An attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) in Toledo is conducting a Microenterprise Legal Assistance Project to provide free legal services to local entrepreneurs who can’t afford an attorney.
“The project aims to help people achieve greater economic stability with their own resources. We fill in the missing pieces by providing legal counsel,” said Anneliese Gryta, an attorney with ABLE, who developed and now leads the project.
Gryta said it is the only program of its type in Ohio. It is funded by special grants from the Stranahan Foundation of Toledo, Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation and Equal Justice Works, a national organization that funds innovative legal services projects across the country.
Gryta said ABLE is working in partnership with the Griffin-Hammis Microenterprise Demonstration Project of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (ORSC). It provides business technical assistance to disabled individuals who wish to pursue self-employment.

Anneliese Gryta holds a chalice made by Tracy Perry who received legal services from her.

“I learned so much from this program. It’s just priceless information. I’m taking full advantage of the free services this area has to offer,” said Teresa Jo “Tracy” Perry, a local artist and entrepreneur.
Perry recently started her own business, Renditions by ResaJo, in Toledo to sell her art and custom designed jewelry. She needed legal help with contracts, copyrights, and other issues.
Perry was referred to the project by the ORSC after developing a disability from a back injury. She retired after working 20 years in the nursing profession due to mobility issues.
The ORSC told Perry it could help her find another job or go back to school. She decided to return to college and graduated with a fine arts degree from BGSU in 2009.
“I had always created, designed, decorated and made things. Now I’m feeding my family while feeding my creative soul. It doesn’t always work in business,” Perry said.
Perry went to a legal clinic on copyrights conducted by ABLE and said it was “an exceptional clinic.” She worked directly with Gryta through the microenterprise project on legal issues for her new business.
Perry submitted a selection of her work for the 93rd Annual Toledo Area Artists Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art in August. One item is a lotus cup chalice Perry made with an etching from DaVinci’s “Last Supper” that was inspired by the movie, “The DaVinci Code.”
ABLE receives referrals for the project from business assistance providers, including the Small Business Development Center at the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, Assets Toledo, United North and the Women’s Entrepreneurial Network.
Another client, LaVerne Greene Cunningham visited one of the legal clinics seeking advice on drafting an agreement for her services.
“I had a need for a good solid contract to use with clients and employers. With the contract, people take me more seriously,” Cunningham said.
She is a work force development professional who lost her job at The Source and decided to start her own firm, Connected 4 Biz, an employment coaching and placement agency.
Cunningham received pro bono advice that “you have to know when to walk away from some business” from Brad Hubbell, an attorney at Cooper & Walinski, who helped her.
Gryta said the project has helped clients such as a dog groomer with a liability release, a mural artist
on a commission agreement, small barbeque caterer on a contract
with a sports arena, trademark guidance for a graphic artist and other legal advice for a new cleaning company and a small grocer in a central city neighborhood.
“We want to be sure that everyone who needs legal help knows that we’re out there for them,” Gryta said. “One way we provide assistance to clients is through a series of legal clinics staffed by volunteer attorneys from local law firms.”
The law firms include Cooper & Walinski; Eastman & Smith, MacMillan, Sobianski & Todd; and Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick have helped staff the clinics. Members of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Toledo Bar Association under the leadership of Dave Purdue of Purdue Law Offices are present at the clinics.
The next legal clinic will be
Aug. 17, but applicants need to pre-register for it with Gryta at ABLE at agryta@ablelaw.org.
Gryta leads a steering committee that is working on a micro-loan fund to provide financing for small entrepreneurs who can’t get funding from traditional sources. With the support of local businesses and economic development agencies, they hope to offer loans to entrepreneurs in the legal assistance project.
Gryta grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., trained as a classic violinist and gave lessons as an entrepreneur. She experienced many of the same issues her clients now have, such as how to protect her music compositions.
Gryta graduated from the University of Akron’s School of Law in 2008 and began working with the Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellowship to help small businesses with legal aid and clinics.
She attended a national job fair in Washington, D.C., where she connected with ABLE in Toledo. She now works with other attorneys who perform pro bono work.
“I believe in the economic vitality of cities like Toledo and helping people to succeed here,” Gryta said.
For more information about the microenterprise project, visit the web-site microenterprise.ablelaw.org.

