Rose Brown of Columbiana came to the plant sale searching for shade plants. She found a Pulmonaria Trevi Fountain. (Chris Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Underneath the tents set up at Fellows, you’ll find herbs, vegetables, annuals, perennials and roses. Just outside the tent, you’ll find the woodies …

… Shrubs and trees plants that have woody growth. We have some trees we have some Buckeyes, Red Buckeyes I can see sitting there a couple of Japanese Maples, I see a  couple of willows, different willows – OK, they’re not your standard clog up your sewer line willows 

Garden supervisor Dennis Penner says lots of people help with the sale.

I have a crew of six today plus three from the landscape department plus all the volunteers, I’d say 70 or 80 coming in and setting things out, labeling them. 

Kathy Ligenfelder is one of those volunteers.

 I’m sorting out all of the herbs. We have thyme, rosemary – all the different basils, a really neat looking basil – it’s called an African blue basil that’s beautiful and the bees love it.

Ligenfelder likes the aroma of Pineapple Sage.

You got to take a leaf rub it and then smell your fingers … definite pineapple. Doesn’t that smell great?

She thinks the herb perks up summer drinks

Pineapple sage, if you are having punch, you make a frozen ring and put in pineapple sage – and you can use its flowers too – and then let it set in your punch ring 

Another volunteer, Phyllis Rench specializes in shade plants.

Shade brings soft colors, soft flowers

She identifies Virginia blue bells and bleeding hearts as some of the plants that bloom in shade.

Oh and of course, lily of the valley, spring fragrance, you just love it

Volunteer June Nolasco points out her favorite.

 This is a beautiful woodland trillium a very old-fashioned plant. It blooms in the spring, for any shaded area you have.

Rose Brown of Columbiana came to the gardens in search of shade plants.

 I was looking for something for shade and it’s got some bloom to it so I don’t find a whole lot that will bloom in the shade. Pulmonaria Trevi Fountain.

Also known as Lungwort, the Pulmonaria Trevi Fountain has speckled leaves with purple and pink bell-shaped flowers. It’s just one of the many plants, trees and shrubs available at Fellows Riverside Garden this weekend.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

The post Annual Fellows plant sale a great place to find – annuals appeared first on The News Outlet.

It’s a Saturday morning and I’m picking up trash in downtown Youngstown.

Lo and behold, what blows down West Federal Street, landing at my picker? A newspaper called, Shale Play, which covers Northeast Ohio shale activity.

Wondering where this came from – and assuming it was somewhere downtown – I walked to the post office, where most of the local and regional newspapers honor boxes are located.

Bingo.

And this paper is free.

So, I grab a copy and trot over to Joe Maxx for a coffee and read.

Truth be told, when I first approached the bin, I thought it was just industry propaganda because, well, it kind of presents itself that way.

However, the second page reveals that Shale Play is “published as a joint project by the Morning Journal, The Review, Salem News and The Tribune Chronicle.”

I read it cover to cover.

While it’s obvious that there’s an overarching pro-industry slant (and nearly every single advertisement is industry-related), there were several articles that were exclusively dedicated to opposition coverage. So, there was at least some balance and journalist integrity.

Anyway, this got me to thinking: just how many regional shale-exclusive media features are there now?

By my count, the list includes, but is not limited to:

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Pipeline,

• Pittsburgh Tribune-Chronicle’s Marcellus Shale Section,

• Observer Reporter (Washington County, PA) Energy – Marcellus Shale,

• Akron Beacon-Journal’s Utica Shale Section,

• Canton Repository, Times-Reporter and The Independent’s 72-page Ohio’s Energy Rebirth,

• The Vindicator’s Shale Sheet,

• The Business Journal’s Drilling Down,

• The News Outlet’s Inside Shale,

• New Castle News’ Hot Topics – Marcellus Shale.

And that’s just traditional media. There’s a mess of websites and blogs to boot.

So this, then, got me thinking: imagine if we had this type of exclusive coverage for things like the economic impact of local food production. Or technology. Or smart regional planning and development. Or downtown-to-downtown public transportation like high-speed rail and regional riverfront and bike trail development. Or even aspects of sustainable energy production that we can make happen regionally.

You know – that idealist, progressive stuff. Those things are not multi-billion dollar, multinational industries nor do much by way of advertising dollars for local media, but they could prove to be important, longer-term – and more sustainable – parts of an economic equation all the same – unlike the natural gas and oil industry, which is sure to provide significant short-term economic benefits, but is equally sure to fold up shop the minute the last cubic inch of resource is inevitably extracted.

Unfortunately, I doubt there will ever be a day where that paper finds itself at my feet.

And that’s OK. Obviously, natural gas and oil are things that should command our attention right now.

They just can’t afford to be the only things. And that’s something we can’t lose sight of no matter how much shale coverage is thrown our way.

But that’s for another post …

Phil Kidd, a community activist, likes to be on the defense and the offense, and – most of all, he likes to be in the mix. He has ideas and opinions about countless issues.

The post Deluge of shale news nudges out other important issues appeared first on The News Outlet.

The original cast members from the 1989-91 production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes” included (from left) Jeff Sanders, Robyn McCamy, Todd Hancock, Don Creque, Maureen Collins and Rick Blackson. The original cast is back performing the musical through May 12 at the DeYor Performing Arts Center. (Photo provided)

“On Highway 57, Pump Boys and Dinettes, meet pump boys meet the dinettes.”

You may remember the song  “Highway 57” from the opening act of the musical “Pump Boys and Dinettes” last performed in Youngstown by Easy Street Productions at the former Uptown Theater in May 1991. That production ran for three years and more than 200 performances.

This May, “Pump Boys” will make a comeback featuring all six original cast members to celebrate Easy Street’s 25th-anniversary season.

For Easy Street co-founder Todd Hancock the reunion represents more than just a trip down memory lane and a revival of one of Youngstown’s longest running shows.

HANCOCK: Not only is this a kind of a celebration of Easy Street being around 25 years, paying a tip in the hat to our roots, but at the same time its also neat to be able physically to do what we were doing 25 years ago and hopefully do it as well.

Maureen Collins, who stars as Prudie Cupp one of the singing waitresses at the show’s Double Cupp Diner, credits the “Pump Boys” show as the foundation that lead to Easy Street’s later success.

COLLINS: This was the real beginning. So to be able to bring it back with the original group at the small, new beautiful space at DeYor – it is going to be magical I’m telling you right now.

Hancock, who will carry on his role as Jim, one of the four singing, guitar-playing attendants at the fill station off Highway 57, attributes the shows popularity to its laid back attitude and widespread appeal.

HANCOCK: One of the first lines in the show is, “They say, work won’t kill you but worry will. Worry is just like a rocking chair it gives you something to do, but it don’t get you nowhere.”

Both Collins and Hancock agree the down home country characters are what kept people coming back to the Uptown week after week. They hope the anniversary performance will draw in old friends and a new younger audience for that same reason.

COLLINS: The chemistry of our six people made that show. When you came in you felt like you were at frog level, you were actually with these hicks.

HANCOCK: The people fit their characters so well and we’re all good close friends so I think that really translates to a good time.

Collins says reuniting the original six cast members and revisiting the songs after 21 years brings back a flood of emotions

COLLINS: From the tears in all of our eyes, to the strongest of us – Todd who never shows that kind of emotion – just singing the songs again we are all looking around like emotionally am I going to be able to get through this?

For the performers and the audience Pump Boys represents more than just a theater performance and a night on the town. The show was a milestone in Youngstown’s history and Collins hopes the show will be as much fun again as it was so many years ago

COLLINS: People remember the night they saw “Pump Boys.” Now this new generation is going to know what “Pump Boys” was all about and why their parents went to see it 20 times.

Pump Boys and Dinettes runs through May 12 at the Ford Family Recital Hall in the DeYor Performing Arts Center.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Patrick Donovan.

