The Toledo Zoo faces uncertainty and potential cuts after the Wood County commissioners unanimously rejected its request to place a levy on the ballot.

Dr. Anne Baker, CEO and Executive Director of the Toledo Zoo, presented the zoo’s case to the commissioners during a public meeting on June 21. According to Baker, the zoo has already cut full-time equivalent positions and cut expenditures everywhere they can. The zoo froze salaries last year but provided a 1.5 percent increase this year.

“We will not close the zoo; it will not be the zoo you know today,” Baker said.

“We are down to the point where we will begin eliminating positions. We will have to cut back on what we do. Will that have an impact on Wood County? Yes. We work with businesses in Wood County. If we don’t use their services, they don’t get the money. Can we cut back? Yes. Have we, and will we cut back further? Yes. Will Wood County businesses and citizens feel that impact? Yes.”

After receiving $1.2 million less than expected from Lucas County due to declining property values, the zoo requested a 0.85-mill levy in Wood County which would have generated an estimated $2.44 million. The proposed levy would cost owners $26 per year for every $100,000 of property owned.

“I thought it was very interesting there was no effort to evaluate business solutions, but the immediate response by the board and management was to seek out more tax dollars,” said David McClough, Bowling Green resident and assistant professor of economics at Ohio Northern University. “If the zoo was economically viable in the first place, it wouldn’t need to be subsidized by tax payers.”

The zoo would have provided the same perks to Wood County that Lucas County already receives. This includes free admission one weekday each week, free admission to schools for field trips and free outreach programs for schools, libraries and other facilities.

“We’re very disappointed,” Baker said. “We continue to believe that we are a regional facility with great benefits to the region. The board is going to have to put its head together and see where we go from here.”

Baker said the zoo came to Wood County because they had the second-highest attendance with 53 percent of residents visiting. Lucas County is first with 66 percent. However, the data is skewed because it is based on visitors providing their zip code when entering the zoo. Anyone who visited multiple times was counted multiple times toward the percentage.

“It’s very difficult to be supportive of the zoo when you don’t feel they’ve made any effort to come up with viable business solutions,” McClough said. “People sensed the zoo was taking the easy way out and trying to get something for nothing. As a zoo member who really values the zoo, I found that part most disturbing. It makes me question the long-term viability of the zoo under the current leadership.”

Baker said Wood County was just the first step and the zoo plans to request a levy in both Fulton and Ottawa County in the coming years.

“We felt that given our intent is to expand this and make it a regional effort, the appropriate thing to do is ask for the same level of support throughout the region and offer the same benefits,” Baker said. “That way everyone is treated fairly and equally.”

The 0.85-mill operating Levy in Lucas County expires at the end of the year. The zoo is requesting a renewal which would provide an estimated $6.4 million per year for the next five years.

“The trouble facing the zoo is economic, and the solution being proposed is political,” McClough said. “When people go to the zoo, they vote for the zoo when they pay for it. I vote for the zoo when I increase my membership. I vote for the zoo when I buy things there that are overpriced and not worth it. The marketplace helps us identify what we value or what we don’t value. The problem with the political marketplace is you have a majority rules system where a majority can impose something unwanted on a minority.”

Baker argued during the June 21 meeting in favor of keeping admission rates the same at the zoo. However, that afternoon the zoo presented a packet to Lucas County’s Citizen Levy Review committee outlining plans to increase admission rates. The plan will raise admission next year by $1 for Lucas County residents and $3 for residents of outside counties. It will also increase membership rates by $2 for Lucas County residents and $8 for residents of outside counties.

Perrysburg resident Jean Scech is willing to pay the increased rates.

“I’m a senior citizen on a fixed income,” Scech said. “I don’t appreciate any more taxes. I also have been a zoo member for over 25 years. If my membership has to be raised, fine.”

A volunteer group of Lucas County citizens formed in fall 2010 presented a review of Lucas County on Thursday.

“The Committee reached this major conclusion: Lucas County needs a single unifying leader,” the report stated.

Olivia Summons, co-chair for the project’s advisory panel, said major problems in the county prompted the review.

“The tax base around here is eroding, housing sales are not good, every study that’s going on around the country by various institutes always has Toledo in the lowest category, and we wanted to see if by changing the form of government we could reduce some of the inefficiencies …” she said. “It’s all about delivering good services to the citizens of lucas county but continuing to reduce costs.”