TO THE EDITOR,
I was wondering how long it would take before Steven Flagg would declare the TPS-TFT agreement to be a disaster, no matter what the settlement contained (“TPS Fact Finder report short on solutions,” July 17). I can only guess that it took a while to find some tactic to try to discredit the agreement. But Steve came through!
First of all, he attacks a fact-finder who has a long history of mediating and resolving these types of disputes. When did Mr. Flagg ever do something like that?
Secondly, what, precisely, are his credentials to comment about the negotiations process? Steve is dead wrong when he claims that, “Initial negotiating positions always seem to be established at polar extremes … ” This statement alone makes it crystal clear that Mr. Flagg lacks first-hand knowledge in these matters.
He also states, “TFT leadership was equally unrealistic in its efforts to maintain the status quo.” Where did that come from? TFT knew that concessions were necessary! Let him quote his source on that one! It was the TPS Board that voted 4-1 to hire an out-of-town attorney who had no long-term interest in Toledo or Toledo’s children, and who trumpeted his expertise in negotiating in “union-free environments.” The extreme positions were very one-sided in this bargaining session.
Mr. Flagg is obviously commenting in an area where he has little or no direct knowledge! What are his union-management negotiating experiences? There exists a collective bargaining method known as Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB for short), also called “Win-Win” bargaining. A few years ago, then TFT President Francine Lawrence proposed this to then-Superintendent John Foley.  Mr. Foley seemed interested, but never committed his team to the time needed to train properly to employ IBB in the TPS-TFT process.
The Berea School District and the Berea Federation of Teachers have used IBB for about 20 years, for example. I have negotiated both on the union side and the management side, and I have negotiated in the more traditional, confrontational style, as well as in IBB. Where is Mr. Flagg’s experience in these matters?
Mr. Flagg always emphasizes the negative. It’s almost as if he prefers that TPS remain in conflict! He ignores the fact that TPS has made great strides in “student outcomes.” Mr. Flagg never mentions TFT-sponsored successes like the elementary reading and math academies, which led to big jumps in test scores. He never mentions a successful, high poverty school like Birmingham, which jumped over categories all the way to the “Excellent” category in state ratings last year.
Mr. Flagg implies that TFT gave up too little. He never mentions that the amount TFT gave back is estimated at $44 million in savings! How much did he want? $60 million? $80 million? $100 million? And if one goal is to attract and keep the best and brightest teachers to TPS, how much can we shrink the remuneration?
Mr. Flagg also tacitly endorses SB5. I guess he believes the way to attract the best college graduates into teaching in Ohio (and, more specifically, Toledo) is to remove all collective bargaining rights from all public employees. No matter what its supporters may say, that is precisely what SB5 would do. I know that SB5 allows negotiations in limited areas. But how can there be true negotiations when one side can state that because there is an impasse, they can vote to write the contract language any way they want it to read?
Mr. Flagg is entitled to his opinions. You are entitled to publish anyone you want to publish. When fine periodicals, or even fine web-sites, publish from outside sources, they most often list the credentials of the author. Besides being a self-proclaimed “educational activist,” precisely what are Mr. Flagg’s credentials to be considered a plausible source of expertise in areas of union-management negotiations? And are his experiences specific to the public sector? You don’t get such expertise by watching school board meetings and talking to members with whom one is friendly. You’ve got to be there! Was he ever “there?”
Dale Pertcheck

Dale Pertcheck and his wife retired as teachers from Toledo Public Schools on June 1. He will continue in his position as treasurer with TFT’s statewide affiliate, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, at least through the summer. He and his wife are members of the retiree unit from Toledo, TFT250R, which is affiliated with the Ohio Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. He has been an officer with the Ohio Federation of Teachers since 1990 and was recording secretary from 1990-2006. He has served as treasurer since first being elected to that position in 2006.

