Fred Altvater

Next week’s final PGA tournament of 2011, the Children’s Miracle Hospital Network held at the Disney World Resort Courses in Orlando, will be the final showdown for PGA Player of the Year and the PGA Money Title. Luke Donald has led the PGA money list since early in the year, but Webb Simpson is primed to overtake him going into the final event.

Donald also is leading the Race to Dubai, the European Tour’s money list and is trying to become the first professional golfer to ever win money titles on both the PGA and European Tours in the same year. In just 12 starts on the European Tour he has had three wins as well as nine top 10 finishes and has a comfortable $1.3 million Euro lead over Rory McIlroy.

In just his third year playing full time on the PGA Tour, 26-year-old Webb Simpson has had a breakout season with two wins, two second place finishes and 19 top 25 finishes. He entered this week only $70,000 behind Donald, and it appears he will pocket a big check at this week’s McGladery Classic at Sea Island, Ga. He is poised to claim the No. 1 spot on the PGA money list and could add a third trophy to his mantle.

Even though Luke Donald has had only one win on the PGA Tour, he has two second place finishes and has had an exceptional year in the United States. He has been the most consistent player on the PGA Tour all season with an amazing 13 top 10’s and 15 top 25’s in 18 starts.

Donald has the edge over Simpson in the Majors in 2011, finishing fourth at the Masters, 45^th at the U. S. Open, 94^th at the British and eighth in the PGA. Simpson did not qualify for the Masters, was 14^th at the U. S. Open, 16^th at the British and missed the cut at the PGA.

Luke has also performed well in the World Golf Championship (WGC) events. His only win in the U. S. came at the WGC-Accenture Match Play, where he bested then world No. 1 Martin Kaymer. He also finished sixth in the WGC-Cadillac at Doral and second in the WGC-Bridgestone at Akron.

Simpson has had to earn his money the “old fashioned” way.  He did not qualify for the invitation-only, lucrative, no-cut World Golf Championship events in 2011.

After missing the cut at the PGA, Simpson made a gigantic push at the end of the golf season. He won the Wyndham the next week and then followed that up with strong finishes in the FedEx Cup Playoff events. He finished  10^th in the Barclay’s, picked up his second win in three weeks at the Deutsche Bank, had a 5^th place finish at the BMW but fell to a 22^nd place in the Tour Championship eventually finishing in 2^nd place in the FedEx Cup points standings.

Donald performed at top efficiency the entire 2011 season and continued his strong play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He finished 18^th in the Barclay’s, 3^rd at the Deutsche Bank, 4^th in the BMW and made a clutch putt on the 72^nd hole at the Tour Championship that, at the time, appeared to have sealed the FedEx Cup Trophy and $10 million prize. Bill Haas eventually made that miraculous shot from the water and snatched the big check right from Donald’s checking account.

The PGA’s Fall Series has been an outstanding success in 2011. Not only has Tiger Woods been lured out of hibernation to play at the Frys.com in San Jose, but TV ratings have increased 235 percent, even with football at full bloom. Now the Player of the Year and the five year exemption that goes along with the PGA Money Title all come down to the last tournament of the year.

When asked where he was going next week, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem replied, “I’m going to Disney World!”