The post Classic musical returns to Youngstown stage appeared first on The News Outlet.

Amy Rutledge, the director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, said lack of infrastructure, such as county-wide broadband, and public water and sewer systems have delayed the arrival of businesses into the county. However, county commissioners are working to change that. (Mary Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

When the fracking industry arrived in Carroll County, it brought an influx of money – and demands.

“We have companies who are calling and wanting to build businesses, and we don’t necessarily have the facilities ready to go for them,” said Amy Rutledge, the director of the Carrollton Chamber of Commerce and the Carroll County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In her dual roles, Rutledge is often asked what advice she would give to communities on the cusp of the fracking boom.

“The biggest thing is having that infrastructure in place,” she said. “Build it – they will come.”

The entire county has fewer than 30,000 people. The majority of these people, Rutledge said, use wells for drinking water, septic systems for sewage and dial-up for Internet access.

“Our economic development director has told us he’ll be talking with somebody and they’re saying, ‘We wannna come. We’re gonna come.’ Well, you’re gonna have to put in your own septic and water and the next thing he realizes is he’s talking to a dial tone,” said Rutledge.

“And because that’s a huge expense, a business septic is way more than your private septic system.”

Despite problems in accommodating new businesses, the drilling industry still benefits the area economically.

“The county’s sales tax for 2012 was up $600,000 from 2011 – it’s, a 31 percent increase in our sales tax,” said Rutledge. “Those numbers are dramatic.”

Although there is some grumbling about heavy traffic, most residents and local businesses welcome the industry.

“The good thing is they are bringing money with them, which is helpful to the community,” said Ken Joseph, owner of Archer’s Restaurant on the village square in Carrollton. “Little businesses that open are going to all get busier.”

Based on this and the problems with business development, county commissioners are planning to ask for $15 million to get water and sewer to the Commerce Park, which is just north of Carrollton.

“That’s gonna open up more property for development and other things as we go forward,” said Rutledge.

Although a positive move for business development, this might also anger some residents.

“As you run sewer to a location, then that means everyone in between has to hook on,” said Rutledge. “Not necessarily a positive, but our commissioners (have) decided they’re gonna bite the bullet.”

Rutledge also points out that cell phone service and Internet connections are another problem.

“We are a very small county, a very rural county (with) lots of hills. There’s only one cell provider that works in the county and that’s Verizon,” said Rutledge. “The (drilling) industry is very much into using their cell phones. They get here and they’re like, ‘What do you mean my phone doesn’t work.’”

Prior to the fracking boom, there was no financial incentive for communications companies to invest in such a rural area.

“There has to be that need for those companies to come in and put in that infrastructure because it is costly… it’s the same thing that happened in the early 1900s with rural electrification. If it had not been for the (Rural Electrification Act), we probably wouldn’t still have electricity in Carroll County,” said Rutledge.

As for broadband, Time Warner offers the service in Carrollton. However, most of the rest of the county is on dial-up.

At least one company is planning to change that. In February, Agile Network Builders of Canton announced it would install a new broadband network. Construction will be completed in 2014, although service in some areas will be available sooner. CUE Band will be the service provider.

“We need broadband, we’ve been needing it for nine years. People can’t run business without broadband, as well as the residents. It’s good for our county,” said Thomas Wheaton, a Carroll County commissioner.

Despite these obstacles, some businesses have set up shop in the county.

“We do have some new businesses that have come into town as well that have opened in the last year, year and a half, which put people to work,” said Frank Leghart, Carrollton mayor.

Among the newest businesses are restaurants, two uniform stores and a Microtel, which broke ground in March. Also, the Atwood Lake Resort, which closed in 2010, reopened in October.

Unemployment in Carrollton is down.

“As of August 2012, it was down to about 6.1 percent within the village,” said Leghart. “In 2011, we were right up there with what the national average was – 8.1, 8.3 – we’ve fallen over two points since (the drilling) industry has come.”

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

The post Infrastructure issues delay business development in Carroll County appeared first on The News Outlet.

Caitlin Fitch has the story.

Regulars, who frequent Matty Goffe’s Café on College Hill, find the atmosphere comfortable and the coffee uncomplicated. They didn’t seem too concerned about the contaminants that ended up in their water supply.

Contaminants like brine and brine residue found in the wastewater that was dumped about 40 miles upstream. Last February, the EPA charged a Youngstown businessman with disposing of fracking waste in a sewer drain.

That waste found its way downstream.

Chuck Goffe, owner of the café and a lifelong Beaver Falls resident, does what he can to protect his patrons by filtering his water. But when it comes time for discussion at his cafe, he says the townspeople are mute.

I don’t know why I mean, I belong to the Lions Club – they don’t want to talk about it. They wouldn’t talk about it.

And although the townspeople aren’t talking, John Poister, the spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is.

Had we been properly notified we probably would have been able to give them more of a warning.

The Ohio Department of Environmental Protection didn’t notify Beaver Falls for six days. The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority supplies water for 22 Pennsylvania communities. Beaver Falls is just one.

Beaver Falls noticed some problems with water quality, but Poister doesn’t link the problems to the discharge.

The incident in Youngstown probably just had a minor effect. They noticed some problems and increased their charcoal purification

Jim Marshall, state representative for the 14^th district, wasn’t pleased with the water pollution and hopes to avoid an incident like this in the future.

The only way to really protect the water quality is the municipalities or municipal authorities are aware that there’s a problem.

After all Marshall’s a consumer, too.

I’m concerned anytime somebody dumps something into any water supply. I’m a customer and wish we would have had a better line of communication.

As fracking on both sides of the border continues, people are concerned about the future safety of their water.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Caitlin Fitch.

The post Lack of communication on water contamination concerns some PA residents appeared first on The News Outlet.

In the mayor’s absence, the president of City Council becomes acting mayor. The position’s other duties include calling council meetings and voting to break ties when council members decide on ordinances and resolutions.

So far, three candidates have filed. Democrat, incumbent mayor and former president of City Council, Chuck Sammarone, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary; and two Green Party candidates: Suzie Beiresdorfer and Terry Esarco. Whoever wins the Green Party nod will challenge Sammarone and the expected independent candidates in November’s General Election.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Candidates vie for City Council president seat appeared first on The News Outlet.

New Yorker Christi Everitt (pictured) is an environmentalist, who owns a solar power plant and a greenhouse garden. She is pro-fracking because natural gas burns cleaner than coal. In contrast, Susie Beiersdorfer of Youngstown went to work for an oil company right out of college. Her grandfather also started a company selling supplies to oil companies. She is now a fervent opponent to fracking.(Shee Wai Wong/TheNewsOutlet.org)

There are two sides to every story. But in the world of fracking those two sides may not always be clear-cut.

Take for example a woman in New York. She’s an environmentalist who is pushing her state to allow fracking.

Then there is an Ohio woman whose family has worked in oil drilling for ages. After college, she worked as a mudlogger in the California oil fields. She is vehemently opposed to fracking and is pushing her state to ban the practice. Lee Murray brings us her story.

But first, Rachel Lundberg fills us in on why a New York environmentalist wants fracking in her state.

Mobile Readers – Download “The complex world of Shale” as an MP3

It doesn’t take long for Christi Everitt to cross into frack-country. Just a few minutes in the car – four or five miles – and this New Yorker can walk a drill pad in Susquehanna County, PA.

(Footsteps on a drilling site is heard)

A concrete drilling pad is where the equipment fractures the rock, fluid is forced into the earth and gas is extracted.

Everitt, who runs her own solar power plant and a greenhouse garden, calls herself an environmentalist. She also sees that fracking brings jobs to Pennsylvania, and wants New Yorkers to get a piece of that. 