On the anniversary of the death of University of Toledo sophomore Casey Bucher, family and friends gathered at the scene of his July 18, 2010, attack in remembrance with a candlelight vigil.
Casey was stabbed on the corner of Bancroft Street and Westwood Avenue by 24-year-old Lawrence James as he was walking home from work at Maxwell’s Brew.
James asked Casey for cigarettes or change and attacked him after he declined. He called 911 but died shortly after.

Casey Bucher

James had been released from prison 19 days before the incident, after serving a two-year sentence for stabbing another man.
“He would still be with us today if the government knew what it was doing and did it right the first time,” mother Lisa Bucher exclaimed to the crowd. “A psychopathic killer so close to the streets where our kids go to school. It should not have happened and it could have happened to any one of you. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone, least of all Casey, a kind-hearted kid who did not deserve this.”
Bucher, who returned to the scene of the crime for the first time since the attack, blamed the government for its handling of James’ release, specifically its handling of his medication.
“My heart hurts,” Bucher said. “This should not have happened. They let a psycho loose from the prison. There was no post-release control. He was kept on meds in prison to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone else in prison but he was let loose on the public with no follow-up and this is what happens.”
James is serving 16 years to life at the Toledo Correctional Institution, with the opportunity for parole in 2026. Bucher will be doing everything in her power to make sure he isn’t allowed back into the public again.
“So long as I am breathing I’ll ask these kids, the next generation, to make sure that he never gets out after I’m gone so none of their kids die,” Bucher said. “The government is not going to change unless we make them. He will be released again with $65, a bus ticket and two weeks worth of meds.”
Bucher has also taken exception to the proximity of James’ incarceration. The Toledo Correctional Institute is just 6 miles from the scene of the attack and close to James’ family. He had originally been sentenced by a judge to serve time in Orient, Ohio.
“The judge ordered this individual to be locked up quite a ways away from here by her order,” Casey’s uncle Ryan Gephart said. “Now after a very short period of time he’s back in Toledo. There’s no good explanation for that.
“My sister never gets to see her son again. His family gets to travel to jail to see him. He gets 13 hours of free time per day, I don’t even get 13 hours of free time per day. This is wrong and somebody in the state of Ohio needs to start doing their job because this person does not belong back in this city. He needs to be serving hard time away and needs to never get out again. This is unacceptable.”
Bucher said she has recently discovered a way to petition the process and plans to do so. She noted that in 2008, before his first release, he had been incarcerated in Lebanon, Ohio.
“There’s no reason he can’t go back there,” Bucher said. “This isn’t over yet.”

Bowling Green State University student Larry Kinkaid thought he had a good plan as he trudged through the snow listening to his music.
“I was trying to walk in the footprints other people had already made, the next thing I knew I was standing right in the middle of the tracks.”
That’s when Kinkaid looked up and saw a train bearing down on him from only 5 feet away. He jumped out of the way, but was struck in the right arm and right leg. At first he thought everything was fine and he was going to be able to walk away. Then he took a closer look at his right leg.
“I saw my leg and that’s when I knew everything was wrong; I blacked out for around 30 seconds to a minute,” Kinkaid said. “Then I woke up and started screaming for help.”

