2011 has come to an end and with it a somewhat ignominious end to Year One of King John’s reign. A year that began with high aspirations of power and arrogance was brought back down to earth by the people, who defeated his signature legislation, Senate Bill 5.
Sold as a much-needed economic tool to bring us out of the economic malaise (caused primarily by the greed and arrogance of him and his Wall Street buddies), it was soundly thumped 2-1 by Ohioans who saw through the ruse. The much-vaunted bus that we were all supposed to get on or get run over by instead backed over Kasich and the GOP majority’s grand overreach.

After promising to bring jobs and prosperity to Ohio, Kasich and the GOP have brought us a net job-loss economy and giveaways to corporate cronies. In the name of economic development that has fooled no one; at least about two-thirds of the voters  were not fooled. The coming year promises to be very interesting. Most of the jobs brought to Ohio were the result of policies begun under the Strickland administration or were the result of economic decisions made without Kasich’s JobsOhio’s input or influence. This didn’t stop the Guv from showing up at every photo op, trying to appear relevant. His end-of-the-year summary of his so-called achievements was sparse and embarrassing. Even with dozens of links proving otherwise, he tried to say he never said he was going to run over anyone with his bus. It was all a big misunderstanding.
Instead of jobs being the No. 1 objective of the administration and the newly elected GOP majority, like they promised when they ran in 2010, we were subjected to a litany of bills that had been on Republican social engineering wish lists for years. Instead of jobs, we got the right to carry guns in bars and church, and an abortion bill that even many in the anti-abortion movement didn’t want. Not one bill has been passed to help working people in Ohio. Instead, working people were blamed, attacked and disrespected as practically the first order of business. Going after police and fire forces and schoolteachers was a mistake I am sure they now rue in most Republican circles. Even though this was part of a nationwide overreach by the GOP, it had the opposite effect of what they were going for: it brought out tens of thousands of demonstrators against their policies and awakened a sleeping giant.
Kasich and the GOP majority were elected more by the apathy of voters in 2010 than by any great groundswell of support for their ideas. Kasich was elected by less than a majority of the voters and took that as some sort of mandate to foist his grandiose plans on a public already suffering from the results of many of those same thought processes. That public was not fooled, and made its displeasure known by collecting 1.3 million signatures, the largest number of signatures ever collected in Ohio for a referendum, and proceeding to overwhelmingly defeat the implementation of Senate Bill 5. Did the GOP  learn anything from this? Evidently not, since just days after the defeat, legislation was introduced to make Ohio a right-to-work state.
This just proves that it never was about saving money and jobs, but about political retribution. Add in the obscenely gerrymandered map they’ve passed, in concert with John Boehner and his staff of Washington insiders, and you have a recipe for disaster. 2012 should offer some interesting political times. The previous apathy of a large number of voters appears to have been overcome, and coupled with the distaste many previous GOP supporters and independent voters have for their policies, that could signal as large a swing if not larger, than in the 2010 elections. This could be an interesting an election. If the Mayans are right, the world is going to end on Dec. 21 next year, so what the hell: let’s go for it!

Scheduled to be the first casino to fully open in Ohio, Hollywood Casino Toledo will come to the area next spring.

With the construction of the building taking place throughout 2011, the organization also built up its staff this year including the hire of new general manager Richard St. Jean.

“When I started learning about this project and it being one of the first in the state, the magnitude of the project and what it does for the economy I was very excited,” St. Jean said. “It’s an exciting project in a part of the country I think could really use it. I think that Penn, myself and the team I’m putting together can really fulfill all those obligations.”

The $300 million casino has rapidly been growing since its groundbreaking in Aug. 2010 as the building and its 125,000 square feet of gaming floor takes shape.

Richard St. Jean

“It’s coming along quickly,” St. Jean said. “I saw it for the first time when I drove into town [in June] and I was just blown away by the view and proximity. It couldn’t have a better location. It’s just spectacular.”

Among the attractions for Toledoans include up to 2,000 slot machines and 60 table games, including 20 live poker tables. Also featured in the building will be an entertainment venue which plans to consistently provide stage acts to perform. The casino’s goal will be to provide entertainment for the venue upwards of seven nights a week.

“I see there is a tremendous need,” St. Jean said. “You can have great bands midweek and step it up on the weekends. It’s a venue that not only opens up to the lounge but opens up to the entire casino. It’s definitely going to be an entertainment mecca. It doesn’t anywhere compete with the larger venues, but we have created our own centric entertainment venue here in the middle of the casino.”

