Two sad pieces of news reported at www.toledofreepress.com deserve a second mention.

Robert G. Bennett, who bought the assets of Tony Packo’s in 2011 and whose company operated 26 Burger Kings, died May 8 at the Cleveland Clinic.

He suffered a short illness, according to a news release. In 2011, he successfully bid on the court-ordered sale of Tony Packo’s assets.

Bennett, 76, was born in New York City. He grew up in South Florida and moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1966. He opened a Toledo Burger King the following year and moved to the area.

Bennett was an active fundraiser for Central Catholic High School and was a past director of the Toledo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, in addition to being involved with other charities and groups. He was also a past chairman of the National Franchisee Association’s Committee for Franchisee/Franchisor Relations.

Bennett made a tremendous impact on the community and Toledo’s business community is weaker for his loss.

It’s not a death, but there is also sadness around the closing of a Downtown arts institution. Twenty years after it opened, 20 North Gallery will close May 25, its owners announced in a news release May 10.

“The time has now come for the owner and staff of 20 North Gallery to move on to other endeavors and for 20 North Gallery to become a part of Toledo’s rich cultural history,” said.

The gallery will host a free 20th birthday celebration and closing reception from 6-9 p.m. May 24, 18 N. St. Clair St.

The gallery opened in 1993 and has displayed the work of more than 200 artists in more than 130 exhibitions. Its closing exhibition, “All Good Things,” is a retrospective showcasing two decades of the gallery’s triumphs in the arts and arts-based urban development, according to the release.

Owner Eric Hillenbrand said he’s proud of the impact 20 North Gallery has had on Downtown.

“I was not aware of another commercial gallery in Downtown Toledo when we started in 1993; now galleries and artists dot the landscape of Downtown — this is, unquestionably, 20 North Gallery’s most important legacy,” Hillenbrand said. “I am grateful to the over 200 artists whom we have represented over the years for sharing their talent with us and the Toledo community, as well as the many talented staff members who have contributed to our success, most notably Peggy Grant, art director Emerita, and Condessa Croninger, art director.  Their commitment to the gallery and its mission has made it the jewel of Toledo’s gallery scene.”

Saying goodbye is never easy. Our thoughts go out to Bennett’s family and we wish the best for the owners of 20 North Gallery.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: 20 North Gallery, Publisher's Statement, Robert Bennett, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, May 17th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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Northwest Ohio is home to many powerful and progressive women. Toledo Free Press has recently featured cover stories on a number of them. On April 14, TFP Community Ombudsman Brandi Barhite profiled Katie Rofkar, CEO of Nemsys, a technology support firm.

“I was one of those people while growing up here who was like, ‘I am going to leave’,” Rofkar said. “I went to Arizona — as far away as I could possibly get — but as an adult, I really realized that there was a lot to offer here in Toledo. That is why I decided to stay and build the business here.”

That business is contributing to a growing technology movement Downtown, and Rofkar’s commitment to the region is a strong vote of confidence for our potential to attract likeminded business leaders.

Another woman advocating for Toledo is Sara Swisher, the new director of EPIC Toledo, who was featured in our April 28 cover story by TFP News Editor Brigitta Burks. EPIC Toledo was founded by the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Wendy Gramza in 2007 as a way to combat brain drain. The organization has about 1,400 individual members and 62 corporate members. All corporate member’s employees have access to all EPIC Toledo’s benefits for free.

On May 5, TFP columnist Jeremy Baumhower wrote about Team 8, a group of young runners he assembled for a Medical Mutual Glass City Marathon event honoring 8-year-old Boston Marathon bombing victim Martin Richard. Baumhower wrote about his 9-year-old daughter Kacee.

“She was at the front of the pack during the first lap and gained momentum and rank during the second lap,” he wrote. “Then something happened. I saw her running the Glass Bowl a third time, meaning she had somehow followed the wrong person and now would be behind in the race. Not only did she lose ground, she added more distance to her run. When she was finished, she had tears coming down her face, her breath was gone and she was exhausted. When she finally caught her breath, I asked if she knew she had run an extra lap. Kacee’s reply warmed my heart and stole my breath.