The report made recommendations for restructuring the county government in order to improve the county’s economic atmosphere and future. The highlights were:

• “Change Lucas County government to a Charter form of government, which requires a vote by the citizens.”
• “With the passage of a Charter: Voters would elect a County Executive – a single, accountable leader responsible for not only overseeing county operations, but also a visionary individual with the ability to lead and bring divergent groups together.”
• “Voters would elect a nine member County Council comprised of six district and three at large members with legislative responsibility and serving as a check- and-balance to the Executive.”
• “The County Council would establish an Internal Audit Office responsible for auditing operational and financial performance.”
• “The Offices of Auditor, Treasurer and Recorder would be consolidated into one department headed by a Chief Fiscal Officer (CFO) appointed by the Executive.”
• “The County and Sanitary Engineers would be combined with one engineer appointed by the Executive.”
• “The Executive would appoint a Sheriff and a Medical Examiner.”
• “The Clerk of Courts would be appointed by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas with responsibilities divided between the CFO and the Court.”
• “The Prosecutor would remain an elected position.”

The report also included a proposed charter for the county, which the group hopes to put on the ballot in 2012. Summons said a ballot initiative and petition drive — with 14,000 signatures needed — would have to take place next year.

Erek “EcoErek” Hansen has kept 5,838 pairs of jeans out of landfills, helped insulate more than 11 homes rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and helped set a Guinness World Record.
EcoErek is 10 years old.
He said he started recycling in 2009 due to a contest in the National Geographic Kids magazine, which called for pairs of jeans to recycle with the “Cotton. From Blue to Green” organization. The group shreds donated jeans, which become insulation for homes built by Habitat for Humanity across the United States.
EcoErek and his mother, Amy Hansen, hosted a denim drive in their driveway, where they collected about 1,000 pairs of jeans. Combined with a local alternative energy company’s donation of 600 jeans, he shipped 1,684 pairs of jeans to National Geographic.
As the largest donor to the project, EcoErek received a ticket to the Guinness World Records Ceremony in Washington, D.C. At the ceremony, National Geographic Kids magazine was listed as the “Largest Collection of Clothing to Recycle” for 33,088 pairs of jeans.
Amy said after the drive, her son wanted to continue collecting for the organization.
“I think it’s fantastic that your son or daughter can come to you with an idea, something they’re passionate about,” she said. “We always told him he could make a difference.”
Amy reached the organization and made a drive schedule with her son. With five denim drives in three months and several dropbox locations, EcoErek collected 4,154 pairs of jeans — and his nickname — in 2010.

EcoErek

The jeans, which weighed about 9,100 pounds, created enough insulation for eight homes.
“I think that as we get more people who hear about the program, we get more of a response,” Amy said.
This year, EcoErek included shoes in his drive to donate to USAgain, a for-profit organization that collects used clothes and resells them.
Amy said USAgain will pay EcoErek 2 cents per pair of shoes collected. He said he was not sure what charity to donate the money to.
EcoErek set a goal of 5,000 pairs of jeans collected this year. There was no goal for the shoes. With his drives completed — the last was June 11 — he sits on 2,262 pairs of jeans and 1,585 pairs of shoes. Dropboxes in Perrysburg and Oregon will collect jeans and shoes until August.
“The drive has just had a phenomenal response,” Amy said. “I’m not worried about reaching the goal. We were at this place last year with this number of jeans collected, too.”
With more than 2,000 pairs of jeans, EcoErek could provide enough insulation for four homes.
“I’m glad we got four houses worth,” he said. “And we still have the rest of the summer.”
For the rest of the season, EcoErek and Amy will collect items from dropboxes and fetch donations from anyone unable to get to a box who contacts them. The two will visit garage sales at the end of June to drop off cards and offer a place for unwanted jeans.
In August, Amy and EcoErek, who is “kinda known as the jean guy now,” Amy said, will gather the jeans and shoes for a final total before shipping them to the respective organizations.
Until totaling time, the jeans and shoes will be stored in warehouse space provided by First Solar.
The local company has collaborated with EcoErek since 2009. EcoErek and Amy gather the collection goods and haul them to storage. They also put the jeans and shoes into the 4-foot-square shipping containers. First Solar provides the shipping for the jeans.
“We’re taken up about as much space storing the shoes as we have the jeans,” Amy said.
The shoes are about the same volume as the jeans once they’re collected in the bags Amy and EcoErek use to store them until August.
Next year, EcoErek said he will continue the jean collection as long as he is passionate about recycling.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s really fun, and I love keeping the jeans out of the landfill and saving the planet.”