The casino will also feature many different food options for incoming patrons. Among the places to eat will be Final Cut, a fine dining steakhouse, as well as the 350-seat Epic Buffet, the sports-themed restaurant and bar Skybox and a “grab-and-go” area called Take Two Deli.

“One of the staples for Penn National Gaming is the quality of food and the food offered,” St. Jean said. “I think you are going to be able to find something for everybody. At the end of the day it’s about taking care of the guests, giving them what they want and making sure they want to come back.”

The casino has also begun to hire this year, striving to meet a 90 percent hiring rate of local citizens. Among the estimated 1,000 to be hired, the casino is looking for personnel which are skilled in working with people.

“What we are really looking for at every position is people that can be a service ambassador,” St. Jean said. “The No. 1 criteria we are looking at when we are selecting people is their ability to be friendly, outgoing, gregarious and really create that kind of environment. We definitely look for the special technical skills, but it’s really going to come down to people skills and their personality.”

After more than two-and-a-half decades of locals being treated to seeing some of the best female golfers in the world come to Toledo each summer for the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, 94,000 fans received an even rarer treat in July when Inverness Club hosted the U.S. Senior Open for the first time since 2003.

“We were very pleased with the support that the community provided for the championship,” said Judd Silverman, who served as the 2011 U.S. Senior Open Championship Director. “It’s always a bonus when Inverness lends itself to host a major golf championship. There are so many benefits that come with a championship of this size in the Senior Open, both economically and national exposure.”

15 Hole at Inverness.

The brains behind the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic—which took a one-year hiatus in 2011 due to economic concerns about Toledo hosting two major golf tournaments in the same summer—Silverman said approximately 2,000 volunteers helped make everything come together at this year’s Senior Open. According to Destination Toledo President Rich Nachazel, the event generated between $ 9-12 million in visitor revenues as well as a little more than 3,000 hotel room nights being used during the week of the tournament.

The Senior Open also had quite the finish as Olin Browne was the first wire-to-wire champion of the tournament since Dale Douglass in 1986. On the final day of competition, Mark O’Meara shared the lead with Browne three times.

“In hindsight, the only disappointment was that Tom Watson and Fred Couples and Greg Norman elected not to play in the championship,” Silverman said. “That really is the only negative I can think of.”

In 2012, major championship golf will continue in Toledo when the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic returns with a new name—the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic—at Highland Meadows Golf Club Aug. 6-12. Since 1984, there have only been two years (1986 and 2011) that the tournament has not taken place in an event that has become the largest sporting attraction in the area, drawing over 70,000 spectators.

“One thing we did was we did increase our purse [by] $300,000 over 2010,” Silverman said of this year’s Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, which will have a first place purse of $1,300,000, a substantial increase from the $175,000 purse in 1984’s inaugural tournament. “We did that with the intention of trying to draw the best field that we possibly can, and we feel like we’re positioned well in the LPGA schedule. That will also help us draw a quality field.”

Despite the heat and a few of the best and most popular senior golfers in the world not participating, Silverman thought Inverness displayed its viability as a host for major championship golf with the U.S. Senior Open.

“I think Inverness once again proved to be an excellent venue in terms of the golf course and the infrastructure for staging the event from a corporate hospitality perspective, parking perspective [and] a viewing perspective,” Silverman said. “I think it’s got to be one of the top courses in America as far as playability and having the infrastructure that it takes to host a major championship.”

It’s supposedly the “most wonderful time of the year,” but someone forgot to inform Life of this. Tragedy, heartbreak, and sadness still occur during this “wonderful” time.

Funeral home parking lots still fill up at the wrong time. The bad timing continues as funeral processions trek down city streets and through red lights. It’s easy to get irritated at the traffic nightmare, but as the procession passes and time wears off the irritation, reality becomes stark – those people aren’t running the red light with the intent to joyride.

One thing to associate with the most wonderful time of the year and Northwest Ohio is the bad weather. The temperature drops, the precipitation invades, and the sun hides for six months. In a twisted way, this is a good thing. The suicide rate over the winter months is lower, because the bad weather brings everyone down.

