do to “pay forward” something that will make a significant difference in people’s lives. The other great thing is that the older people that are choosing to pay it forward are excited about how they are spending their time. They are engaged in something that they are passionate about and feel part of something bigger than themselves. How exhilarating that can feel.

What about you? What are you passionate about? There may be causes that get you excited and it is a great idea to get involved in furthering whatever it is. You will feel much happier and fulfilled if this is how you choose to spend your time, even if your time is short.

A cause that we can all be passionate about is furthering the success and quality of life of our family members. A few weeks ago The Retirement Guys wrote a column talking about how you can enjoy the rest of your life by spending all of your money, and at the same time leaving a huge legacy to your family too. The old man by building a bridge in the story was leaving a lasting legacy to those that would come after him. You can do the same thing. How can you do this, you ask? There are many strategies and ideas that we can come up with in a good estate plan, but let us share one with you to get you thinking.

Many of our clients get to retirement and have saved all their lives by putting money into a retirement account. Ironically, if they have been successful and have a nice retirement income, in many cases the retirement account is not needed to produce any more income. The intent many times is to not touch the retirement account and leave it to the kids. The sad thing is that the account may be worth about a third less than its value because of taxes. One of the big reasons it is left alone is the taxable nature of any withdrawals. In these situations we consider what we call the “Detaxification Plan.” Since income taxes are a huge problem with retirement accounts, this strategy is to move money from the taxable retirement account and deposit the after tax balance into a life insurance policy to create a potentially bigger legacy that can be income tax free! If family, church, or charity is a cause you feel passionate about, check into this idea and “pay it forward.” Create something that will affect generations to come.

Securities are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC.  The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. Their office is located at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537. Email The Retirement Guys at letters@ToledoFreePress.com. letters@ToledoFreePress.com or by phone at 419-842-0550. Neither the information presented nor any opinions expressed in this article constitute a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Always consult with an Accountant before making any tax decisions.

Many today argue that after the market’s peak in 2007 and subsequent decline, investors have another eight to 12 years of bear market to look forward to before the correction is done. Our view is substantially more optimistic.
Looking at stocks during the past 15 years, one will notice that neither the Dow Jones Industrial, nor the S&P 500 (a much better sample) have gone anywhere in more than a decade, since 1998. In fact, an investor who bought either of these indices at that time would actually have losses — significant losses — in real terms (when inflation is considered).
This brings us to the startling realization that stocks have not been in a bear market since 2007, as many would believe, but since 1998. In other words, we are likely much, much closer to the end of this bear market than most believe.
Though we frequently cite his administration for political comparison, the current state of financial markets is not unlike the 1970s under Jimmy Carter. The market actually made a peak in 1966 under Nixon, and despite making a marginal high under Ford around ’73, the market didn’t really go anywhere until 1982, right after Carter left office.
What this amounted to was essentially a lost decade for stocks, much like the one we have just emerged from. In 2000 the stocks set new highs, after which the market basically trended sideways until setting a new all-time high, though marginally, in 2007.
Thanks in part to changes in technology that permit information to be disseminated more quickly; the market has accomplished in 10 years what previously took 14: The market has undergone a prolonged and substantial correction in stock prices, in real terms, and is now poised to resume the trend of a long-term bull.
For our outlook we look once again to the past: After the bull market closed with the Carter years, Reagan took office and oversaw drastic policy changes that ushered in a new era of prosperity for companies and escalating stock prices that lasted for approximately 20 years.
The same shift is, in our opinion, developing in the market, and will likely take place at the end of Obama’s first (and probably only) term. Lately the economy has begun showing signs of life, from housing inventory dropping to manufacturing beginning to shift to the U.S., to the financial crisis abating.
Please don’t misunderstand, investors can’t simply throw caution to the wind and begin buying indiscriminately. There is still a possibility that we are in store for a slight double dip, although more so in stock prices — it has already started — than in the economy. However, this is mostly because the economy has shown improvement, but not nearly enough to justify the stock market’s recent high prices.
Nevertheless, we maintain that this correction is likely the start of a shakeout that will cause many investors to shift to traditionally “safer” investments (Treasury bonds and the like). These investors will certainly grow to regret their impatience, as we’ve written before. With bond yields at long-term lows, bondholders are going to take major losses when interest rates start creeping back up. Once the shakeout in equities draws to a close, which will happen much sooner than most probably think, look out for the bull coming through!