You know, we’re sitting here with our hands tied. We’re sitting here with an economy that’s all but dead. We’re sitting here with people who are struggling. We’re sitting here unemployment levels that are too high. There’re some good jobs in that gas  drilling industry.

Everitt believes natural gas is the best non-renewable energy source now available.

If they switched over all those coal plants to natural gas plants, we would just leap forward in cleaning our air. 

She also anticipates there will be less reliance on foreign natural resources.

I could hope that at least we don’t have an excuse for wars. Drill a gas well and bring a soldier home.

Everitt says fear drives the anti-fracking forces.

There are a lot of folks that don’t understand the whole process. Don’t understand why it’s safe. They’ve been scared by some stupid movie like “Gasland” that is so not based on fact.

“Gasland” is a 2010 documentary hailed by environmentalists, but panned by fracking advocates.

Citing safety concerns, New York banned fracking in 2008 and, in March, extended the moratorium until 2015. Everitt says the legal wrangling doesn’t help the Empire State.

I guess our immediate goal is to have drilling in New York, because without that everything else we want to do is kinda of a moot point.

Shee-Wai Wong contributed to this report. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

And now Lee Murray will bring us another perspective from an environmentalist against fracking.

While New York faces a hiatus in drilling, many people in Youngstown believe their city is on the brink of something huge. With fracking comes the promise of new jobs, good jobs, and the potentially immediate activity and rejuvenation that only a booming industry can bring. Opposing fracking here, in a city that is still yet to fill the hole where its long defunct steel industry used to be, is an uphill battle. Susie Beiersdorfer is an activist and would-be politician with plenty of experience on the subject of hydrofracturing. She learned about drilling at a young age when she tagged along with her grandfather, who ran a supply company.

So I grew up bouncing in the back of a pickup truck round Bakersfield, Calif., going out to wells, delivering tools. I got my degree in geology in 1981and then I worked as a mudlogger in the oil and gas fields of California.

Beierdsorfer says she’s always been environmentally conscious, but her mindfulness of environmental issues grew into a firm disapproval of the lack of regulations on new drilling methods.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen how the oil and gas industry is not regulated well and certainly within the last couple years it just really came to a head with this horizontal, high volume, high pressure, hydraulic fracturing.

Beiersdorfer wants to see a ban on fracking in Youngstown. On May 7, Youngstowners will vote on a charter amendment that will attempt to do just that. She’s also running for president of City Council. Beiresdorfer says the role does not traditionally hold much weight with decision making in the city, but she’ll use that position at city hall to steer the conversation towards an all-out ban.

And I’ve just been so frustrated with government officials being either not interested or willfully ignorant. They don’t want to know about the dangers, they don’t want to know what some of the consequences could be, and so that is really my motivation.

Beiersdorfer is a geologist with field experience in the industry she now opposes. That experience adds some weight to her argument, and the citizen-led green organizations in the area – many of which she founded or is a member of – will be keen to use that weight to get their message across.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Lee Murray.

The post The complex world of Shale appeared first on The News Outlet.

The oil and gas industry is bringing economic benefits to the oil-and-gas-rich areas in Ohio. Chris Davdison tells us how the industry is affecting businesses in one boom-town, Carrollton.

Mobile Readers – Download “Business is good, getting better in Carroll County” as an MP3

Amy Rutledge, the director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors and Convention Center, said fracking isn’t just good for the oil and gas industry. It also benefits restaurants, retail stores and gas stations. (Mary Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

(Sound of traffic)

The roads in Carrol County handle twice as much traffic this year than last.  Green pipelines parallel and cut across some of the country roads leading to and from the county seat, Carrollton. Pipeline workers, construction crews, street cleaners and truckers travel the same rural routes as farmers, families and businessman.

They’re spending their dollars in our restaurants, they’re spending their dollars in our downtown stores, spending their dollars here to buy gas, because they’re going through Carrollton to get to the different work sites.

That’s Carrollton Mayor Frank Leghart.

With those people coming, working their oil jobs, spending their money in town, creates the avenue for business to expand in town.

Chamber of Commerce Director Amy Rutledge says the gas and oil industry affects not only restaurants, stores and gas stations, but all types of commerce.

Our Days Inn has been running better than 90 percent occupancy for more than a year and a half.

The Days Inn has an addition in the works and is currently the only hotel in Carrollton, but soon it will face competition. Mayor Leghart again.

It’s a 79-room Microtel. When that opens up, that’s going to be more jobs during construction, plus jobs to run and maintain the hotel once it opens.

Also, Atwood Lake Resort … just a few minutes drive from Carrollton… shuttered since 2010,  reopened last October.

That’s huge in and of itself. We’re going to go from basically having – before October of last year – one hotel to by October of this year probably having three hotels.

It’s not just hotels and hospitality, oil and gas workers need special apparel, so that translates into more jobs.

There is another uniform company that is working in the village. And predominatnly their business is selling fireproof uniforms for the guys that work on the wells.

With all the changes,  Leghart says the village needs to plan for the long term.

Gas and oil drillers aren’t going to be here forever. So we need to maintain the integrity of the village now and start taking steps now to see that we maintain these businesses or we retain these businesses that have opened.

Initial reports predicted the gas and oil boom to last five to 10 years, now some residents say it may extend from 15 to 20 years.

This is one in a series of stories The News Outlet will bring you about the oil and gas industry expansion in Ohio. Shee-Wai Wong contributed to this report. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

The post Business is good, getting better in Carroll County appeared first on The News Outlet.

The gas and oil industry boom brings, people, trucks and rigs to Carroll County, but for one local business, prosperity is measured by brown bag lunches. Here’s reporter, Chris Davidson.

Mobile Readers -Download “Fracking success can be measured in sack lunches” as an MP3

Ken Joseph, the owner of Archer’s Restaurant, welcomes the growth in Carroll County. He’s had to add staff to his restaurant to handle the increased breakfast crowds. The eatery is also offering sack lunches to go for drilling and pipeline workers. (Mary Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

(Sound of cooking)

Archer’s Restaurant is located across Public Square from the Carroll County Courthouse and around the corner from the mayor’s office.

Ken Joseph, the owner of Archer’s, welcomes the gas and oil industry workers and sees the growth as a positive.

Mostly been good, there’s been an increase in population.

The boom brings Archer’s new diners, including workers from a pipeline project 15 minutes down the road in Mechanicstown. The laborers come from the South and West.

They’re all over, as far as Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, basically the Gulf area.

Here’s Archer’s patron and Board of Elections Deputy Director George Kaiser.

 I think most people are in favor of it at least the people I talked to. I just think it’s good for the county.

Kaiser and other regulars can still sit at their favorite tables or booths at Archer’s and now construction workers who come in the morning usually leave carrying something extra.

Something we added for the gas people are sack lunches, lunches they can come in have breakfast here and they can take a sack lunch with them out on to their site. So, then they can eat it at the site.

For $5, you get your choice of a cold sandwich, chips and fruit. For $3 more, your sack lunch includes two sandwiches, chips and fruit.

Waitress Betty Harris has worked at Archer’s for 18 years.

It’s brought business in. We added a girl on the day shift.

Joseph says he’s not about to change his prices. He predicts business will be even better once the weather warms up.

We’re gonna just have to hold on to our chairs.

Joseph hopes those chairs are the metal and black vinyl ones at Archer’s.

This is one in a series of stories The News Outlet will bring you about the oil and gas industry expansion in Ohio. Shee Wai Wong contributed to this report. For The News Outlet, I’m Chris Davidson.

The post Fracking success can be measured in sack lunches appeared first on The News Outlet.

The residents in the Town of Conklin in New York State see fracking as an economic lifesaver. ‘We’re looking to this as our savior,’ said James Finch, the town’s deputy supervisor. Despite this, a fracking ban is in place through 2015. — Photo provided

When it comes to fracking, one state’s action – or inaction – can affect its bordering states.