Although not associated directly with the Christmas season, antidepressant drug use has leaped 400% in the last 20 years, according to the CDC. One in four women ages 40 to 59 are taking antidepressants. One in 25 teens take such medication. Eleven percent of children 12 and under use.

Despite the alarming percentages, the fact is, even during the “most wonderful time of the year,” real problems do not disappear.

My Yahoo! inbox turns into a spam folder filled with gift suggestions for under $150 and 30% off purchases of $300 or more. Christmas trees start appearing in stores before the Halloween candy starts to be consumed. The River starts playing non-stop Christmas music way too early.

Who knew one could actually look forward to hearing overplayed hits from Lady Gaga?

The pressure that accompanies Christmas can be unbearable. Beyond hearing “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” for the 348th time by the same annoying voice, dealing the barrage of commercialism, and making it through the holidays without ticking off family or wishing someone the wrong holiday, there are expectations to meet. During this hectic, yet “most wonderful” time of the year, Life still drags its participants along.

Beyond the antidepressants and reality of this most commercialized time of the year, Americans find their escapes from the real world. An innumerable amount of options exist to offer a break from the daily, depressing grind. Playstation 3’s are only $249. A new restaurant or bar opens in Toledo at least every other week. College and professional sports parade across televisions nightly.

Unfortunately for the world this Christmas, Santa Claus could not help the NBA lockout last the entire season. With serious proof that Santa really failed, opening day of the NBA is on Christmas Day.

In the classic claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cartoon, Santa declares, “There will be no Christmas this year.” Rudolph then sees his time to shine (pun intended), and Christmas is saved. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the same declaration regarding the NBA, and some Rudolph-wannabes had to save the NBA’s season.

With real and countless issues plaguing lives everyday, the last thing one can find compassion for is multi-millionaire jocks.

But the real issue is that these athletes are entertainers, nothing more, and their entertainment value is appreciated by a decent amount of spectators worldwide. They are able to sign the massive contracts because their talent can draw immense amounts of revenue.

The draw of the NBA, like any other sport, is that the outcome of the game does not have any affect on real life. It’s pure entertainment. One can submerge into being a diehard fan, get let down year after year, but life is not affected, whether a team has a zero in the win or in the loss column.

The NBA is a form of escape. When athletes, who are nothing more than entertainers – the functional equivalent of circus clowns, decide to make certain demands, the entertainment value is jeopardized and brought to the level of reality. It’s time to remind NBA athletes of their role in and value to society.

Dear NBA clowns, you are not basketball court magicians or directors. You are simply court jesters. Your societal value is simply entertainment and to provide an escape from Life.

As his family and friends ring in the New Year in Ohio, recent University of Toledo graduate William Adamiak will be en route to the other side of the world.

The 24-year-old from Perrysburg leaves for Australia on New Year’s Eve to serve for a year with NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries, a Catholic peer-to-peer mission organization.

To help fund the trip, Adamiak organized a benefit concert, set for 7 p.m. Dec. 29 at UT’s Corpus Christi University Parish (CCUP), located on Dorr Street across from UT. Adamiak will play violin and Luke Rosen, music director at CCUP, will accompany him on piano.

William Adamiak

The concert will also feature Charlotte Mariasy, music director at Perrysburg’s St. Rose Catholic Church, on piano; St. Rose members Kim Wolf on viola and singer Ashley Gibel; Perrysburg High School student Brooke Wiland on violin; and Adamiak’s sister Isabella Aramaic on cello. Rosen will perform a piece he composed for the event, and Rosen and Adamiak also plan to improvise one piece.

“The music is going to be incredibly varied for the small group that we have,” Adamiak said. “I just want to pack the house. I don’t really care if nobody donates. I’m doing this kind of as my last hurrah and to get all the people I know and care to all meet together in one place and enjoy some good music. It started out as a donation thing, but right now it’s just a come-and-enjoy-some-nice-music thing.”

A free-will offering will be collected. Rosen will also be selling “Portraits,” his solo CD of improvisational piano music, for $12, with a portion to be donated to Adamiak’s trip.

Rosen said Adamiak, who graduated from UT in May with a degree in bioengineering, is a talented musician.

“He’s just a really versatile player,” Rosen said. “The thing I really like about Will is, yes, he has all the technical stuff down; he can play anything, but so can a robot. The thing I love about playing with Will is he feels it so much and puts so much of himself in it. He’s also sort of fearless. He’s willing to make things up on the spot and just kind of go for it, which is great.”