“‘I knew 26 miles was not enough for a marathon,’ she said, ‘so I ran another lap for that boy.’”

We are collaborating with Baumhower on a new project, inspired by celebrity Demi Lovato’s call for famous women to post social network photos of themselves without makeup, as a way to empower young women with self-confidence and respect. We are recruiting local women to participate in the photos, to culminate in a late August fundraiser for Girls on the Run of Northwest Ohio, a group that combines training for a 5K event with healthy living education for girls in third through fifth grade. The organization uses “exercise, positive reinforcement and encouraging role models to help the girls discover the confidence they need in those critical preteen years and beyond.”

Look for more information soon. If you are interested in getting in on the ground floor, contact Lindsay McKibben, council director of Girls on the Run of Northwest Ohio, at lindsay.mckibben@girlsontherunNWOhio.org.

Toledo Free Press is proud to be a vehicle for positive messages for our region’s young women, and to learn from its female leaders.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Boston Marathon bombing, Brandi Barhite, Brigitta Burks, Demi Lovato, EPIC Toledo, Girls on the Run of Northwest Ohio, Jeremy Baumhower, Katie Rofkar, Lindsay McKibben, Martin Richard, Medical Mutual Glass City Marathon, Nemsys, Publisher's Statement, Sara Swisher, Team 8, Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, Tom Pounds, Wendy Gramza

This entry was posted on Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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Last week’s column about KickStart Columbus, an effort for which Columbus City Council and several community development organizations sponsored a contest and awarded free downtown office space for a year, garnered some inspired responses on Facebook and Twitter.

Amid pledges of support for the idea came this website comment by W. Gene Powell, president of Spoke Design, a company specializing in Web and emerging media development, management and branding: “What the folks behind KickStart Columbus have done is a great shot in the arm for our state capital. I applaud their efforts and appreciate you bringing this story to your readers. However, to imply that nothing like this is already taking place in Toledo suggests an ignorance that distracts from similar efforts that are at work here today. My partners and I founded Seed Coworking at 25 South St. Clair Street in May 2012. In fact, you covered us in an April 2012 issue of your paper. “Over the past year, we’ve offered inexpensive, monthly subscription memberships to our open-office space, and community support to dozens of area creatives, innovators and entrepreneurs. Some of these people have formed new businesses under our roof. We’ve also awarded free memberships to entrepreneurial contest winners, such as the winning team from last September’s Start Up Weekend Toledo event.

“Soon, we’ll be launching a startup mentorship program called WindUp Toledo. But Seed Coworking is only one example of numerous organizations that are fueling Toledo’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: The Toledo Community Foundation; StartUp Toledo; the new Toledo ECDI office; the Toledo Warehouse District Association; events such as the uHeart Digital Media Conference (May 10 at the University of Toledo), which will award incubation space and other prizes to local startups and new media outlets such as Silicon Rust Belt, which showcases the best ideas and brightest people from our region — all of these disparate yet networked initiatives are fostering the growth of new businesses in not only Toledo’s incredibly resilient and increasingly active Downtown, but the entire Toledo Region.

“While Toledo experiences a rebirth in economic and community development, our ever-present enemies are ignorance and complacency. Please forgive me if I’ve misread your piece, but it seems to hint at the former. … By combining energies and harnessing resources, we can be the envy of cities like Columbus — and influence them to write glowing reviews of us.”

I am looking more at a one-time event that could draw attention to the efforts of people like Powell and our friend Dustin Hostetler, who with Kelly McGilvery started a group in 2004 called Kickstart Toledo that ended up being one of the motivations behind Artomatic 419! and some other events. Hostetler introduced me to Powell, and we will meet to see how his efforts and the Columbus idea might find common synergy. We are also talking to Anneliese Grytafey, manager of Economic and Community Development Institute, who is onboard with the idea.