Take New York and its neighbors Pennsylvania and Ohio.

When the gas and oil industry began horizontal drilling, or fracking, of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, there was an economic spillover into the border communities in New York, an area called The Southern Tier. Those economically depressed areas welcomed the influx of cash.

However, the Empire State has had a ban on horizontal fracking since 2008. Attempts to lift the ban have been unsuccessful and on March 6 the state’s General Assembly decided to suspend issuing permits for this type of drilling until 2015.

That’s bad news for residents in The Southern Tier – which includes Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties. It also worries fracking advocates in Ohio.

“Communities as a whole have embraced the idea that it would be good,” said Doug Barton, director of economic development and planning for Tioga County.

James Finch, the deputy supervisor for the Town of Conklin in Broome County, agrees.

“Here (in Conklin) 95 percent are in favor of natural gas drilling and 90 percent of all other towns in Broome County,” said Finch.

This ban is also bad news for Ohio. Some may think that investors will move from New York to Ohio, but that’s not the case, said Daniel Alfaro, director of communications and public affairs for Energy in Depth: The Ohio Project, an industry outreach group.

“The longer the situation in New York unfolds, the more detrimental it will be not only to those in New York and neighboring states who are looking for work, but it will also impact the potential economic gains for the Appalachian Region as a whole,” Alfaro said in an email.

This could be trouble for communities such as Springfield Township in Mahoning County, which is in the beginning stages of natural gas drilling.

“There’s evidence of a lot of hiring just because the promise it brings,” said Robert Orr, a Springfield Township trustee.

A new cryogenic gas processing plant currently being built in Springfield Township by Nisource will hire 25 employees for the first phase, said Orr. The second phase of building will bring in more employees, but Orr is unsure of the number.

A cryogenic gas processing plant uses sub-zero temperatures to cool the natural gas from wells so the liquids (butane, propane and ethane) can be condensed and separated from the methane gas.

“We fell in a big pit when the steel industry collapsed. The local government found other ways to diversify, but we still need more jobs and the unemployment rate is still too high,” Orr said.

Another problem that arises is whether a similar ban could take over in Ohio. If Ohio politicians see what is going on in New York and agree with what they’re doing, there could be a moratorium on fracking.

That is exactly what groups like FrackFree Mahoning are trying to do. Using ballot initiatives, these anti-fracking activists are getting communities to ban drilling.

“Broadview Heights in Cleveland – they were actually on the ballot in the fall and won by a two-thirds vote,” said Susie Beiersdorfer, a member of FrackFree Mahoning Valley. “An injection well ban in Mansfield passed by a two thirds vote of the people.”

In Youngstown, Beiersdorfer and others managed to get a referendum on the May 7 ballot that would change the charter to ban fracking in the city limits. They call it a people’s referendum.

“It’s based on the Constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said Tim Raridon, another member of FrackFree Mahoning Valley.

“We have inalienable rights to clean air, clean water, enjoyment in our homes, people as sovereign local government,” said Beiersdorfer.

However, local governments can’t enforce these bans because the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has the final say on drilling permits.

The activists hope these bans will send a message to legislators to enact a statewide ban.

“We are, through the petition, (hopefully) getting through to the legislative body. The petition is really the strongest tool that we have right now to effect change,” said Raridon.

The proponents of the drilling have a plan to prevent that from happening. Education is key, said Alfaro.

“We’ve been safely and responsibly extracting these geological gifts beneath our feet for generations. In order to ensure this continues, folks need to educate themselves not only on the facts of what is and has been taking place in the industry, but also on how they and their communities can best position themselves to take full advantage of these opportunities,” Alfaro said through email.

New York isn’t doing anything to help that cause.

Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York Inc., said people look at the actions of the governor and the state legislators and believe they don’t care about them.

The coalition is comprised of 77,000 landowners across the state. Its main goal is to educate communities and correct any misinformation about fracking.

It’s hard work when the state is against fracking. Fitzsimmons went to the Park Foundation, an Ithaca-based funding program, to ask for an educational grant. He didn’t get a warm welcome.

“When we met with the Park Foundation, they told us we were collateral damage,” Fitzsimmons said.

The residents of rural New York are used to hearing this. Often economic benefits are weighed on how they will affect the larger urban areas, like New York City.

“We see that they (the urban areas) want us to support them, but they won’t support us, said Fitzsimmons.

One example is water supply. The Southern Tier supplies a large amount of water to New York City, which doesn’t approve fracking because of water contamination, Finch said.

“It’s a slam against us. They want our water, but won’t let us take our resources from the natural gas,” Finch said.

The “geological gifts” of fracking come through resources and economic benefits, exactly what the Southern Tier needs.

“The agricultural field feels this is a way to improve their business and allow them to expand and get them out of debt,” Barton said.

The farmers would not be the only ones who benefit from fracking. The whole economy would see an impact.

“Any time there is a major economic driver in an area it affects everyone,” Barton said.

“We need gas drilling to survive here economically because we have nothing else,” Finch said.

For Conklin, the number of jobs that fracking would create would be the best thing for the community.

“Employment is the biggest benefit,” Finch said. “There are no jobs here and it would provide jobs to the youth and others that live here.”

New York’s neighbor, Pennsylvania, knows the benefits that fracking brings. Employment in the core gas-drilling industries increased from 10,909 in June 2009 to 30,854 in June 2012, according to the Marcellus Shale Fast Facts, January 2013 edition, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Bradford County has Pennsylvania’s most active natural gas drilling. Since 2008, when the horizontal drilling boom started, the county has 1,148 unconventional wells drilled and 2,670 permits issued, according to the Department of Environmental Protection. This county has first-hand experience of the ways fracking can benefit the community.

Susan Portnoff, director of the Central Bradford County Chamber of Commerce, said there are many economic benefits.

“I would say the general community is benefitted,” said Portnoff. “When there is money brought into the community, restaurants, stores, hotels, those are taxing benefits.”

The oil and gas industries also helped the communities. Many of the roads they use are dirt roads, and the companies are paving them, which wouldn’t have been paved had they not done it themselves Portnoff said.

New York has explored the economic benefits as part of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which was issued in August 2011. The report was commissioned by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, which will regulate the development of natural gas drilling if the ban is lifted.

In that report, New York would see an increase of 1,800 jobs in the first year and an increase of nearly 9,200 jobs by the fifth year. After 16 years, the jobs would total 21,000.

Communities would also see benefits from the taxes on the wells as part of New York’s ad valorem tax, which goes to local governments.

According to the ad valorem tax, the amount of natural gas that comes out of each individual well is taxed as if an individual property. For instance, if one well produces $200,000 worth of natural gas, that’s equivalent to paying taxes on a $200,000 house.

The SGEIS reports that one well that produces 803 thousand cubic feet in one year would provide a little less than $319,000 of taxes in the community.

“That’s money that goes to local purposes: towns, county, and school districts,” Barton said.

New York does not have a tax on natural gas drilling that goes to the state. All money made from drilling goes to local communities.

“That’s why the state is considering a severance tax,” Barton said.

New York can learn from the things that Pennsylvania went through. Being prepared to handle even the smallest of problems can alleviate some of the negatives or adjustments the communities would face.

Landowners increase their rent because of the high demand for housing, which causes those who can’t afford higher rent to lose their homes. The rural areas would see an influx of people and would have to adjust to situations that were not an issue before.

These issues aren’t specific to the drilling industry. If another industry were to come into a community, the effects would be similar.

“There is no industry that will have a major impact on the community that will not require an adjustment on part of the community,” Barton said. “It would be the same for any huge change in the number of people in an area that would affect that.”

When a community has nothing else, it’s left with no choice but to learn to adapt to the changes from fracking.

“We’re looking to this as our savior,” Finch said.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron). 