With so much happening in Toledo’s thriving art scene, fueled by locally owned art supply stores like the Art Supply Depo on St. Clair Street, there is a buzz in the air.
Most of the eccentric community that anchors Downtown converges on the side street bars, where creative energies are flowing. There is a strong cord that connects those T-Town Love T-shirts to Artomatic419!, Art Corner Toledo and the Supply Depo; it all echoes this simultaneous craving for freedom, expression and art. An artist told me once that to rebuild a city you must first restore and invest in art, because it will give birth to culture, and from culture comes a society.
When you visit Downtown and experience Downtown Latté to 20 North Gallery, it is hard not to feel the inspiration emanating from the endless paint strokes of art scattered throughout the area. This young, condensed, art-soaked atmosphere is what struck me immediately when I stepped off the train that brought me here from Chicago last fall. Jerry Gray, Toledo’s version of William Ivins, is a sharp-eyed curator who has been a staple in Toledo’s art scene since opening Bozarts Fine Art & Music Gallery in July of 2009. His own show, “Gray Gold,” opens at 6 p.m. Oct. 21.
Shaul Storey: In your third year promoting shows, hosting events and making a name for yourself as a curator, what’s the biggest difference between showing your own art as opposed to showing others’ art?
Jerry Gray: The biggest difference would be in the fact that I actually curate my personal exhibitions. When I work with other artists, I invite them into Bozarts as a peer and allow them full reign over what they want to display and how they want to install their work. Bozarts is an opportunity for local artists to create an environment for their work to be experienced, giving them control to transform and dictate the atmosphere. This approach, I believe, prevents Bozarts from becoming sterile and keeps things interesting.
Storey: When were you bitten by the art bug?
Gray: My grandfather owned one of the only art supply stores in the city for a long time, from the late ’60s until it closed in 2002. This is when I encountered a lot of new ideas, fresh images and materials. This store was key in developing my aptitude and appreciation for the arts.
Storey: Since I moved from Chicago to Toledo in the fall of 2010, Bozarts has presented itself as a dominant part of Toledo’s culture. What changes have you seen in the art community since Bozarts’ first art showing back in July ’09?
Gray: It’s hard to answer this question without it sounding like I’m saying Bozarts is a reason for these changes. But I do think the main changes I’ve seen in the arts community over the last few years have come from individuals taking the reins on their own and filling voids they witness in their community. I am very proud of being able to include myself in this group but it consists of dozens of people doing a multitude of work toward their passions.
Storey: Who are your top five visual artists in Toledo?
Gray: Yusuf Lateef, Jason Vahle, Devicious.com, Anthony McCarty and everyone with T-Town love shirts.
Storey: What’s your favorite cereal?
Gray: Fruity Pebbles.
Storey: Brunette or blonde?
Gray: Purple.
Storey: Rap or hip-hop?
Gray: I like either that is fun, intelligent, wordsmithing and of course has a beat I can dance or groove to.
Storey: When will people get a chance to check out your show?
Gray: I’m showing my own work at Bozarts Fine Art & Music Gallery, 151 S. St. Clair St.,  on Oct. 21. Gray Gold” features a collection of new works along with a peppering of some older pieces I believe are relevant with the exhibition.

Work from local student artists will be on display near work from the icons who inspire them in the exhibit “4 Art: Student Art from Bowling Green State University, Lourdes University, Owens Community College and the University of Toledo” opening Oct. 21 at the Toledo Museum of Art. The exhibit will display nearly 100 works in the Community Gallery until Jan. 12.
“The concept of being in an exhibit to represent the college is an honor in itself,” Lourdes student Christina Young said. “To think about it being in a museum in the same building as Picasso, Roethlisberger and O’Keeffe, that’s the stuff dreams are made of.”
Young is a senior at Lourdes majoring in fine art. She plans to start graduate school next fall.
“It’s all I know how to do,” she said. “I fell into it. I’m blessed with a natural talent, and I’m here to learn why I do what I do. Lourdes is awesome. They keep making it better and I keep wanting to learn more.”
She enjoys watercolor, acrylics and ceramics, but Young is mostly an oil painter.
“I like the color and intensity of oils and the fact that you can push it around,” she said. “It’s amazing what you can do with some of it.”

'Mirrored Perspective' by Lourdes student Melinda Hallenbeck.

Young, a realist, will have two oil paintings in the art museum. One is a landscape and the other is from a black-and-white photograph of an abandoned house. She is one of five Lourdes students in the exhibit.
“It’s exciting, because it’s going to be a busy time for the museum,” said Lourdes art department chairperson Erin Palmer Szavuly. “It gives us an opportunity to have people see what we’re doing over here, because we are kind of a secret.”
BGSU also has alumni entered in the exhibit, including ceramic artist Greg Pugh, who is employed by the university.
Pugh developed an interest in art during high school and quickly gravitated toward ceramics.
“When I was 17, I took a couple of clay classes,” he said. “I had an opportunity to go to Alfred in New York because my grandma went there. It was a really good ceramics program. Since then I’ve been interested in ceramics.”
Pugh graduated from BGSU in 2010 with a degree in 3-D art. He now works there as a research technician on a 3-D mastering project. He and his colleagues are working to make a high-temperature ceramic body that can be adapted to a powder-based, rapid-prototyping platform.
“It’s basically taking a digital file and taking it through a digital scan splicer,” Pugh said. “It’s a 3-D printing program that will slice it into a thousand layers. Each layer is 0.04 centimeters thick. The machine will stack those layers on top of each other, gluing them together to form a 3-D object. Ours is a powder-based system. Powder is spread in hundreds of layers and glued together. It’s like a highly-modified inkjet printer.”
The piece Pugh entered in the exhibit is a pot he designed on an iPad with an app called iDough.
“I modeled it on my iPad, exported it and printed it on a ceramic 3-D printer,” he said. “I modeled a little pot. It took me almost four hours to model that little tiny thing on the iPad. It’s kind of a rudimentary process, and it’s not very accurate. These were the first ceramic prints from an iPad. No one has done that.”
Pugh is excited to have his creation on display at the museum.
“A lot of artists, you end up showing at shows that just other artists end up seeing,” Pugh said. “Being in a museum is a really great honor, because a wider range of people get to see it. That interests me more as an artist getting it out there to nonartists.”
TMA will host an opening reception Oct. 21 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. College students with a valid ID receive a free parking token and admission to The Egypt Experience. TMA is located at 2445 Monroe St.
“That’s the party part about what we do,” Young said. “I’m excited to see the responses. We put stuff together and make a statement, and that’s our voice. When people see it, that’s where we’re heard. To see that received is going to be pretty cool.”