EcoErek’s dropboxes

• Future Wave salon, 3324 Navarre Ave., Oregon. Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Dr. Stephen Branam’s dentist office, 3140 Dustin Road, Oregon. Monday through Thursday 7:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
• Once Upon a Child, 194 E. South Boundary St., Perrysburg. Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

Pauline Kotecki, age 85, of Toledo, passed away on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio. Pauline was born in Toledo June 20, 1926 to George and Bessie Rzadecki. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 61 years Ray Kotecki and brothers Peter, Ray, Mike and Joe.

Pauline was a 1945 graduate of Woodward High School and she was a member of St. Pius X Church for 55 years. She was blessed with a beautiful voice with which she serenaded departing troops during World War II. Pauline enjoyed listening to music, gardening, flowers and creating ceramic masterpieces. She loved birds and dogs, especially her beloved Chihuahua, Rosie. Her first priority was always her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchild and she cherished her time spent with them.
Pauline will be dearly missed by her daughters Beverly (Joe) Rideout and Mary Ann Stearns, grandchildren Ellyn, Brian (Blaire) and Christy Rideout, Jill, David and Michael Stearns, Kelly (Nick) Cook and great-granddaughter, Olivia Cook.
The family wishes to extend thanks to special friend and caregiver Lynne Fatzinger, who never failed to bring a smile to Pauline’s face.
Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Sunday, June 26 at Ansberg-West Funeral Home, 3000 Sylvania Ave. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Pius X Church, 2950 Ilger Ave.
Memorial contributions in Pauline’s memory may be made to the Toledo Area Humane Society or St. Pius X Church.

Toledo’s Jim Walrod, the national account team leader for The Image Group, has been honored by a national publication.

Jim Walrod

Walrod was recently among one of Promotional Products Business Magazine’s “12 Rising Stars,” including candidates from across the country. Those chosen were selected for “embodying the characteristics of talent, ambition, persistence, leadership, originality and an optimistic sense for what’s yet to come.”
“Obviously it’s always good to be recognized within your professional industry,” Walrod said. “Everyone likes to be recognized. Especially having a rising star award just shows that what I’m doing today is on the right path of being successful in the future. It means a lot.”
Walrod graduated from Siena Heights University in Adrian. He joined The Image Group in 2005, a “team of marketing and branding wizards committed to getting organizations seen and remembered,” where he has been honored by the company as one of the top salesman.
He also serves on the boards of the United Way of Greater Toledo and Leadership Toledo and is the vice chairman of operations for the 2011 U.S. Senior Open.
“Jim is committed to being the best at whatever he does,” The Image Group President Jon Levine said.  “Whether he is developing business for our company or volunteering his leadership skills in the community, he’s going to give it his all.”
PBB Magazine is a national journal of the Promotional Products Association International. It chooses candidates with an in-house panel on the basis of “strong initiative, high energy, creativity and community commitment.”

Dear Lauri,
I keep having this frightful nightmare of me trying to close a door in which someone or something keeps pushing from the other side. In my dream I feel that on the other side is a spirit or ghost that’s pushing through. Freaky! These types of dreams happen at least once a week for at least the last year. Please help. – Candy 31, Eagle River, WI

Lauri: The ghost/spirit is most likely something that is currently haunting you, something from your past (distant or recent) that is lingering in your psyche and bothering you. You’ve got a time frame: a year. What would you say has been bothering you or causing you upset the most for the past year? The pushing you are feeling in the dream may also be something. Are you feeling pushed around by someone or is there a lot of pressure, at say work, that is really getting to you? If so, your dream seems to be showing you that you are unable to “close the door on work” once you get home. These dreams will keep happening until you find a way to leave work… at work.

Candy replies: THAT’S IT! I am so not able to “close the door on work” & a ton of pressure. It’s a constant battle! I haven’t found the perfect outlet to this issue. A couple things I’ve tried have helped a little, but obviously not enough. What a break through! Now if I could just figure out how to take my mind off things better, I’d get back to my Johnny Depp dreams.

Fascinating Dream Fact: Peanut butter is a big nightmare giver!! Do not eat peanut butter within 2 hours of bedtime or your dreams may not be so sweet.