The post New York’s fracking ban has its neighbors worried appeared first on The News Outlet.

By ANNA TULTZ
TheNewsOutlet.org

Rhonda Reda created the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program in 1998 after she saw firefighters use water to fight a fire at some oil storage tanks. The water overflowed a dike and oil got into a nearby stream. At OOGEEP training, firefighters get hands-on training in the best ways to handle any type of oil or gas emergency. (Photos courtesy of OOGEEP)

Susan Allison of Dungannon still remembers the night in 2011 when she had to evacuate her home because of a gas explosion a half-mile away.

“I heard a bang and what sounded like a plane, and it sounded like it kept getting closer and closer with bright lights, and I thought I was going to get hit with an airplane.”

The flames from that gas pipeline explosion in Columbiana County could be seen as far away as Youngstown.

“It’s always on the back of your mind that it could still happen again,” said Allison.

There is good news for Allison and other Ohio residents who live near gas drilling and pipelines. Although a new player in the field of fracking, Ohio is at the forefront when it comes to training for gas and oil field emergencies. In fact, first responders from veteran oil- and gas-producing states, like Texas and Oklahoma, have come to the Buckeye State for emergency training.

“We’ve had fire departments from seven other states,” said Rhonda Reda, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.

Dallas Terrell, a Wooster firefighter and paramedic, went through OOGEEP training. The hands-on training is very beneficial, he said.

“You get hands on experience with what you’ll be dealing with when going out on a call. The props that are at the training facility are tremendous props. They actually light them on fire and practice how to control the situation just exactly as would [happen] in the field.”

Reda, who has worked for several oil and gas companies, started the non-profit group in 1998 when she saw first responders use water to douse a fire at a tank battery, a group of storage tanks that store oil. As a result, the water overflowed a containment dike and oil got into a nearby stream.

More than 600 of Ohio’s oil and gas producers voluntarily fund OOGEEP to provide responders training free of charge. The industry pays 5 cents per barrel of crude oil and 1 cent for every thousand cubic feet of natural gas.

Texas also provides their responders with free training, but it is not specific to gas and oil emergencies. Those emergencies are considered under hazmat emergencies, which firefighters have to have additional training, said Glen Hogue, is the of the Odessa Fire Rescue EMS division in Odessa, Texas.

“We’re required by the Texas commission to have 20 hours of continuing education and have to have additional 10 hours of training in hazmat operations.”

In its 15-year existence, the OOGEEP has trained more than 750 emergency responders from Ohio and elsewhere. The two-day training program is endorsed by the Ohio Fire Chief’s Association, Ohio Society of Fire Service Instructors and the Ohio Fire and Emergency Services Foundation.

This is what Dora Silvis says is a proactive approach by the gas and oil industry. Silvis is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Alliance Petroleum Corp., which has oil wells across eastern Ohio.

“We live and work in our community and we believe our community is important,” Silvis said.

Without a connection between the industry and the community, first responders could into problems like not knowing the locations of gas and oil fields or not knowing how to contact the company.

“We have contact with the gas companies that drill the wells,” said Andy Frost, chief of the Austintown Township Fire Department.

Frost said companies periodically come and provide training as well.

“A rep will come out and give a run down on how the wells run and what’s going on with them.”

Even larger companies, such as Chesapeake Energy, are keeping communication lines open. Willie Brantingham, Winona Fire Chief, says his department has had a positive experience with Chesapeake.

“When they first came in the area, they didn’t know the protocol,” said Brantingham, “but since then, they’ve been very cooperative with working with local departments and letting them know they’re in the area.”

Having that open communication is important when there is an emergency. Unlike typical routine calls, firefighters must take a more cautious approach to gas and oil emergencies.

“As long as it doesn’t pose as a fire risk, we wait for the gas company to get there,” Frost said.

The job of responders when they get to a gas emergency is to keep the situation contained and assist the gas company in what needs done.

“It’s very typical that we’re just there to protect the perimeter and making sure nothing gets outside the area,” Brantingham said.

The oil and gas companies also have a list of 24-hour emergency service numbers. For example, Alliance Petroleum, which has a 24-hjour answering service, also has a list of people to contact, but also a guide on what needs to be done during an emergency.

“Should something happen, our field employee, who is responsible for the site, would be there with the first responders,” Silvis said.

Local first responders don’t really need more equipment. Typically, the foam that is used can be found on most fire trucks.

“The equipment needed is not much different than on normal fire trucks,” said Frost.

There are instances when additional help and equipment is needed, but according to Mark Del Protost, Wooster Township Fire Chief, these don’t happen often.

“(We) can have incidents when wells are being drilled and may need services of drilling companies or specialty firefighting teams, but they are extremely, extremely rare,” Del Protost said.

Meanwhile, OOGEEP continues its training efforts and, now, is helping Pennsylvania start its own training program.

“The industry could not keep pace in demand for the training and came to me,” said Ed Mann, the Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner. “I said, ‘We’ll do it, but you have to pay for it.’ They said, ‘No problem.’ ”

In 2011, Pennsylvania received grants from the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Assoc. to develop the training program. Also, in 2012, Pennsylvania imposed an impact fee, based on the number of drilled wells, to continue funding the program.

“Pennsylvania is eight months out from starting its training program,” said Reda.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

The post First responders get help from industry for gas, oil emergencies appeared first on The News Outlet.

By ANNA TULTZ
TheNewsOutlet.org 

Firefighters are trained on actual equipment to get a better feel for this type of response. “They actually light them on fire and practice how to control the situation just exactly as would [happen] in the field,” said Dallas Terrell, a Wooster firefighter and paramedic. (Photo courtesy of OOGEEP)

An accident 15 years ago directly led to the formation of a program in Ohio to train first responders in how to handle oil and gas emergencies.

Lightning hit a tank battery, a group of storage tanks to store oil. Emergency responders arrived and tried to control the leak with water. Instead of controlling the leak, the efforts resulted in water spilling over the dike and oil ending up in a small nearby stream.

“With proper training that would never had happen,” said Rhonda Reda, executive director of Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.

Reda said the responders were doing what their previous training had taught them. Those methods, however, won’t work in some oil and gas emergencies. To prevent something like this from ever happening again, she went to Ohio’s oil and gas producers and asked for help.

“I went and said, ‘Look, we want to create an education training program and we want you to support and fund it.’ ”

And that is just what the oil industry did.

More than 600 producers from Ohio voluntarily fund OOGEEP. The industry pays 5 cents per gross barrel of crude oil and 1 cent per gross Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas.

To date, the industry has given more than $2 million to the program so responders can receive training they need at no cost. At the same time, the responders can earn up to 12 Continuing Education Units.

“We’re pretty blessed and fortunate to have such a local program with an excellent regional training facility and great props,” said Mark Del Protost, fire chief for Wooster Township.

The non-profit organization’s two-day training program has been endorsed by the Ohio Fire Chief’s Association, Ohio Society of Fire Service Instructors and the Ohio Fire and Emergency Services Foundation.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the oil industry and emergency responders from across the state created a training curriculum that meets both state and national fire standards.

Participants learn how to respond to drilling and production site emergencies, evaluate the emergency, and learn about other response resources over a course of two days.

“You get hands on experience with what you’ll be dealing with when going out on a call,” said Dallas Terrell, a paramedic for the Wooster Township Fire Department. “The props at the training facility are lit on fire and we practice how we would control the situation just exactly as we would in the field.”

The training focus is not limited to what could happen in the gas and oil fields either.

“It’s about training for non emergencies as much as it is about training for emergencies,” Reda said.

Training classes are offered four times a year. In April, the 1,000 firefighter will have gone through the program.

“When I look back 15 years ago it was like a piece of paper of where do we start,” Reda said.

Now OOGEEP is serving as a model for other states that want to create similar programs. Pennsylvania is eight months from starting its training program.