T.J. Fatinikun

Toledo head coach Tim Beckman announced on Monday that junior defensive end and Perrysburg graduate T.J. Fatinikun will miss the remainder of the season. Fatinikun dislocated his elbow in the first half of the Rockets’ 54-16 victory over Eastern Michigan on Oct. 8.

“He had a dislocated elbow,” Beckman said. “They had to go in and repair the tendons that were torn, and then he also had a bone chip that had to be surgically put back on, so T.J. will be out for the rest of the season.”

Despite missing the second half against the Eagles and not being able to play in UT’s 28-21 victory over arch-rival Bowling Green on Oct. 15, Fatinikun led Toledo with 7.5 tackles for loss this year. Junior cornerback Jermaine Robinson is questionable for the Rockets’ homecoming game against Miami (OH) this Saturday, also suffering a first half injury against Eastern Michigan.

“Jermaine is questionable, I guess you could say,” Beckman said. “Hopefully we can get him involved. He had the surgery last Monday. He had six screws put into his hand. Hopefully it’s all basically based on pain [and] on what he can do this week during practice to be successful.”

Senior running back Adonis Thomas is also questionable to return against the RedHawks. Thomas has been out since breaking his arm in week four at Syracuse.

Adonis Thomas

“Adonis is in the same scenario,” Beckman said. “We want to see how he performs at practice. Both of those two guys were out at practice, but there’s a difference from practicing and just being out there watching practice. They were capable to run around and do those things but didn’t take any physical hits, so we want to see that happen before we put them out there on the football field.”

Senior cornerback Taikwon Paige said the team knew that Fatinikun would be out a couple days after the win over the Eagles.

“It’s like dominos,” Paige said of the injuries. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, so the backups or third string guys, everybody’s got to be ready to play.”

Desmond Marrow

Toledo cornerback Desmond Marrow was named as the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week following a 28-21 victory over Bowling Green on Oct. 15.

The senior cornerback had 10 tackles and a career-high three passes defensed against the Falcons.

With Marrow’s award, Toledo has had a player honored by the MAC for a weekly award in six of seven weeks this season. Junior wide receiver Eric Page has been honored three times while junior linebacker Robert Bell and senior kicker Ryan Casano have each received a weekly honor once.

T.J. Fatinikun

Toledo junior defensive end T.J. Fatinikun will miss the rest of the season after suffering a dislocated elbow on Oct. 8 in a 54-16 victory over Eastern Michigan.

“T.J. is out for the season,” UT Head Coach Tim Beckman said. “He had a dislocated elbow and they had to go in and repair the tendons that were torn.”

Fatinikun, the reigning Mid-American Conference Third-Team selection, ranks fifth in the MAC in tackles for loss (7.5) and 13th in sacks (2.5) in 2011.

Fatinikun is yet another Rocket to be hit with a serious injury. Senior free safety Mark Singer (shoulder), and senior tight end Danny Noble (ankle) have already been lost for the year. Junior linebacker Dan Molls (leg) and senior rusher Adonis Thomas (broken arm) have also missed significant time this season. Junior strong safety Jermaine Robinson recently had surgery to put six screws in his hand and is questionable to return this week.

Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, has become a prime tourist destination. It is certainly an oil-rich country, but since that income is finite, they are developing other souces of revenue, including tourism.

Currently it is most famous for being the home of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, at 160 stories. Most people are also familiar with the man-made Palm Island and the 7-star hotel, Burj Al Arab, which looks like a sailboat.

Dubai itself is somewhat off the beaten path, but it has become an important cruise ship port. Many begin or end there offering opportunities to spend extra time, which is what we did in January, 2011. At the end of a repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Dubai on the RCI Brilliance of the Seas, we stayed an extra night in Dubai to take in a few of the sights. Because our flight didn’t go out until about midnight, we had almost two full days to explore with just one night in a hotel.