Lauri Quinn Loewenberg is a certified Dream Analyst, author of “Dream On It” and member of The International Association for the Study of Dreams. She joins The Kiss Morning Show on 92.5 every Tuesday morning at 7:10 analyzing listeners’ dreams. You can visit Lauri at www.thedreamzone.com

Michael Hackney loves to create.
“My poetry means everything to me. I’m always thinking about my art,” he said.
The 42-year-old local poet will speak on the link between bipolarity and art from 6-8 p.m., July 5 at Toledo’s Locke Branch Library. Hackney, who has bipolar disorder, will follow the talk with an exercise in free-writing poetry.

Michael Hackney

Hackney said he will focus on the work of three “confessional” poets who struggled with mental disorders — John Berryman, Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell.
He will also speak on his personal journey with bipolar disorder, which he said is linked to his creativity.
“Those of us with bipolar have experiences to talk about that normal people do not,” he said. “For instance, much of my subject matter deals with being in hospitals … or being on a manic high when you feel like you’re invincible.”
Hackney lacked direction in life until a Northview High School teacher introduced him to the works of a pioneer of American art.
“I fell in love with Edgar Allan Poe when I was a kid,” Hackney said. “I wanted to be just like him.”
He studied creative writing at Bowling Green State University and earned his master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Toledo in 2007.
He began writing poetry at BGSU, attracted by its freedom and spontaneity. Two books of his poetry have been published, “Learning to Write” in 2003 and “Mid-Western Shoes” in 2007.
Hackney is working on a new collection of poems about all the girlfriends and lovers who have come into his life.
He is also looking for an agent for his first novel, which he finished in January. “Abby Normal” is a love story about eight poets living in upstate New York during the 1980s, incorporating Hackney’s poetry into the plot.
Excerpt from ‘Abby Normal’
by Michael Hackney:
“Just outside the doors of the public library, a handful of people are hovering about a standing ashtray; smoking and talking in hushed voices.  A young boy in navy blue sweat pants checks his watch and smiles as Abby hurriedly approaches, flipping her sunglasses up into her shining auburn hair. Her eyes adjust quickly to the shimmering light. Everything around is lush and green and blooming, due to the perfect balance of sunlight and rain.
Tiny, helicopter-shaped seeds are blowing into Abby’s bag as she reaches for a handful of pocket folders and a splotched and tattered notebook. Poetry is not a science, she thinks to herself: Poetry is made up of descriptive words charged with emotion. Free verse is a liberating and satisfying aesthetic, provided the stanzas are concise, uniform, consistent or strong, and not overly flowery. T.S. Eliot is superior to Whitman, but this should go without saying, Abby concludes. Anyone with a brain can see the obvious distinction.”

Old Orchard has a rich history and a bright future filled with creative energy, which will soon have another example on display for all to see. The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo (ACGT) is putting out a call for qualifications from artists of all mediums for the Old Orchard Public Art Project.
The project is being funded by the city’s One Percent for Art program and administered by ACGT through its Art in Public Places Program. The commission is open to artists in the following counties in Ohio, Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot and Lenawee and Monroe in Michigan.
All artists must be 18 years of age or older. The overall budget for the project is $20,000. The artwork should consider the history of Old Orchard, its natural setting, unique architectural characteristics and the proximity to the University of Toledo.
“We chose the Old Orchard area because it was the only council district didn’t have any pieces created through the One Percent for Art program. That gave us a focus. The call is pretty open ended, but the public nature of the project does lend itself better to certain mediums that are more durable. That said, we don’t want to exclude anyone. We’re primarily looking for a single artist, but are also open to groups who can work well together to best represent the community,” said Dan Hernandez, coordinator of art in public places for ACGT.
Interested artists must submit a letter of interest, resume, 10-15 digital images, image list and three professional references. They may also include a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of all materials, if requested and a statement of intent.
Submissions will be judged by members of a design review board. Qualifications must be postmarked no later than August 26, 2011. Finalists will be asked to submit a proposal and will be notified of their status no later than Sept. 30.
“By asking for qualifications from artists we are able to get a very clear idea of what it is they do and an insight into their creative vision. We try to be opened-minded as far as what we’re looking for because most of the time what the artist comes up with will be better than anything we could have ever envisioned.”
The selected piece will be installed at the first median/planter along Kenwood Boulevard as it intersects Secor Road.
For more information, call (419) 254-2787 or visit www.acgt.org.