Dock David Treece is a stockbroker licensed with FINRA.

At first glance, it looked like Robert Brundage was just at the meeting for the food. The community activist was known to eat his share and then tuck extra into his handkerchief for later.
But for those who knew him, eating was just part of the agenda.
Warren Woodberry said people hesitated when they first met his friend because of his scruffy appearance. It wasn’t until he started talking that they realized his knowledge was larger than his stomach.
“If you needed to know something about the environment, diversity, city history, you would seek him out,” Woodberry said. “He was a walking encyclopedia.”
As the one-year anniversary of his attack and death approaches, Woodberry is leading the effort to honor Brundage with an event that will capture his best qualities.
The 66-year-old Toledoan promoted getting along with others, taking care of the environment and treating people fairly.
The Robert Brundage Celebration of Life event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 7 at Toledo Botanical Gardens. The day will include free music and poetry readings.
“It is going to be a respectful event to honor the epitome of a real community-oriented person. He belonged to many groups and he was very socially conscious,” said Woodberry, chairman of the community relations committee for the Toledo Board of Community Relations, the event’s facilitator.
Woodberry said Brundage never would have wanted his death — at the hands of a 15-year-old stealing the bicycle he rode everywhere — to divide the community. Dailahntae Jemison was sentenced to five years at the Ohio Department of Youth Services for the homicide.
“This will be like a healing,” Woodberry said. “We want to stay away from any reference to his death or the circumstances.”

Warren Woodberry

The list of Brundage’s activities is enormous, but includes Erase the Hate, Collingwood Arts Center, Toledo Poetry Foundation, Seed Swap  Botanical Garden  and Scott Alumni Association.
The Aug. 7 event, which could become annual, will also honor any volunteer who attends the event.
Among those slated to perform are musicians Rachel Richardson and Dan Greunke. The poets will include members of the Mad Poets Society, as well as Mike Kocinski. Ben Langlois of Old West End Records will donate his time and equipment to run the sound for the event.
A section of Toledo Botanical Gardens will also be dedicated to tai chi demonstrations, yoga and massages.
“The theme of the day will be healing,” said Donna Cohen, co-owner of the Happy Badger in Bowling Green. “Everything is going to be free, so there isn’t going to be anyone vending or promoting things. Everything Robert did, he volunteered, so in his spirit, everyone will donate their time.”
Cohen said it seemed like Brundage was at every event or meeting she attended.
“He was always donating his knowledge. He served our community in the most selfless fashion. He showed people what goodness is about,” she said.
David Brundage, of Fairfax County, Va., knew his brother was involved in the community, but did not realize the extent until a candlelight vigil was hosted after his June 22 attack. He died July 7 from his head injury.
“He didn’t talk about the variety of groups,” his brother said. “He would talk about this activity or that activity — we never added up the list.”
The Brundages grew up in a civic-minded family. They moved from St. Cloud, Minn., to Toledo shortly after World War II.
David said his mother was one of the early neighborhood activists, which rubbed off on his brother.
Growing up, they lived in a mostly white neighborhood until “block busting” began to occur, he said. This involved selling a home to a black family and then convincing the white neighbors they needed to move out.
“Mother was furious and said, ‘We are never going to sell that way,” David said.
All five of the boys played an instrument with Robert Brundage choosing the cello. He would go on to record and edit performances for Harvard University, MIT, New England Conservatory and others.
“We all liked to do little projects — lots of car and airplane models around the house,” David said. “We certainly read books all the time because our father was professor of chemistry at Toledo and then music took over because of our mother.”
The boys had no television growing up, instead playing chess, cards and board games.
Brundage graduated from UT with an engineering degree, and later earned a Ph.D. in biophysics from Brandeis University in Boston. For many years, he lived on the East Coast, designing medical instruments and working as a researcher.
Brundage returned to Toledo in the mid-1990s to care for his dad; it was then he began to reconnect with friends. By this time, he was divorced and had two sons. His life began to take a new direction.
“He said he was having the time of his life in Toledo,” David said. “We were shocked that for somebody like himself who was seen on the streets on a regular basis that something like that would happen, especially when he appeared not to have much money at all.”
Karen Krause, social justice chairman of the Toledo Area Jobs with Justice Coalition, said Brundage was attacked after their meeting June 22.
“It was less than one block from the meeting. He was going to distribute fliers for an upcoming event,” she said.
Before she gathered her papers from the meeting, several members observed the attack and rushed back to get her help because she was a nurse.
“It was truly a day to remember that I would have liked to forget,” she said.
Krause said members of the organization will participate in the Aug. 7 event, and as a group it will donate to a scholarship in Brundage’s name. Recently, the Robert Brundage/Scott Alumni Association Scholarship was established through the Toledo Public Schools Foundation.
Dick Eppstein, president of the Better Business Bureau of Northwestern Ohio and Southeastern Michigan, said the Brundages were a fixture at Scott High School. He worked with Robert Brundage on saving their alma mater Scott High School.
“He was a very valuable guy. I attended many meetings where he was there and if we disagreed — he was the one we turned to,” Eppstein said.
Because Brundage attended so many meetings, he could clear up rumors, he said.
Eppstein and Brundage agreed that Scott High School needed to revamp its curriculum.
“We believe that there has been far, far too little priority paid to the curriculum and quality of curriculum in that school,” he said. “Robert and the rest of us were very concerned about kids.”
Woodberry said Brundage would have helped plan the Aug. 7 event because it is important to honor local people who are making a difference. The Toledo Board of Community Relations has never honored anyone other than a national figure like Martin Luther King Jr.
“He would be right there at the buffet table and have lots of ideas,” Woodberry said. “He would be telling us how to make this event better.”