After reading some of the information available on cruisecritic.com, we were a little wary about entering the UAE. There were links to websites that listed the things that are illegal to bring in the country like 49 pages of banned drugs,medicines, and such items as CD’s, DVD’s, and even books. In the end we simly picked up our bags in the terminal and walked out to get a taxi, with no passport or customs control.

We were not able to find an ATM in the port area so we had to pay our taxi in dollars. The driver readily said he would accept them but then would not give us the 3 to 1 exchange so our trip to the hotel cost $45 instead of $15. We should have just asked him to stop at a bank, or if we had been more observient, we might have noticed an ATM in the doorway of our hotel. Oh well…

We stayed at the Golden Sands Apartment Hotel which is in nine buildings in a several block area. It was about $100 a night double and was sufficient for us. We chose it because it seemed like a central location, near public transit, but we ended up taking cabs or walking anyway. With six of us to share a cab, that was faster and fairly economical.

On our first afternoon there we walked through the older section where the various souks such as gold and spices are founds. For about 30 cents we crossed Dubai Creek in a Dhow and then continued to Heritage House. This is a preserved typical Arab extended family home built around a courtyard. Admission was free and it was an enjoyable visit. Here we were also recipients of a travel bonus. In the courtyard a woman was preparing some native foods and offered us some samples as we were seated on big cushions under a canopy. Of course, we had eaten ourselves silly at our last breakfast buffet on the ship, but after being on a cruise, if one goes more than one or two hours without food, withdrawl sets in. So these tasty bites and a cup of tea really hit the spot.

That evening four of us went on a desert safari at a cost of $55 per person. We were picked up at the hotel about 4 PM for a one hour ride out to the desert. Then for about 45 minutes we had a wild ride over the dunes – not for the faint of heart or those prone to suffer from motion sickness. We ended up at a not very authentic replica of a Bedouin camp. We were entitled to a camel ride which we did, and enjoyed not having to tip. Low tables with cushions were set up under the stars in the middle of somewhat more permanent structures than tents. Our meal was an extensive buffet followed by entertainment. It was all very touristy but I loved it anyway.

For our sightseeing in the city, we had considered the Ho-Ho (Hop-on, Hop-off) toursit bus but it cost $70 for just one day. When we had arrived at our hotel a man came up to us and offered his services as a guide in his vehicle that would hold all 6 of us. It cost each of us $30 for a 6-hour tour. His English was pretty good and he took us where we wanted to go. We had purchased tickets on-line for Burj Khalifa for about $36 and were to be there at 10 AM so that was our first stop. (Buying tickets at the door can often cost more that $100,) Near there we visited the Dubai Mall (1000 stores, huge aquarium, and 45,000 parking spaces), Emirates Mall with the indoor ski resort, the Emirates Golf Course where they were setting up for the big tournament, and Palm Island. We stopped for lunch at the Boardwalk along the beach in the Marina Disrtrict.

We had a few hours left to pack and have a quick dinner before leaving for the airport for our flight to Atlanta. All of us felt that we had accomplished much in a short time for a resonable cost.

E-mail travel columnist Judy Pfaffenberger at news@toledofreepress.com.

The Northwest Ohio based Joint Utility and Social Services Committee (JUSSC) will hold the third-annual Assistance Fair on Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Erie Street Market, 237 South Erie Street, Toledo. The event runs from noon to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The JUSSC is a collaboration of local support agencies and area utility companies who meet regularly to share information and pool
assistance resources for Northwest Ohio. As the poverty rate continues to climb across Lucas County, the need for social services continues to rise as well. The JUSSC Assistance Fair serves as a one-stop opportunity to learn about the assistance available from more then 15 local agencies.
Previous events have drawn crowds in excess of 1,000 area residents.
Recent census surveys show that 19.4 percent of Lucas County residents live below the federal poverty line of $21,970 for a family of four.
Additionally, 40 percent live at or below 200 percent the federal poverty line.
The number of families that require some sort of help ­ be it food, clothing or utility assistance ­ grows every day in our community,² says JUSSC Chairman Walden Wilson. Any many of these households are not aware help is available or don¹t know where to turn. We hope that we can put everyone in the same and show what programs are available, and allow those
in need to benefit from the opportunities these agencies provide.