Due to a partnership with Toledo 76, The Andersons has become the exclusive supplier of E85 ethanol fuel at a PS Food Mart Sunoco station in Maumee.
“It was important to us to be able to offer an E85 option to customers in this area who own Flex Fuel vehicles,” Vice-President of Operations for Toledo 76 Ed Heath said. “We are very pleased to be able to partner with Maumee-based The Andersons as the exclusive supplier.”
The station located on the corner of Ford Street and Illinois Avenue will now have two fueling positions for Flex Fuel vehicles to use the E85 fuel. Flex Fuel vehicles run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol.
“This was a big deal for owners of Flex Fuel vehicles in this area,” The Andersons Ethanol Marketing Manager John DiMartini said. “This is the only station in Maumee that offers an E85 option which has been as much as $1 per gallon cheaper than regular gasoline in recent months.”
The Anderson blends the E85 in its ethanol facilities located in Indiana and Michigan.

After playing every male character in “Spring Awakening” on Broadway, Lucas Wells is taking it easy playing only the lead role in the Croswell Opera House’s production of “Hairspray.”
“I jumped at the opportunity,” Wells said. “I love this show, and I wanted to come home and see my family. I wanted to do a musical again, too. I hadn’t done one for a couple of months.”
Wells, a Lambertville native, was not involved in theater while growing up. After playing in “The King and I” in the first grade, he didn’t perform until his sophomore year at Bedford High School. He dropped basketball to be in “Les Miserables.” He played the leads in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Footloose.”
“In my senior year, I realized this is what I want to do for a living,” Wells said. “I didn’t do a whole lot of it growing up. I was in choirs. I learned how to sing that way and by listening to ‘N Sync.”

The cast of "Hairspray."

He saw “Spring Awakening” during Christmas break of his freshmen year at Sienna Heights University.
“It was the first Broadway show I ever saw,” Wells said. “I was sitting there thinking, ‘I can do this, too. I could be in this show’.”
Wells and his roommate recorded an audition video in the girls’ bathroom in the performing arts center because of its good acoustics. After receiving dialogue and music from the show and sending in another video, he was flown to New York City for a series of seven auditions in four days.
“It was pretty crazy,” Wells said. “[Composer] Duncan Sheik was there. He is one of my idols. It was very intimidating, but it was also one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
Sheik must have liked what he saw, because Wells was cast as the understudy for every male role, a first in the history of Broadway.
“It was crazy when they told me that’s what I’d be doing,” he said. “I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ I knew I could do it though. There was a bit of me in every one of those characters, so it wasn’t a stretch for me. Sometimes I felt a little schizophrenic. There was a time when I played all six roles in a matter of a week and a half. It was pretty crazy.”
The “Spring Awakening” tour ran from August 2008 until May 2010. Since then, Wells starred in “The Who’s Tommy” and performed in four Tennessee Williams plays. He also did a workshop for “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” He is going to England this summer to continue working on the musical and hopes to be cast when it hits Broadway this fall.
The transition from Michigan to New York has been smooth for Wells.
“I feel like I was born for it,” he said. “It’s really high paced, and I’m kind of a high-paced person. It’s non-stop auditioning. You always get more no’s then yeses, so you have to have thick skin. You never know what your next job is. It’s a little scary, but I like that.”
Wells is also pursuing a career as an author with two plays in the works. The first is based on serial killer Dennis Rader and the devastation his children face after discovering his lifestyle. The other play is slightly more lighthearted.
“It’s based off the funny stories of my family,” Wells said. “I come from a huge family, so I felt I had to write something about them. I’m the seventh of nine children with six boys and three girls. We’re all very close.”
He plans to hold workshops for the plays in the fall of 2012, possibly at the Croswell. Wells also plans to write a musical with close friend and musician Sam DeArmond.
Before tackling any of those projects, Wells has another week ahead as teenage heartthrob Link Larkin in “Hairspray.”
“Link has been a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s not what I’m used to, because it’s a funny role. I’m not used to this lighthearted comedy. I usually do more serious acting. I’ve really enjoyed this. It’s a role I’ve wanted to play for a long time because it’s a cool singing role for a tenor.”
Bridget Harrington, a junior at the University of Toledo, stars opposite Wells as his love interest Tracy Turnblad.
“He’s easy to play off of with all he gives to the stage,” Harrington said. “I feel really good about the connection we have.”
“Hairspray” plays at 8 p.m. on June 24-25 and at 3 p.m. on June 26. Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and students and $15 for anyone younger than 12. Visit Croswell.org for more information.