“We know OOGEEP does a fabulous job of educating,” said Doris Silvis, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Alliance Petroleum Corp.

However, the program doesn’t stop at educating emergency responders. Their efforts reach further into the communities as well.

“We give out 35 $1,000 scholarships to college students through donations and the oil industry,” said Frank Gonzales, secretary and treasurer of GonzOil and chairman of OOGEEP’s Scholarship Committee.

In 2012, OOGEEP received the Oil Field Patriot Award’ the organization was one of seven recipients of the award.

“It’s one of the highest honors you can get,” said Reda.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

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By LEE MURRAY
TheNewsOutlet.org 

The proposed gas drilling certification process created by a partnership of the fracking industry and regional environmental groups is getting harsh criticism from grassroots activists throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The newly formed Center for Sustainable Shale Development, based in Pittsburgh, announced March 20 that it will create a testing and certification program to codify industry “best practices” and hold fracking companies to a high standard, protecting communities against environmental damage.

However, anti-fracking groups are suspicious of the new collaboration and many question the CSSD’s legitimacy.

“This is a publicity stunt,” said Gloria Forouzan of Lawrenceville, Pa. She has spent two years fighting the fracking industry in her hometown and throughout Pennsylvania through Marcellus Shale Protest, a collective of like-minded residents who want to see the process banned.  The group doesn’t have a spokesperson or leader.

“It’s a way for the drilling companies to make themselves a little bit more appealing to the general public,” said Forouzan. “Their PR has not worked until now, so they’re trying a different approach.”

The CSSD is a voluntary collaboration between some very unlikely bedfellows: The fracking industry, philanthropists and environmental groups. Industry giants, Shell and Chevron, have teamed up with Heinz Endowments, which led the collaboration, and several smaller environmental organizations to certify standards in drilling in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Drilling companies would apply for certification, pay a $30,000 and, if they pass muster, receive certification for current and future drilling.

“These guys are going to want to look like they have some kind of endorsement, some kind of self-regulation, some kind of best-practices,” said Jean Engle of Frack Free Mahoning Valley, an anti-fracking group based in Youngstown. “But the people who are actually concerned about the effects are just not buying it.”

John Dettweiler, a Pennsylvania resident who blogs at marcellusprotest.org, was also critical of the announcement.

“I look at it as putting lipstick on a pig,” said John Dettweiler. “It’s a public relations move by industry in that it doesn’t really change anything.”

The backlash from anti-fracking groups is to be expected. Although the environmental groups involved in the CSSD have been on the same side of the fence as those groups on some issues, the focus of those that now sit alongside Chevron and Shell has always been regulation.

George Jugovic, president of PennFuture, was one of the founding participants that drafted the set of standards. His group was concerned with protecting the environment and creating jobs for Pennsylvanians.

“It’s one thing for organizations to stand on the outside and sort of wag their switch at someone and tell them they can do better,” said Jugovic, “but to have industry leaders say that to other companies, in that space, who are engaging in similar conduct … it speaks loudly. Perhaps more loudly than someone yelling from the outside in.”

It’s tempting to compare this collaboration with recent developments in Illinois. The CSSD’s announcement comes just weeks after Illinois saw industry and environmental groups draft a set of standards that will, if approved by lawmakers, become enforceable regulations. However, the membership, participation and certification through the CSSD is voluntary.  The voluntary nature of the collaboration is a concern for Teresa Mills, co-founder of No Frack Ohio, which is based in Columbus.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Mills. “Once they get their little certificate, there’s nothing legally binding in it. We’ve all seen how voluntary measures work. They don’t. Unless something is in law, there is no teeth behind it.”

Dettweiler said that the standards would be easy for industry to meet and the proposed 15-point set of standards was not enough to cover the whole process.

“It’s not going to cost the industry anything to meet [these standards],” Dettweiler said. “What they’ve done is they’re codifying what they would regard as best industry practice right now. The document is filled with things like ‘as much as possible’ or ‘as much as practical.’ They’ve taken what they know how to do, and are getting a stamp of approval for what they know how to do.”

The list of performance standards includes provisions for wastewater assessment, stating a “goal of zero contamination of fresh groundwater and surface waters.” The list also includes requirements for air quality testing and imposes limits on “flaring,” a procedure where excess gas is burned off at the drilling site.

“I am skeptical of the testing process,” said Timothy Raridon of Youngstown. Raridon spent years as a Greenpeace staff member in Chicago before he started working with Frack Free Mahoning Valley.

“Who’s going to pay the regulators to go to every well to fulfill the testing needed? What are they going to be allowed to know about the substances used, that only the EPA are allowed to know about?” said Raridon.

The Illinois deal has attracted vocal criticism, too. The charge from anti-fracking groups there is that collaborations such as these give the impression that the continuation of fracking is inevitable. Dettweiler holds the same concerns.

“There’s no suggestion that they would not drill, or slow down their drilling,” he said, “or change their basic business model because of anything they can’t put a standard on.”

Dettweiler said it was “disappointing” to see environmental groups involved in an “industry-led initiative.” Mills echoed that sentiment, adding that some of the groups listed had no regional interests.

“I see that the Environmental Defense Fund is listed,” said Mills. “They don’t have an office here in Ohio… one of our members told EDF to go back to Washington, that we didn’t want them here.

“The industry may think this is going to pacify us. It’s not going to pacify us. [We] will not change what we’re doing. We still believe that Ohio should not be the toilet for the fracking industry.”

The CSSD reported an operating budget of $800,000. Funds will come partly from industry and partly from philanthropy. Companies will be able to apply for certification later in 2013.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

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Mobile Readers – Click here to listen to “Fracking boom can also lead to an eventual bust” as an MP3

Rank Leghart, the mayor of Carrollton, said his city welcomes the boom that comes with fracking, but knows eventually it will need to handle the eventual bust. (Mary Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

When you used to think of Carroll County, you’d think fields, tractors and cows. Now, it’s pipelines, derricks and roustabouts. This sleepy little county is the destination for would-be oil and gas tycoons.

Bill Johnson, Ohio’s sixth district congressman, has high hopes.

It’s going to be an opportunity for everyone.

Amy Rutledge, director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, says since frackers have come sales tax revenue is up 31 percent, from about $1 million to $1.6 million.

Carroll County is a community of less than 30,000 people for the entire county so those numbers are dramatic.

Carrollton Mayor Frank Leghart has noticed other changes, like more than a two point drop in unemployment and a lot more traffic.

I remember when I first moved to Carrollton a little over 10 years ago, you could drive from one end of town to the other end of town in just about the blink of an eye.

He says today traffic is constant in the county seat of little more than 3,000 people, often starting early in the morning and running through the evening.

Johnson compares the influx of frackers and other oil industry workers in eastern Ohio with that of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale deposit.

Out there you have people living out of tents and motor homes. Living with relatives. Their unemployment rate is 3 percent and falling because of all the jobs that are being created.

But Carrollton natives, used to living more conservatively, aren’t getting their hopes high just yet. Paul Feezel, chair of Carrollton Concerned Citizens, says he doesn’t expect this boom to last forever.

There’s no doubt that whether it’s coal mining, whether it’s the first oil boom, whether it’s this oil boom, someday this will be a bust cycle.

Leghart is planning for when the drillers eventually leave.

Gas and oil drillers aren’t going to be here forever. So we need to try to maintain the integrity of the village and we need to do what we can do now.

Feezel says the community plans to ride the wave of industry for as long as possible.

Now the question is, is it going to be one year, five years, 25 years until that bust cycle? We don’t really know. I think this is one of those ones where the community is putting itself out there and saying we hope that the boom is worth the bust.

Whatever happens in the decades to come, Carroll County citizens have some changes to get used to for the time being with the additional traffic, people and noise.