Larry Kinkaid

However, Kinkaid couldn’t even hear himself yelling. The ringing in his ears was too loud for him to hear his own voice. Kinkaid managed to locate his cellphone and call the police. Finally his hearing came back and he heard the question coming through his cellphone, “Sir, who got hit by a train?”
Up until that fateful day on Feb 5, Kinkaid had never broken a bone in his body.
Kinkaid was taken by medical helicopter to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, near his hometown of Sylvania. It was discovered there that Kinkaid had fractured his tibia, fibula, ulna and radius in addition to sustaining a concussion.
“I did a good job of keeping it together, not to boast or anything but I wasn’t crying or anything, not until I saw my mom come in, then I just started bawling,” Kinkaid said.
His mother, Diane, sat at his side at his hospital bed. “My baby, I almost lost you,” she said.
Kinkaid said his main priority was to not think about what was happening to him. To pass the time, he asked members of the medical staff who they thought was going to win the upcoming Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Many of his fraternity brothers rushed to his side to show their support.
One of the nurses said to Kinkaid “Wow, you sure are popular.” Kinkaid then said, “I’m in a fraternity; I paid for all of these friends.”
His fraternity brother, Greg Maat, posted a funny message on his Facebook: “Larry quit milking this I got hit by a train thing!”
Optimism for Kinkaid went beyond the nurses in that hospital room; Kinkaid’s doctors had comforting words for him as well.
“The doctor said I could be walking completely normal within the next six months,” he said.
Kinkaid was forced to take the semester off from school in order for his injuries to heal. He is unable to participate in any athletic activity, prohibiting him from playing recreational sports he enjoys like volleyball and swimming. Kinkaid has been able to come back to Bowling Green to see all of his friends, but it wasn’t an easy process.
“My grandparents did everything for me; I was hurt I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “You really take for granted the simplest things in life, such as going to the bathroom or being able to feed yourself, and my grandparents were there for me every step of the way.”
Another trying part of the process was the public reaction.
“I didn’t let it bother me what people were saying. I got hit by a train, I feel like an idiot for that,” Kinkaid said.
He will return to Bowling Green in the fall to continue his bachelor’s degree.
“Whenever I hear the train come by I definitely am aware of them now, but I don’t cry and go into a fetal position every time I hear them.”
Kinkaid has crossed those tracks on East Reed Street since the accident.
“I definitely look both ways when I cross them now,” Kinkaid said.
One other question has seemed to be on Kinkaid’s friends’ mind as well. “What were you listening to?”
He thinks he was listening to Ke$ha, but all of that seems irrelevant now.
“I just feel lucky to be alive.”

The Toledo Free Press “Round Up Hunger” campaign wrapped up July 17, raising $5,975 for Feed Lucas County Children (FLCC). The money will go directly to FLCC’s meal fund and will provide more than 4,260 meals to the county’s hungry children.
The campaign has raised a great deal of awareness about FLCC’s cause, said the charity’s founder, Tony Siebeneck.
Siebeneck said representatives from Cumulus Broadcasting in Toledo recently visited the charity’s kitchen.

FLCC’s Tony Siebeneck, left, accepts a customer-donation check from Walt CHurchill on July 20.

University of Toledo’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences has also gotten involved. Students from the college volunteered at FLCC’s kitchen, and the college afterward contacted Siebeneck to express interest in further helping FLCC.
“We’re very thankful,” Siebeneck said of the community’s support.
Walt Churchill’s Market was a key part of the campaign, asking customers if they would be willing to round purchases up to the next dollar as a donation to FLCC.
Walt Churchill, the stores’ owner, said one regular customer asked that his donation be rounded up $50.
“This is a critical time for people that are in need, and it’s nice to be able to share,” Churchill said. “You can’t do everything, but you do what you can.”
Mercy Children’s Hospital and Columbia Gas of Ohio were sponsors for the effort, and 13abc’s “Bridges” was a media partner.
“Toledo always steps up and supports great causes, especially an opportunity to help the youngest residents of our community,” said Chris Kozak, communications manager for Columbia Gas of Ohio.
FLCC and Toledo Free Press are in talks to repeat the “Round Up Hunger” drive in the coming holiday season.
“We are extremely grateful to Walt Churchill, Mercy, Columbia Gas, 13abc and every single donor who gave pennies, dimes or dollars,” said Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller. “We will continue the partnerships and work to offer constructive options for our community’s most vulnerable  citizens.”