Scholarship established
Robert Brundage/Scott Alumni Association Scholarship has been established with the Toledo Public Schools Foundation. Checks should be made payable to:  Toledo Public Schools Foundation, 420 E. Manhattan Blvd., Room 107, Toledo, OH  43608; Attn:  Susan K. Zurawski. The notation on the check should read:  For the Robert Brundage/Scott Alumni Association Scholarship.

Celebration of Life
The Robert Brundage Celebration of Life event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 7 at Toledo Botanical Gardens. The day will include free music and poetry readings.

The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority dedicated two new mobile harbor cranes and unloaded five additional cranes recently that are headed for the new Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal being developed by CSX Corporation in North Baltimore.
“It’s a historic occasion for the port authority and Northwest Ohio dedicating two new cranes and unloading five cranes for CSX,” said Paul Toth, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.
The mobile harbor cranes will modernize material handling capabilities at the Port of Toledo by using them to handle bulk, project cargo and large containers. The new cranes are twice as productive as the port’s older cranes and more fuel efficient using 25 percent of the fuel to operate the existing ones.
The cranes are the only twin cranes of this type in operation at any Great Lakes port in the U.S., according to port authority officials. They will replace Big Lucas and Little Lucas, the cranes operating at the Port of Toledo.
Each crane stands more than 140 feet and weighs more than 240 tons with maximum capacity of 84 tons per swing. They have the capability of making 20 to 25 container lifts and 30 to 35 swings per hour, according to Joe Cappel, director of cargo development for the port authority.
“There is no container shipping on the Great Lakes but these cranes put Toledo in a good position to handle container trade through eastern Canadian ports. They will handle the existing bulk business at the Port of Toledo until container trade is established,” Cappel said.
The two cranes were assembled at the port by the manufacturer Liebherr of Austria and are expected to be in service by the end of June, Cappel said. The cranes were shipped by ocean freighter from Germany and arrived at the Port of Toledo May 17.
The funding for the $6.5 million purchase of the cranes was provided by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“It’s all about multi-modal transportation that puts this part of the state on the global map,” said David Dysard, deputy director of ODOT District 2.
The cranes are named Muddy and Spike after the mascots of the Toledo Mud Hens and Walleye teams. The winning names were submitted by Madison Phillips, an eighth grade student of Toledo, in the “Name the Cranes” contest for area students.
The additional five wide-span cranes are bound for the Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal under construction by CSX in North Baltimore. The cranes were made by Hans Künz GmbH in Austria, shipped by ocean vessel and arrived at the Port of Toledo this week.
The 70 containers holding the equipment for the cranes were unloaded at Midwest Terminals onto rail cars that will transport them to the CSX site.
“These cranes represent a major part of the revolution in freight transportation taking place in this region. Once installed, the cranes will reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of our operations throughout the Midwest,” said Peter Craig, terminal superintendent of the new facility for CSX.
The Northwest Ohio Terminal will employ more than 200 people when it becomes operational in 2011 with an additional 400 jobs during the construction of it. About 2,600 direct and indirect jobs will be created over the next 10 years as a result of the facility, Craig said.