Rosen said he has no doubt Adamiak will be a good fit with NET Ministries.

“Will’s always had a really strong faith life,” Rosen said. “He’s just generally one of the nicest people you could ever meet. His heart is always in the right place. I think he’s been looking to do something like this and hasn’t been able to find the right thing until now. So he’s excited and I think this will be a good fit for him.”

NET team members, who range in age from 17 to 30, are stationed in the United States, Canada, Ireland and Australia and share their faith with teenagers through retreats, workshops and leadership training seminars.

“They are looking for somebody to evangelize to teens — not just someone with spin polish, but someone who lives what they are going to be preaching,” Adamiak said. “When they asked me questions, they went deep. They asked about my faith, the history of my church, the sacraments I believe in, my beliefs, my sins, everything. I didn’t hold anything back.”

The year will start with a six-week training program in Brisbane followed by assignments. Some members will be stationed in one community for a year, while others will serve in multiple locations. Adamiak is hoping to be on a travelling team so he gets to see more of the country.

Adamiak, who speaks Portuguese and Spanish, was born in Brazil to a Brazilian father and an American mother who met in Poland. He moved to the U.S. when he was 12 and suspects the travel bug might be hereditary.

“I think it’s kind of in the genes me wanting to travel all over the place because they were big travelers when they were younger,” Adamiak said. “I’ve wanted to travel to a lot of places and Australia is about as far as you can get. It’ll be exciting.”

Adamiak’s interest in service was nurtured by a four-year scholarship program at UT called the Christian Leadership Program.

“It’s teaching you to take your Catholic faith and use it in a leadership role,” Adamiak said. “That’s what really drove me to start doing more missions, more service trips.”

Another major formative experience was a recent trip to Spain, where he walked a portion of a famous medieval pilgrimage route in northwestern Spain called El Camino de Santiago, or St. James’ Way. The 160-kilometer journey took him 12 days.

“That was an incredible experience, one I’ll definitely share at NET,” Adamiak said. “I enjoyed every experience, especially the pain, because it’s all a part of the journey.

“I like not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow. Who are we to even say that tomorrow will happen? You can’t change what happened and you don’t know what will happen; all you can do is make the best of what you have right now.

“We’re all kind of chained down by society, by jobs, the places where we are. Why not take a leap of faith and say ‘I want to go do this?’ You can do it, and God will provide. I’ve never been really too worried about that.”

For more information, visit www.netministries.com.au.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I think that if you’re only considering improving yourself one day each year that you might want to reconsider what you’re doing on the other days. Having said that, I do appreciate the thought and effort people put into any self-betterment, so this year I’m suggesting a yoga resolution for all—letting go of your past.

Yogis believe the back body relates to one’s past. Forward folds are a perfect example of putting this idea of releasing one’s past into physical action. Releasing tension from our backs symbolizes letting the past dissolve to make room for the present and future.

First, let’s look at the anatomy of a forward fold.

If you have tight hamstrings and they reach their maximum stretch, your body will do one of two things. You will bend your knees to stop the stretch or you will round your lower back. It’s much better to keep your lower back long and flat during your forward fold, so feel free to bend your knees if necessary.

To begin, sit on the floor with your feet flexed, toes pointing toward the ceiling. Bend your knees if necessary or sit on a folded blanket. Try to keep your legs and feet touching.

Remember that we don’t want to go back into our past—even to let it go—without also bringing a sense of our present self and our future hopes and goals. The front body relates to our future, so keep this in mind as you lift your heart away from your engaged lower abdomen and long lower back. Draw your shoulders down away from your ears and firm your shoulder blades into your heart center. Keep this lift of your front body—this imprint of your future hopes—as you hinge from your hips into your forward fold.

Your hands can rest alongside your legs or you can loop a belt around the balls of your feet to help stretch your calf muscles. Rather than using your arms to pull you into the pose, keep a bend in your elbow and use this bend to help broaden your back body.

Don’t worry about getting your core to your legs. Instead imagine taking your belly button to your feet to help keep your lower back long.

Take your gaze to your big toes and encourage this lift of your heart or begin to round with the natural curve of your upper spine and tuck your chin. Listen to your body and do what feels right for you.

If you choose to round your spine and tuck your chin then think of the crown of your head growing towards your feet. This will help you fold from your hips rather than your waist, encouraging length in your spine and lightness in your hips.