Knowledge has expanded so quickly and so exponentially in the past century that schools can only cover so much ground in a year and can only explore individual topics to a minimal extent. As much as I enjoy the fuzzy feeling I have when my children are learning the same thing I learned in school, I realize that constant updating of the curriculum is necessary to provide them with the skills they will need in an ever-changing world. A recent decision by Indiana to drop cursive writing from its curriculum requirements is a timely example of an education system’s willingness to move forward.
The announcement of cursive writing’s imminent demise in Indiana, however, was met with immediate expressions of sadness and disappointment by those who consider its elimination an affront to the educational process. Of course, the widespread lamenting I came upon was done from keyboards all across the country without a stroke of written cursive in sight. As impassioned as the pleas to give cursive a stay of execution are, prolonging its existence in schools would ultimately not stave off the inevitable.
It will no doubt seem odd to those of us who grew up with the practice when up-and-coming generations cannot produce their own signatures. However, it is also unlikely that future generations will ever have a need to authenticate a document with something other than a PIN number, a thumbprint, a scan of an iris or a swab of DNA.
Although I understand and believe in the wax-on/wax-off philosophy that learning one thing may lead to the comprehension of and ability to do another, the potential breadth of knowledge available today is just too great not to continuously shed some of the old to make room for the new. Just as math is no longer taught using units of bushels and pecks, stylized handwriting must move out to make way for more useful and long-lasting skills.
We now live in a world of such vast and detailed learning opportunities that even the most educated among us can only excel in limited areas of the knowledge-sphere within the time constraints of a human life. As dear and romanticized as our old learning styles and topic areas may still feel to us, the whole point of education is to open ourselves up to new ideas and ways of life. Only keeping the education machine idling defeats the purpose of its existence.
Cursive writing is not alone on the shelf of our antiquated educational ideas. As our children continue to learn inches, gallons and Fahrenheit in a meters, liters and Celsius world, the U.S. is becoming more and more like that one friend you have to invite to events via email because she’s still waiting to be convinced of Facebook’s value. At some point, the world may just stop remembering to invite the U.S. to the party altogether.
As much as we’d like to convince ourselves that the decision to focus on only one language is a sign of our unity and patriotism, we may be passing up the chance for our children to reap the cognitive benefits of bilingualism. Perhaps more importantly, the world may also realize one day soon that English is not the most widely spoken nor the easiest language to learn as they continue to teach their own children a backup from the early years on.
Regardless of individual curriculum adjustments, the most important job our educational system has in this ever-expanding age of information is producing enthusiastic, lifelong learners who possess the tools and the drive to continually take their own educational lives to the next level. It is no longer possible at this point to teach all that is available to be absorbed, but it is still possible to create a legion of learners willing to individually do the absorbing. As our educators strive to accomplish this feat, we, as parents, must assume equal responsibility.
It is sometimes difficult to pack up only the essentials and move on, so taking a moment to mourn our curriculums of the past is an appropriate and respectful gesture. However, we must also be willing to find and celebrate the bright side of a new academic life. Even though the computer age may be squelching the handwritten word and forever changing our vernacular, things like text messaging and social networking have actually resurrected the typewritten word once endangered by the advent of the telephone.
Although via keyboard, I now write more in a day than I likely did as a teenager with a telephone stuck to my left ear.
The world keeps moving in new and unfamiliar circles, and we must do our best to keep up and try to enjoy the ride.

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

Cody Kenyon spends his summers like most 12-year-olds.
He rides his bike, plays football, baseball and basketball with his family and goes to summer camp.
Unlike most kids, Cody lost his left leg when he was 11 months old.
When Cody was born, one leg was too short, crippling him. The safest operation, and the one most likely to succeed, was amputation.
“I can’t even tell you what it’s like to see some little kid laying there at 11 months old and there’s nothing you can do,” said his father David Kenyon. “And you had to make a decision like that, for the rest of his life and the rest of your life.”