This space is designed to kick-start ideas, and with the help of Columbus and local innovators like Powell, Hostetler and Grytafey, that intent is closer to reality. Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Anneliese Grytafey, Dustin Hostetler, KickStart Columbus, Publisher's Statement, Seed Coworking, Toledo Community Foundation, Tom Pounds, uHeart Digital Media Conference, W. Gene Powell

This entry was posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 10:30 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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Here is a promising idea we could pull together for great impact in Downtown Toledo.

Columbus recently organized a KickStart Columbus campaign. Columbus City Council and several community development organizations sponsored a contest and awarded free downtown office space for a year. According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch, “The goal is to help fledging local businesses take off, create jobs and make the Downtown corridor more vibrant.”

Doesn’t that mission sound familiar?

The story read, “15 new or small local companies applied, and four finalists presented their business plans to a panel of judges.”

As many as three winners were possible in the competition, Councilman A. Troy Miller told The Columbus Dispatch.

After a year of free rent at properties owned by development organization Capital South, the KickStart winning companies pay 50 percent of the lease in the second year and 75 percent in the third year.

“Our goal is to have more activity Downtown, and retail is a key part of that,” said Amy Taylor, Capital South’s chief operating officer, in the news story. “KickStart is a wonderful mix of entrepreneurism and a perfect fit for us.”

Winning companies also get free mentoring from the Economic and Community Development Institute, a Columbus nonprofit, and up to $1,000 for signage.

A similar campaign would bring great attention to Downtown Toledo. A competition organizing space, signage and maybe even utility help could be a huge boost for the right companies.

Toledo Free Press will take the lead on starting the conversation with Toledo City Council and the appropriate development agencies. Using KickStart Columbus as a model, we could plan a competition that would offer a head start for a local business and bring further life to our revitalized Downtown.

I am open to your input and thoughts on this and will keep you updated on progress as we move the idea from concept to contest to reality.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him via email at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Columbus, Downtown Toledo, KickStart Columbus, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, April 19th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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I suspected the race to be Toledo’s mayor would get ugly, and my expectations were confirmed with a recent tasteless bit of grandstanding. On April 3, mayoral candidate Joe McNamara and former mayor Carty Finkbeiner exploited the violent and tragic murder of Kaitlin Gerber to call for background checks for potential gun owners.

Barely a week after Gerber was slain by Jashua Perz, who later used his gun to commit suicide, McNamara and Finkbeiner stood for a photo opportunity at the Southland Shopping Center memorial site where grieving visitors have left greeting cards, flowers and other items in Gerber’s memory.

I do not question McNamara and Finkbeiner’s sincerity in seeking gun control, but their choice of venue and the timing of their exploitation is boorish and insensitive. Did McNamara and Finkbeiner ever make such a stand after one of Toledo’s myriad central city shooting deaths? Where was their outrage when 1-year-old Ke’Ondra Hooks was struck in the head by a stray bullet, killed by street violence while sleeping on the floor of her family’s Moody Manor apartment?

McNamara and Finkbeiner could have called for action without manipulating the death of a young woman to fit their agenda.

There is no question that episodes of gun violence seem more harrowing under the media spotlight. I am open to having the  conversation about how to ensure gun owners are responsible, though it is clear no law or restriction would have mattered to Perz. And I have yet to hear how lawmakers can impose restrictions on guns without violating the Second Amendment.

Of course McNamara and Finkbeiner have the right to express their opinions, but choosing to stand in the freshly spilled blood of a tragic victim shows extremely poor taste and a lack of sense and judgment.

Those traits are Finkbeiner’s calling card; seeing them emerge in McNamara is troubling and a bad omen for his mayoral aspirations.

Thomas F. Pounds is publisher and president of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Carty Finkbeiner, Gun control, Jashua Perz, Joe McNamara, Kaitlin Gerber, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, April 12th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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Don’t tell me about the world. Not today. It’s springtime and they’re knocking baseballs around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curveball.