If you’re flexible and your hands easily come to your feet, then wrap your fingers around the outsides of your feet as you place your thumbs on the tops of your feet over your arches. Gently pull with your fingers as you push with your thumbs to give the feet an added stretch.

Hold this pose for at least one minute, breathing in and out through your nose the entire time. Visualize releasing yourself from your past.

As you inhale slowly back up into your present, feel joy opening your heart to new hopes and possibilities. Happy New Year.

As you complete your gift shopping and exchanges this week, let me ask a few questions. Do you have a gamer on your list? If yes, did they ask for a game with the odd word “Skyrim” in the title? If yes, is the only system they own a PlayStation 3? If yes…you may wanna ask if they’d like a gift certificate or something, instead.

When “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” was released last month, the massive open-world RPG was heralded as a masterpiece. The latest in a long line of titles that has redefined the way many think of fantasy gaming, “Skyrim” offered one of the largest and most impressive worlds ever created in a title. The series has a world of fervent fans, all of whom tore into the game once it was first released and echoed critics who called it one of the greatest ever made.

But then, a few days passed. And word first started to trickle out about problems that some PS3 fans were experiencing. It seemed that as a large percentage of players on the system got deeper into the “Skyrim”‘s considerable length, the game began to exhibit a great deal of graphical lag and animation slow-down, rendering it virtually unplayable.

To understand what’s happening, a little explanation is in order — as with traditional animation, movement in a video game is accomplished by displaying a series of images in rapid order. The more images, or frames, shown per second, the smoother the animation appears to a viewer.

“Skyrim” typically runs at about 30 frames per second (FPS). As PS3 gamers reach later stages of the game, gaming website IGN.com reports that many players find “Skyrim” occasionally running at less than 1 FPS. Imagine watching “Toy Story” and having an image of Woody and Buzz suddenly freeze on the screen for a couple of seconds, then move, stop again and so on, and you basically have the idea. It wouldn’t be fun, right? Now imagine this happening with a game you just paid sixty bucks for.

It was determined by players and journalists that the lag was effecting PS3 gamers who had been working on the game for upwards of 60 hours. If you’re chortling about how anyone could put that much time into a game anyway, it should be noted that “Skyrim” is designed to be a massive, epic experience — hundreds of hours of play are necessary to find everything.

The going theory is that the glitches are tied to the save file the game creates on the system’s hard drive in order to keep track of a player’s progress. The longer one plays, the larger the file. Somehow, this leads to a slow down in graphics, often leaving the game useless. Some estimates are that upwards of 75% of PS3 players have reported problems (many not as game-breaking as others).

Bathesda, the company who published “Skyrim,” has offered little in the way of explanation or hope to fans in the month or so since the release. Two different “patches” — downloadable files meant to augment the released software, in an effort to improve performance — have been released, neither of which seemed to offer relief to PS3 gamers.

The publisher announced that they are still working on a fix for the PS3 version of the game, but that there will be no further “patches” for the rest of the year — meaning fans who get the game for Christmas will have to wait until well into 2012 for any solutions.

Gaming continues to grow into a high-profile media in today’s society. As public visibility grows, so too does the money involved. After the massive success of the previous “Elder Scrolls” game, “Oblivion,” the anticipation for its sequel was through the roof. I can only imagine the pressure Bathesda was under as the announced release date loomed.

But when you’re making a game that is as deep and engaging as “Skyrim,” there is little excuse for releasing it in such a state. If Bathesda honestly didn’t know the game would have such issues before its came out, their command of quality control is non-existent. If they did and released it anyway, it stops being a question of competence and starts being a question of ethics. I’m not sure which reflects worse on what was (until last month) one of the most respected publishers on the planet.

It sure seems to have come quickly this year, but Christmas is here again. Despite everything going on in the world – the volatile markets, the death of Kim Jong Il, debate over the payroll tax extension, etc – it’s always important to take time around the holidays to look back and be thankful.

With all the family activities this time of year, the holiday season truly is a time for reflection. It’s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy family and friends, and remember all the things we take for granted, from our health to the freedoms we enjoy every single day.

It’s always easy to get down during hard times, and that certainly characterizes the past three years. With a poor job market, slow economic growth, and tightening credit, we can safely say that these are not America’s best days.