This is just one in a series of stories The News Outlet will bring you about the gas and oil industry expansion in Ohio. Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

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Chris Davidson talked with some of people who played hooky this past Thursday. (April 4th)

Mobile Readers – Click here to listen to “A little bit of spring lands in Lake Glacier” as an MP3

FISH-3-WEB

Riley Brooks, 13, of Youngstown shows off the trout he caught at Lake Glacier. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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During the first week of April, Lake Glacier was stocked with trout by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Many anglers were there to take advantage of the situation. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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Many anglers took advantage of a nice April day to fish for trout at Lack Glacier, including (from left) Mike Sinchak of New Middletown, Charles Chook of Struthers and Jim McCurdy of Girard. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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Robert Waller of East Palestine removes the lure from his third trout of the day. He planned to grill his catch with some wine, butter, lemon and lime. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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These fish eggs weren’t to be destined for toast points. They were going to be used to catch trout at Lake Glacier. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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Mike Sinchak of New Middletown brought plenty of lures to the first day of trout fishing at Lake Glacier. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

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Three friends – Dave Hunter of Masury, Larry Dotson of Warren and Ivan Melendez of Hubbard – fished off the dock just after Lake Glacier was stocked with trout. This was Dotson’s first stab at fishing trout. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

(Sounds of honking geese flying over Lake Glacier )

Well, I’m just here spending some time with my good friends trying to catch a couple fish.

That’s Dave Hunter of Masury.

He’s at Lake Glacier with Larry Dotson of Warren …

To be with my friends they are going to introduce me to trout fishing

And Ivan Melendez of Hubbard …

They just let them out up there by the boat dock. So it takes a little while for them to get up here.

They are just some of the fisherman who spent the day at Lake Glacier this past Thursday.

Here’s Mill Creek MetroParks Marketing Director Linda Kostka

Fisherman line the banks when they know the trout are coming to catch the fish  and they are all catchable size and pretty much ready to be cooked 

Kostka says the Ohio Department of Natural Resources stocked Glacier with 2,500 rainbow trout.

(Sounds of fish splashing in water)

Three-year-old Riley Brooks of Youngstown is fishing with his dad and sister. He’s already landed his first catch of the day.

I don’t know, I guess I just like seeing and holding the fish

He’s using night crawlers for bait. Dave Rupp of Hubbard stands a few feet away. He’s using kernel corn.

Hopefully, catch fish to eat them for dinner tonight. They’re beautiful. They are very special. They’re fun to catch because your rod bounces all over… like right now…ahh, I just had one….

Rupp lost that fish, but Robert Waller of East Palestine just caught the third of his five-fish limit. He’s looking forward to tonight’s trout dinner.

I split ’em, put ’em in tin foil, I put Lambrusco wine on ’em, pat of butter, some season salt lemon, lime, and then I  just put ’em on the  grill  for a couple minutes and boy they are good….

Glacier is among 63 Ohio lakes where the ODNR delivers the fish each spring. The rainbow trout are raised at state fish hatcheries.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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Mobile Readers – Click here to listen to “Selecting juries a crucial, but imprecise process” as an MP3

Attorney Scott Cochran at his law office in Youngstown, Ohio. (Rachel Lundberg/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Lawyers have the opportunity before a trial begins to talk to potential jurors in a process called Voir dire.

Every lawyer has a slightly different approach.

Well it’s a mad science. What you want to do is uncover those stereotypes and to exclude those type of people, who might be predisposed to look negatively towards your client.

That’s David Betras, a local defense attorney.

There is no set rule. You’ve got to look at the case and get a feel for the case and then you get a feel for the type of jurors that you want.

Martin Desmond, a Mahoning County prosecuting attorney, tries to personalize his time with jurors.

And so it helps to connect with that juror… and just you know, showing that you’re human. You’re not this imposing government figure who’s impersonal and has no thoughts or feelings. I’m a person just like them.

Finding jurors for any case can take a long time.

It’s a rather tedious process.

Each attorney can veto a certain number of jurors without cause and an unlimited number of jurors for cause. Those causes, like extreme bias, are outlined in Ohio law.

Though attorneys have trusted approaches to weeding out unfavorable jurors, Betras says the outcome is never guaranteed.

You sort of just do it on what I call the theory of SWAG, which is the Scientific Wild Ass Guess.

However the jury makeup comes out, attorney Scott Cochran says the process is crucial.

You can win and lose your case in picking the jury.

Attorneys may have different approaches to Voir dire, but they agree that it’s a vital part of the judicial process.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg

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Who’s the right mayor for Youngstown? Thomas Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, says part of that answer has to do with where the city is in its life cycle. He recently sat down with News Outlet reporter Andrew Donofrio and explained the role economics should play in the 2013 mayoral election.

Mobile Readers – Click here to listen to Chamber chief says next mayor needs to make city efficient as an MP3

Thomas Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, says the economy in the Mahoning Valley has stabilized. He says the next mayor of Youngstown has to maintain the growth and work to improve the city’s efficiency. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

When it comes to economics, Humphries says cities go through cycles:  growth, downturn and stabilization.

We probably were in the downturn for 30 years.

After 1977 steel crisis, the community waited for manufacturing jobs to return, jobs that could support a family.

We saw people sitting around waiting thinking that was going to come back, and they waited for years because they thought it would come back. And, it didn’t.

The former general manager for Sprint’s Ohio East region says were in a shrinking environment, but that we’ve reached a period of stabilization

We probably started leveling out about two or three years ago. What’s happening now is we’re starting to see a lot of industry come in.

Though the gas and oil industry is the most widely publicized, Humphries insists …

The gas and oil has been a big help, but that’s only about 45 percent of what we’re seeing.

He says there’s also been growth in telecommunications companies, the nearby auto industry and in warehouse distribution centers. Humphries says assistance from the federal government has also helped bring in companies like Exal.

Exal is a good example. It’s an aluminum can manufacturer. And if you look at the facility, they have about 350 people that work right outside my window.

That window is on the 16^th floor of the First National Bank Building downtown.

Of the mayoral candidates, Humphries believes both McNally and Brown bring value to the position. He gives McNally the edge in organizational skill and Brown a slight advantage in interpersonal skill. Humphries suggests the next mayor be a caretaker.

So that’s what I think we need in the next mayor is somebody that can maintenance and continue to improve the efficiency of the city and yet be able to have enough vision to lead us into the next 10 years.

Absentee balloting is underway. On April 25, candidates will release updated campaign contributions. In the coming weeks, The News Outlet will keep you up-to-date on the 2013 mayoral race. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Chamber chief says next mayor needs to make city efficient appeared first on The News Outlet.

State officials work to communicate spills downstream

By CAITLIN COOK
TheNewsOutlet.org

Mike Goffe, 36, prepares to deliver coffee while working for his parents at the Matty Goffe’s Café in Beaver Falls. A fiiltered watr system is on the counter behind him. The restaurant uses filtered water because the city’s water supply comes from the Beaver and Mahoning rivers. (Caitlin Cook/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Most mornings patrons at Matty Goffe’s Café in Beaver Falls, PA, sip their coffee and share the latest news. What they aren’t talking about is how much of the 250,000 gallons of suspected fracking wastewater dumped in Youngstown might have gotten into their cup of joe.

The city gets its water from the Beaver River, which is formed at the confluence of the Mahoning and Shenango rivers. They aren’t the only ones. The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority supplies water for 17,000 customers in 22 communities in the area. The treatment facility is 40 miles downstream from where the wastewater entered the river. It’s the first community to draw water from the river for its municipal supply.

Goffe, 65, the café’s owner and others residents learned about the dumping well after most of the wastewater was already dumped.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s said the waste water, which included brine, brine residue and mud, was dumped into a storm drain at least five times before an employee of Hardrock Excavating was caught Jan. 31. At the time, the employee, Michael P. Guesman, said he was told to dump the waste by Ben W. Lupo, chief executive of D&L Energy, which owns Hardrock. Both have been charged and pleaded not guilty.