— Pete Hamill

We know Muddy isn’t really angry, just determined. And Opening Day opponent Louisville uses bats (the winged kind) for its mascot, not green piggies. But as illustrator Don Lee has captured on this week’s cover, Muddy’s determination can look mighty intimidating to opposing players. Opening Day at Fifth Third Field has become one of the area’s biggest events; every seat will be filled, the suites and hallways will overflow with excited fans and the Huron-Monroe-Washington streets block will hum with foot traffic and activity.

There is truly nothing to match a clear, sunny day at the ballpark. It’s a family event; it’s a guys’ day out; it’s a girls’ night out; it’s smells and sights and emotions that no other public gathering can evoke with such clarity and impact.

Baseball can be a few hours’ escape from the travails of life like no other pastime — movies, books, theater, music — can offer. That distinct crack of the ball on the bat and the undeniable thump of the ball in the glove are symphonies, car chases and page turners wrapped in one fluid, unrestrained by-the-clock afternoon.

Mud Hens Opening Day rocks. The streets around Fifth Third Field are alive with excited conversation, live music and the buzz of people filled with optimism and pride.

This year’s Toledo Free Press Opening Day issue, our ninth annual effort, compiled and edited by Managing Editor Sarah Ottney, positively thrums with the vibrations of a young season. We are grateful to our staff, advertisers, readers and the Mud Hens organization for helping to make this issue one of our biggest and best of the year.

We take pride in our home team, and we will continue to show that by offering the best Opening Day coverage we can, this season and every season.

See you at the game!

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him via email at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Angry Birds, Don Lee, Mud Hens, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, April 5th, 2013 at 6:38 am and is filed under Mud Hens, Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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March 16 marks the eighth anniversary of the publication of Toledo Free Press and the third anniversary of Toledo Free Press Star. We have published a combined 475 issues, but understand we are still at the beginning of a long process in sharing positive news and offering a “glass half-full” approach to chronicling the evolution of Northwest Ohio.

It has been a remarkable and challenging eight years. Toledo Free Press has grown to be Lucas County’s largest circulation Sunday newspaper, one named “Best Weekly Newspaper in Ohio” for the past four years by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. We cannot fully express our gratitude to the readers, advertisers and partners who have helped us and continue to help us in the

nascent days of our journey.

A major part of our mission has been to give back to the community that supports us. We have sponsored hundreds of nonprofit events and spearheaded such projects as the benefit CDs for Make-A-Wish and Red Cross as well as Leadership Toledo’s Restaurant Week Toledo, which just marked a third successful year.

With that mindset, Toledo Free Press is proud to announce a yearlong initiative, “Free from Hunger.” The brainchild of Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller and Columbia Gas of Ohio Communications and Community Relations Manager Chris Kozak, Free from Hunger builds on our previous efforts to address a critical community issue.

• 74,100 people, or 25.8 percent of the City of Toledo’s population, are living in poverty ($23,000 household income for a family of four).
• 37 percent of the individuals in Lucas County live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
• 30,116 children in Lucas County live at or below the poverty level.
• More than 85,000 Lucas County residents are “food insecure”; 35 percent of them are children under 18. One out of 10 of those children is younger than 5.

For Free from Hunger, Toledo Free Press, Columbia Gas of Ohio, Hollywood Casino Toledo, Wells Fargo Advisors, WNWO-TV, WNWO Moms on the Go and WSPD 1370 AM are organizing a yearlong initiative to benefit three local charities whose mission is to feed needy citizens in Lucas County: Food for Thought, Feed Lucas County Children and Cherry Street Mission.

We are recruiting corporate sponsors to contribute to a fund, established with the Toledo Community Foundation, to donate to these groups and host a series of fundraising events to benefit these causes. The March 23 concert by Bob Guiney and Scott Grimes will benefit Food for Thought.

As the year progresses, Toledo Free Press will devote considerable resources to highlighting the needs of these charities and to discussing this devastating problem. There cannot be an honest dialogue about education and economic development when so many of our citizens are dealing with basics such as hunger and nutrition. Through Free from Hunger, we hope to raise awareness and make a direct impact on our community.