The end of each year always brings reflective articles with statistics and commentary, which have been fairly revealing in the past week or two. We’ve learned that the average mutual fund is down roughly 6% this year, and that approximately 90% of all funds are in the red for 2011.

Sadly, that isn’t to say there hasn’t been money to be made; it’s just that the buy-and-hold strategy used by most investors simply didn’t work.

In spite of all this bad news, let’s not forgot that we’re still here. We’ve lived to fight another day. Regardless of all the doomsday forecasts, the world hasn’t come to an end. The dollar hasn’t collapsed, and people aren’t looting. Contrary to the predictions of some popular political commentators, people haven’t needed to stock up on ammunition and gun powder.

The bottom line here is that while it’s true times may be tough, we have plenty of reasons to be thankful – especially in this country. So for those who didn’t give enough thanks back in November, use this time to catch up. Spend a little time really thinking about all the things that are going right, and let the things that aren’t worry about themselves for a change.

So here’s wishing you and yours a MERRY CHRISTMAS or otherwise Happy Holiday. Next week be sure to look for our year-end article where we look forward to 2012 and discuss preparations investors ought to be making.

Dock David Treece is a discretionary money manager with Treece Investment Advisory Corp and is licensed with FINRA through Treece Financial Services Corp. He has appeared on numerous television radio programs including CNBC’s The Kudlow Report, and also writes for several financial news websites including MarketWatch and Green Faucet, where we previous served as an editor. The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

Ryan Majerle

Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk announced Dec. 26 that freshman guard Ryan Majerle is leaving the team.

“I’m very disappointed with Ryan’s decision, especially the timing of it,” Kowalczyk said. “We thought Ryan was someone who could help us build our program, and we wish him well in all of his future endeavors.”

Majerle played in 12 games this season and averaged 5.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

The City of Toledo will again accept Christmas trees at select city park sites Dec. 26-Jan. 27. Those trees will be chipped into mulch for use in city parks.
What are the rules?

• No artificial trees, only fresh-cut Christmas trees
• No decorations whatsoever, including stray pieces of tinsel
• No bagged trees

Tim Burns, manager of parks and forestry, said every time a decorated tree is dropped off, he has to assign a city worker to remove the ornaments and tinsel. This costs taxpayer money, he said. Sometimes, the tree is so decorated it just has to be pitched.

“We get approximately 500 trees per site and we have six sites, so that is about 3,000-4,000 trees,” Burns said. “You can only drop off a tree if you live in one of the districts, but no one is monitoring so we aren’t going to know. Most of the local municipalities do curbside pickup, so people aren’t going to drive to Toledo to get rid of their trees.”
Burns said the six locations seem to get the same amount of trees, but South Toledo occasionally gets more because of its slightly higher social economics. More money equals more trees.
“Tinsel isn’t as popular as it used to be, but one out of 50 trees has some type of ornament. Every once in a while we will get a tree that is fully decorated,” Burns said.
Some people like to bring their trees in bags, but Burns said it would be helpful if they got rid of the bag upon arrival. This year, trash bins will be provided to reduce the number of bagged trees.
The benefit of the Christmas tree program is twofold. One, residents can get rid of their trees; two, the city can use the trees for mulch. Twenty-five Christmas trees yield 1 cubic yard of mulch.
Burns said the city forestry workers make two kinds of mulch. The first type includes Christmas trees and is certified playground mulch (more compact). The other type is hardwood, doubled-processed, aged mulch, which is used for landscaping.
In addition to using the mulch for city purposes, both types are available for purchase. The mulch is $15 a cubic yard and can be delivered for $25 per delivery. Call (419) 936-3010.
The city’s mulch business started as a byproduct of its services, Burns said. City workers remove so many trees each year that if they didn’t turn them into mulch, the city would have to pay to haul the debris away.  In four years, city workers removed 8,000 ash trees.
Burns encourages residents to consider dropping their tree at one of these six locations. It helps the city and it helps save taxpayer dollars, he said.

• Jermain Park on Upton Avenue in District 1.
• Schneider Park on Schneider Road near South Detroit Avenue in District 2.
• Ravine 2 Park on Mott Street in District 3.
• Detwiler Park at Manhattan Boulevard and Summit Street in District 4.
• Bowman Park in the Laskey Road parking lot in District 5.
• Greenwood Park in the Gage and Darrel lots in District 6.