Cody Kenyon

That life so far has been characterized by overcoming challenges and putting fears aside.
“When I was really little, it felt like there was a little difference,” Cody said of himself and the children around him. “But as I get older, it feels like there’s no difference at all. I can do everything they can; some things even better.”
Cody said he doesn’t think of himself as having a disability, and his mother Cindy Perlowitz said the family has never treated him differently because he has a prosthetic leg instead of a flesh and bone one.
Whatever he wanted to try, he tried, she said. So Cody played volleyball in sixth grade. He plans on trying out for baseball, basketball and wrestling when he begins eighth grade this coming fall.
“I’ve never seen him back down,” David said, describing his son as “unstoppable.”
Cody is also a top-notch student. He earns straight A’s and will begin algebra, advanced language arts and other advanced classes this semester as an eighth-grader.
Social studies is his favorite subject, he said — science is his least. He also likes to read and will pick up any kind of book.
“As long as it’s thicker,” he said. “I don’t like thin, flimsy stuff.”
Despite his dislike for science, Cody is interested in medicine. He is interested in becoming a prosthetist some day, constructing artificial limbs for other amputees.
Helping people with similar experiences is an important goal for Cody. One of his heroes is David McGranahan, an amputee athlete from Sylvania who runs sports clinics for amputees.
Cody’s amputation was not the end of his medical difficulties. He has had four or five different leg-related surgeries, Cindy said, but he continues to bounce back from each one of them.
“He just takes everything [in] stride,” she said. “He’s a lot of people’s inspiration.”
Part of taking things in stride is learning how to do things his own way when he cannot do something normally.
When Cody wanted to learn how to ride a bike, David had one built for him with custom pedals, but Cody could not get the hang of it.
“I just got to do it different. I can’t do it like everyone else, I just got to figure out a way to do it my way,” David said his son told him. Finally they got a regular bike for him, and Cody took off.
“He’s not really limited,” said Ira Perlowitz, Cody’s stepfather. “He’s scared to do things that other kids do, but once he does it, he’s just like any other kid.”
But he has proven he is more than just any other kid.
“He’s an incredible kid,” Ira said. “He shows us what can be done against odds. I think he pushes us and makes us a tighter family.”

I have recently written a couple of pieces about the continuing (some would say mind-numbing, endless, and boring) debate going on in Congress over raising the debt ceiling. I have attempted to use humor and popular culture references, logic and reason, and even simplification of the subject to a single question to make it easier to understand. Perhaps however, it’s time to make this a class in basic Economics.

So let’s start with a simple premise. If an individual or family spends more than they take in, they go deeper into debt. If this process continues, they reach a point where it’s not only no longer possible to pay back the money they owe, it’s impossible to even pay back the interest on the money that they are forced to borrow in order to meet their obligations. This result is what’s actually meant by the default on a debt, something often better known as bankruptcy.

If a government follows the same path, they call it something far different (and seemingly more acceptable), deficit spending. As it goes for the individual or family however, so too does it follow for a nation. Continuing to spend beyond its means is a recipe for disaster that eventually reaches a point of no return.

Beyond this point, a government has two options to bail itself out. The first is to oppressively tax its citizens, in the misguided hope that they can beat the law of diminishing returns that will set in when they confiscate the capital that could otherwise be used to expand the economy (and the tax base) in order to pay their day-to-day bills. Inevitably, such practices increase the speed of the death spiral of that monetary system (often accompanied by a loud flushing sound).

The second method of irresponsible evasion is to run the government printing presses non-stop in order to create an inflationary spiral. If the value of the currency decreases, so too does the value of the debt incurred. While this works for a while; eventually the chickens come home to roost, usually about the time that a piece of paper currency with far too many zeros on it is required to purchase a loaf of bread.

In his book, “Applied Economics”, Thomas Sowell calls this ‘Stage One Thinking’, a practice of not thinking beyond the immediate consequence to the longer term effects of an action. While Congressional budgets are often rife with this behavior, this is not the only concept that seems to be misunderstood however. So since those in the government and media insist on misdirection or code words in their discussions of the subject, let’s clear up a few of the most important.

Revenue enhancements are tax increases! The only money that government has is what it gathers through taxation and tariff. The only way that government can enhance revenue is through taking more of it from its citizens. A spending cut is reduction in the amount of spending done. It’s not a reduction in the budgetary growth of a program or a reduction of a previously inflated budgetary number. Fair … Sorry. This word can simply no longer be allowed when talking about economics by either the government or the media. Neither should it be used in judgment of taxes or spending (and never with the word ‘share’). Its current definition has become more a product of emotion and ideology than one of objective fact. Somebody is just going to have to come up with a different measure of these subjects and a better descriptive term, since this one is damaged beyond repair.