Participating agencies include:
-Area Office on Aging of NOW, Inc.
-Buckeye Community Health
-CareSource
-City of Toledo
-Columbia Gas of Ohio
-EOPA
-Fair Housing Center
-First Energy
-Job & Family Services
-Lucas Metropolitan Housing Agency (LMHA)
-Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity
-Neighborhood Health Association
-Neighborhood Housing Services
-Northwest Ohio Development Agency (NODA)
-Ohio Benefit Bank
-Paramount Advantage

Additionally, several workshops will be offered, including:
12:30 p.m. – Overview of Services: City of Toledo
1 p.m. – PIPP Plus and Winter Reconnect: EOPA
1:30 p.m. – Avoiding Foreclosure: Fair Housing Center
2 p.m. – Overview of Services: LMHA
2:30 p.m. – Avoiding Disconnection: First Energy
3 p.m. – Services for the Insured and Unisured: Neighborhood
Health Association

Depending on the information or assistance request, individuals may
be asked to show:
-Picture ID¹s for all adults in the household
-Social Security cards for all members of the household
-Birth Certificates for all members of the household
-Proof of pregnancy with due date if applicable
-Proof of income for the last 13 weeks
-Current electric and gas bills

For more information, please call 419-213-8930 or visit
www.JUSSC.org.

If it has not been made clear to readers yet, let me go on the record and say this; what has been happening in the markets since 2008 is NOT THE NORM. Events like the crisis in 2008 have happened before and they most certainly will happen again, but not frequently. We like to call these types of events Black Swans. The Flash Crash last May, the effect of the September 11^th attacks on the US, the tech bubble in 2002 and the credit crisis in 2008 would all be examples of Black Swan events.

The current economic woes that Europe is facing will most definitely have an impact on global investments and the global economy, but this is nothing new. We have seen countries default on their debt in the past and we will see it again. Since 1980 we have seen Mexico, Russia, Venezuela, Ukraine, Pakistan, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Belize all default on their sovereign debt (Sovereign Default and Recovery Rates 1983-2007, Moody’s). However there is a key different that separates Greece’s coming default and defaults of the past, and that is Greece’s participation in the eurozone.

To clarify for our readers, there is a difference between the eurozone and the European Union. The EU is an economic and political union consisting of 27 member states, while the eurozone is a monetary union that consists of 17 member states who have adopted the Euro as their common currency. The remaining 10 member states of the EU use their own currencies or simply a currency other than the Euro for trade and to support their economies.

Historically when a country defaults on their debt they will devalue their currency by printing more, which leads to inflation. The logic is that this will provide more currency on hand to make payments, devalue the amount that is owed to creditors, and weaken the currency enough to make products manufactured in that country more attractive on a global scale. This is a luxury that Greece does not have as Greece is not in control of its own monetary policy.

As a member of the eurozone, Greece only has a vote in what is done to the euro in terms of printing and interest rates and the like. Changes in monetary policy affect the entire union, not just one specific country. The eurozone as a whole votes on what to do. Major players in policy making include France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The later portion of that short list has also been in headlines over the last year regarding their debt problems, just as Greece is facing now. If the eurozone devalued the Euro to support Greece, it would be catastrophic for Germany’s economy, which they have worked so hard to keep stable. That is the problem when countries with differing political philosophies form a common currency; what is good for one is tragic for another.

Certain members of the eurozone, namely Germany, have remained a part of the system and maintained their financial stability and integrity. When tough times came in 2008 they cut budgets and buckled down in order to stay afloat. Now they are faced with a major dilemma; should they bail out their neighbor Greece to maintain some form of stability in the Euro, or let them fold and pray that things work themselves out.

Speculations have been changing for the last several months, but the most logical answer is that Germany will provide just enough money to Greece to keep them afloat until the Germans can exit the eurozone. Germany has no reason to stay as they are no longer a part of an economic community; they ARE the community. Within 5 years it would not be a shock if the eurozone dissolved, the Euro no longer existed and Germany had exited the party early. With control of their own monetary policy there is no telling what kind of economic powerhouse Germany could become, while their neighbors slowly deteriorate and crumble.

Many investors have feared that this unraveling of the European economic system could spell catastrophe for the global economy. Remember that Europe had a viable economy before the eurozone, which was just instituted in 1999. While equities in the US have been acting rather erratically on speculation of what will happen, the USD keeps on climbing. Many investors tend to forget that the value of a currency does not depend on the economy and policies of its issuing nation alone, but on the economy and policies of its competitors as well.

Investors should sit back and be cognizant of what is happening abroad, but again realize that bad times for the Euro means good times for the USD. So sit back and enjoy the show, even if for nothing else a little bit of entertainment value. As Rahm Emanuel once famously said…”Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Ben Treece is a 2009 Graduate from the University of Miami (FL), BBA International Finance and Marketing. He is a discretionary money manager with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and a stockbroker licensed with FINRA, working for Treece Financial Services Corp. The above information is the express opinion of Ben Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.