Thank you for your support of our previous initiatives. As we hurtle toward a full decade in business, we ask you to join us in contributing to solutions, not just dwelling on problems.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Cherry Street Mission, Chris Kozak, Feed Lucas County Children, Food for Thought, Free From Hunger, Hollywood Casino Toledo, Michael S. Miller, Moms on the Go, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds, Wells Fargo Advisors, WNWO-TV, WSPD

This entry was posted on Friday, March 15th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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“The only sure things in life are death, taxes and Lucas County having the worst election board in the State of Ohio.”

— Steve Fought, campaign manager for Rep. Marcy Kaptur

Six months ago, Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) Jon Husted, undoubtedly with an eye on the then-upcoming presidential election, placed the Lucas County Board of Elections (BOE) under SOS administrative oversight and assistance. That long-overdue move helped protect the integrity of the elections process from the BOE’s dysfunction and inability to rise above the severely flawed personalities in charge. In a report issued this week, SOS-hired consultants who evaluated the Lucas County BOE recommended that Director Meghan Gallagher and Deputy Director Dan DeAngelis be removed from office.

In their report, consultants Jim Ruvolo, a Democrat who served on the BOE from 1976-82 and from November 2011 to February 2012, and Jon Allison, a Columbus-based attorney and Republican, wrote, “We conclude that the Lucas County Board of Elections as presently situated is devoid of management leadership, is without most of the basic organizational structure, policies and procedures necessary to function as an accountable government entity and is culturally plagued by mistrust and fear.”

We have been saying that since August 2011 and have long called for Gallagher’s resignation. Jon Stainbrook, board member and chair of the Lucas County Republican Party, would also better serve the public by going back to whatever it is he did before applying his unique talents to staining the democratic process with conflict and obstinance. In a Feb. 26 letter to the BOE, Husted wrote, “With yesterday’s release of Mr. Allison and Mr. Ruvolo’s report and recommendations, you have been provided with a roadmap to place the Lucas County Board of Elections on track. My office has provided you with all of the tools and resources that we can reasonably provide.”

Predictably, at a Feb. 26 board meeting, no movement was made toward following the SOS recommendation. There is no indication that any of the SOS’s efforts will effect change, or that any confidence has been restored.

This era of BOE operation will be remembered as an utter failure, a humiliation on a statewide level and an example of managerial incompetence that lowered an already pitiful standard in Lucas County.

Gallagher is collecting an annual salary in excess of $85,000; what are voters getting for that investment? Gallagher’s epic failure to control the BOE and its most basic functions has resulted in acrimony and an unimaginable situation for the Secretary of State. There is no logical future for her as BOE director and no clear path for true reform until she resigns or is removed from office.

Husted has provided a solution. The BOE is ignoring it. Stainbrook and Gallagher may feel they have outlasted the SOS intervention and “won,” but Lucas County continues to be the loser as long as these two have a presence at the BOE.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Dan DeAngelis, Jim Ruvolo, Jon Allison, Jon Husted, Jon Stainbrook, Lucas County Board of Elections, Meghan Gallagher, Ohio Secretary of State, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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In November of 2009, Toledo City Council President Joe McNamara announced he was exploring a run for the Ohio 11th District Senate. As part of that announcement, he said he would not seek re-election as Council president. Stepping aside as Council president showed wisdom, clarity and an understanding that he could not capably run a campaign and fulfill duties as council president.

Fast-forward four years. On Feb. 12, McNamara, who is again serving as council president, announced he was entering the mayor’s race to challenge Mike Bell. But this time, he made no mention of stepping aside as Council president, despite a far greater potential for conflict.

Behind the scenes, Council members, some of whom have been unhappy with McNamara’s leadership, began corralling votes to oust him as Council president. As reported by Toledo Free Press Managing Editor Sarah Ottney, City Council member Tom Waniewski said he sat down with McNamara a few days after McNamara announced his plan to run for mayor and told him he should “strongly consider stepping down” as Council president.