Its past time for Congress in fact to stop using misapplied terminology and accounting tricks to hide their lack of backbone and economic acumen. It’s obvious that they don’t understand basic economics or we wouldn’t be in this jam in the first place. A little more plain language and bit less double bookkeeping (that would be illegal in the private sector) might be just what’s in order.

While we’re at it, can we please stop having them talk about 10-year budget reductions where no reducing happens for the first 3-5 years. Legislators need to show at least enough honesty to cut spending immediately when necessary, and while they’re still in office; and not (like the deficit) leave it to those who come after. It’s time to quit substituting ‘Wimpy Economics” for real budget debate, “I will gladly give you spending cuts Tuesday, for a tax increase today.” Such nonsense simply won’t cut any longer.

That’s Economics 101… class dismissed.

DB Schenker today announced a strategic realignment in the way it will serve its North American domestic transportation customers according to a release on the company’s website. Operations will cease at Toledo Express Airport by BAX Global and DB Schenker impacting approximately 700 employees, many of which are employed part-time.

No confirmed date was reported, the company stated it would take place over the next several weeks.

It said, the “action is in response to changing marketplace conditions and along with the renewed focus on transportation management services is aimed at positioning the company for continued growth and success.”

“As a result of the prolonged recession and spiking fuel prices, more and more of our customers are opting for expedited ground-based solutions instead of domestic air freight, and they are looking for partners who can provide transportation management services rather than transactional transportation,” said Heiner Murmann, CEO of Schenker, Inc.

“We deeply regret that there will be some layoffs as part of this realignment. However, we are working to redeploy as many employees as possible to other parts of our business,” stated Murmann in the release. “Our employees represent the cornerstone of our company and we will treat all affected personnel in an open, transparent and respectful manner throughout this transition.”

The Lucas County Workforce Development Agency (LCWDA) released a statement that it is currently working to develop a strategy to assist workers who will be impacted by the recent announcement.

German-based DB Schenker, the parent company to BAX, filed WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) letters with the State of Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and Lucas County Board of Commissioners announcing the closure.

“We have been in touch with the State of Ohio regarding funding for Rapid Response for these workers,” said Eric Walker, Director of Workforce Development for the County, “and for assistance during this process.”

Workforce Development professionals, along with representatives from the state, the local one-stop system (The Source) and other partners, will attempt to meet with company officials to devise a plan to provide services to workers according to the release.

In a release from Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, Paul L. Toth, CEO of the port said they were, “incredibly disappointed to learn that our partner for more than 20 years – BAX Global, a subsidiary of D.B Schenker Logistics (a German-based company) – will be phasing out of its U.S. dedicated air fleet and transitioning from operating its own air fleet to a non fixed-base model.”

“Toledo Express has a strong background in the global cargo market and it is the desire of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority to continue cargo operations absent of BAX Global. The Port Authority continues to actively pursue various activities and opportunities relative to cargo development at Toledo Express,” Toth said. “We believe the combination of the experienced existing workforce and the logistical advantages of the Toledo region and Toledo Express provide a strong framework for these activities.”

The Port Authority lease agreement with BAX Global, guaranteed by D.B. Schenker, is effective through September 2013. In the coming weeks, the Port Authority will determine the impact this will have on Port Authority operations.

University of Toledo Head Coach Tim Beckman agreed to a contract extension that will keep him as a Rocket through 2015.

The 46-year-old Beckman is entering his third season at UT. The Rockets are 13-12 in his first two years, including and 8-5 mark in 2010 including a trip to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, the school’s first bowl game in the last five years.

“Tim Beckman is not only an outstanding football coach, but he is also a tremendous leader and mentor,? UT Athletic Director Mike O’Brien said. ?In addition to building a winning football program, he is dedicated to making sure our student-athletes graduate and having them participate in community activities. We are pleased to make this commitment to Coach Beckman and look forward to many more years with him as our head football coach.”

Beckman spent seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at Bowling Green (1998-2004) before taking over as the cornerbacks coach at Ohio State from 2005-06. He then spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (2007-08) before coming to Toledo in 2009.

Toledo opens the season against New Hampshire FCS school New Hampshire on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.