McNamara said no. But McNamara must have seen the writing on the wall, for on Feb. 18, nearly a week after his mayoral announcement, he stepped aside as Council president.

“This is about serving the citizens first and putting their needs above my own,” McNamara told Toledo Free Press on Feb. 18. “While it’s great to have a nice title, I feel I can do more for the people of Toledo as mayor for the next four years than as City Council president for the next 10 months.”

This indecision and flip-flopping is exactly what Bell was publicly referring to when he noted McNamara’s relative lack of “backbone.”

“Tenacity. The ability to make a decision and stick with it,” Bell told Toledo Free Press. “I’m not trying to be insulting, but I believe he would be more wishy-washy. Easier to influence. And [he’d] probably take us back where we just came from.”

McNamara’s performance at the Council meeting on Feb. 19 further reduced his standing. Council needed to appoint his replacement, but after several stalemate votes, rather than switch his vote to fellow Democrat Paula Hicks-Hudson and end the gridlock, he smirkingly refused to compromise his lost-cause vote for Adam Martinez, creating additional questions about his having the maturity to be mayor. It was a high-profile opportunity to display true leadership, but he chose to preside over the quagmire rather than drain the swamp and move on in the best interest of the people.

McNamara knew in 2009 he needed to step down. In 2013, he thought he could handle an even more contentious situation and, despite his spin, has revealed precisely the flip-flopping and wavering that makes him a specious candidate for mayor.

McNamara has several months to make his case, but this first step is an ominous and disappointing start to his campaign.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Adam Martinez, Joe McNamara, Mike Bell, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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In October 2011, Gov. John Kasich signed into law Ohio House Bill 153, which broke the monopoly daily publications held on legal notices purchased with public money.

I have covered this ground before, but in light of recent events, it bears repeating. The bill eliminated the limitation that links charging for newspapers with being permitted to publish legal notices. It opened the legal publication business to any newspaper of general circulation that publishes at least once a week and meets other criteria, all of which Toledo Free Press satisfies. The bill also requires a participating newspaper to offer its best classified rate for such publications. Allowing newspapers such as Toledo Free Press to publish these notices is intended to ensure that the best rate offered by any participant in this market will be competitive. The result should be substantial savings for all who are required to publish legal notices.

Toledo Free Press has, predictably, had to fight to get local government to learn and respect the new law. A number of agencies have begun taking advantage of our lower rates to reach Lucas County taxpayers. Late last year, Toledo Free Press began the process with Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez to compete for delinquent property ads. Eventually, Lopez sought an opinion from the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, which, on Oct. 16, ruled, “[Toledo] Free Press would now qualify as a paper of general circulation.”

Shortly after that, Lopez opened bids for the delinquent property ads.

Lopez cited Toledo Free Press’ lower circulation in areas such as Neopolis and Curtice as reasons for awarding the legal ads to The Blade. That perceived shortcoming has been addressed.

But after the Village of Ottawa Hills published legal notices in the Feb. 10 Toledo Free Press, a Blade representative contacted village administrators claiming, “The Toledo Free Press does not qualify as a Newspaper of General Circulation as specified by Ohio Revised Code.”

This is not true, as evidenced by the opinion of the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office. Competition is fine; inaccuracies and distortions are unethical and improper.

Too many Lucas County officials are stuck in old models and counterproductive ways of thinking. There is a new reality, and while many fear and resent the changes, those changes are happening in many counties and will continue to chip away at reckless spending of taxpayer money.

Toledo Free Press will continue to compete for county and municipal legal ads, in what will undoubtedly be a long educational process.

Gov. Kasich amended this law because of the tough economic situation that municipalities face today. He recognized that it was not in the townships’ or residents’ best interest that public notices could only be placed in paid publications.

Your primary reason to choose us for your legal notices is that we more than fulfill the legal requirements and can save your citizens thousands of dollars in the process.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Anita Lopez, John Kasich, Lucas County, Publisher's Statement, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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