Had Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection been promptly notified it could have warned Beaver Falls to temporarily stop their water intake from the Beaver River, said John Poister, a spokesman for the DEP’s Southwest Regional Office.

“Beaver Falls noticed some problems and they increased their charcoal purification at the plant,” said Poister. “The incident in Youngstown probably had just a minor effect. We can’t just say when they saw some increase in the tri-chloromethane levels and some other problems there that it was just because of Youngstown.”

Jim Riggo, plant manager for the municipal authority, declined to comment saying the board of directors decided to stop providing interviews because they “do not want to scare their customers.”

However, residents in Beaver Falls are used to jokes about their water.

John Haine, who’s known as the “muffin man” to regulars at Goffe’s Café, said when people in Ellwood learns someone is from Beaver Falls, they tell him he’s drinking their sewage.

It may be a running joke, but Goffe takes it seriously, using filtered water at his café. He’s not sure what else he can do to protect his drinking water.

“It’s an important issue but no one will talk about it,” Goffe said. “They (politicians) are not going to be transparent. I don’t think it has to do with anything new – politics is politics.”

Arthur Rose, professor of geochemistry at Pennsylvania State University, and his students studied the flow-back water from horizontal fracking. They found the initial water that comes out of a fracked Marcellus well site is mostly the same water and chemicals the company pumped in.

“Then rather rapidly it begins to become much more salty. It’s not uncommon to have five times or more the salinity in the flow-back water,” Rose said.

These characteristics could be somewhat hazardous. When the flow-back gets into a stream, it will be diluted quite a bit, but it will still retains higher salt levels than normal water.

“The thing I’m more concerned about is that it has very high levels of barium and radium – radium is a radioactive element,” Rose said. “It has values that are more than several hundred times the drinking water limits for barium and radium.”

In general, Rose said the saltier the flow-back water, the more these other contaminates are present.

Short-term exposure to high levels of radium can cause anemia, teeth fractures and cataracts. Long-term exposure can lead to cancer. Short exposure to barium may result in difficulty breathing, stomachaches, muscle weakness and more.

After the Youngstown incident, Poister says steps were taken to improve communication between Ohio and Pennsylvania so if another emergency happens, the notification process will be more direct.

“Any water treatment plant that pulls water from a river, anywhere, is prepared as best as they can be for problems,” he said. “And really, Beaver Falls has been able to do that. The incident in Youngstown, they reacted without even knowing what was going on.

As drilling activity on both sides of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border continue to increase, more waste will inevitably be produced for disposal. Some of that may again be introduced into rivers.

“I don’t think we’re worried, we’re just alert,” said Poister.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

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As the natural gas industry expands throughout Ohio, it brings workers from across the country looking for their share of the profit. The News Outlet’s Christopher Kochera brings us the story of one of those workers.

Mobile Readers – Click here to listen to “Well-paid roustabouts work long days, face dangers” as an MP3

On a brisk March morning in a field of Route 172 in Lisbon, OH, the air is filled with the rumble of machinery and the smell of diesel fuel.

Workers scramble to move drilling equipment as 35-year-old Brian Rose of Hamilton prepares for a 13-hour day of backbreaking work, using his Dodge 4×4 as a mobile dressing room.

Rose is a roustabout, the low guy on the natural gas drilling totem pole responsible for general operations on a rig, such as the upkeep of containment, liners that keep contaminants from entering the ground.

I basically keep containment under control, and then while the drilling’s going on, I keep up with it.

His duties even include daily housekeeping.

If there’s any trash lying around I pick it up, I even walk the outer fence here and walk down the driveways and pick up trash that’s blowing around out here.

 It’s very labor intensive.

Tracee Joltes is the assistant director for workforce outreach at Eastern Gateway Community College.

These guys, you know, work in all weather and they’re the ones who climb around under the rigs, hook up hoses, clean tanks, and do whatever it is that needs to be done.

Eastern Gateway began roustabout-training courses in March 2012. The three-week long, hands-on classes are funded by a grant through the Department of Labor.

From the March class, we have a placement rate of about 70 percent. It all depends on who’s in there and how seriously they’re taking themselves.

Roustabouts work long hours, sometimes weeks at a time.

I get here at 10 and I go home at 10, sometimes I stay a little bit extra. It might be 13 or 14 hours

Danger accompanies the difficult, draining work.

You can slip and fall all the time, it’s slick. You got machinery in there that’s running around all the time. You could walk behind a loader, slip, he not know you’re there, put it in reverse and go.

Despite the risks, Joltes says there’s money to be had.

I know of a couple folks making $26, $28 dollars an hour.

Rose is one of those folks. He says that the money is good.

My bills are paid and so I’m happy. Back home I was getting behind and things weren’t working out as well as they are here.

It’s a young person’s job.

What I do, I can’t see me doing it for a long time. Some of these guys out here are pretty old and you can tell they’ve been doing it awhile. And they’re broke down. I don’t want to be like that.

Rose says despite the hours and workload, he likes his job.

This is just one in a series of stories The News Outlet will bring you about the gas and oil industry expansion in Ohio. Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Christopher Kochera.

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Radio Version:

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Brian Rose is a roustabout for a natural-gas drilling company, whose Dodge 4×4 truck sometimes doubles as a dressing room. Rose’s responsibilities vary from picking up trash to repairing the liners that contain chemicals. He is responsible for general-labor duties on a rig. (Christopher Kochera/TheNewsOutlet.org)

By CHRISTOPHER KOCHERA
TheNewsOutlet.org

On a brisk March morning in a field off Route 172 in Lisbon, OH, the air is filled with the rumble of machinery and the smell of diesel fuel. Combine that with the gray skies, the bare trees and drilling equipment, and the scene it creates isn’t exactly picturesque.

On this particular day, workers plan to move equipment from a natural gas injection well. They pay no attention to the weather as they swarm the well. They perform their duties in perfect synchronicity.

Just beyond the frenzy is 35-year-old Brian Rose, who just parked his Dodge 4×4 with drilling company graphics displayed on the sides. Today, the truck doubles as a dressing room. He pulls on overalls with yellow visibility tape contrasting against the black, grease–stained fabric. On one side there is a patch with his name. On the other is the name of Black Bear Oil Corp.

He will wear this outfit for the next 13 hours.

“I get here at 10 and I go home at 10, sometimes I stay a little extra,” he said, raising his voice above the roar of generators. “It might be 13 or 14 hours, an average day is 13 and a half.”

Rose is a roustabout, the low guy on the natural gas drilling totem pole responsible for general operations on a rig.

His responsibilities range from picking up trash to repairing containment, liners that prevent the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment.

“It’s hard work. It drains you,” he said. “You go so long and so long you’re just drained. Then I’m back doing it again.”

“It’s like I live here.”

This doesn’t surprise Tracee Joltes, assistant director for workforce outreach at Eastern Gateway Community College in Youngstown.

“These guys work in all weather. They’re the ones who climb around under the rigs, hook up hoses, clean tanks and do whatever it is that needs to be done when it needs to be done.”

A native of Hamilton, a small town about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, he previously built limousines.

But the money wasn’t there. With a family to support – his girlfriend Jessica Campbell and two sons, ages 8 months and 2 years – bills began to pile up.

“Work got scarce and I followed the work,” he said.

A friend told Rose about a job opportunity in the natural gas drilling industry.

“I knew a guy who was working for a company, and they needed people,” he said. “I heard the money was good. Down where I’m from, working this hard you’re only going to make ten bucks an hour.”

Following the work meant moving his family to a mobile home in Salineville, OH.

“The move was better,” said Campbell, 24.  “It actually benefitted the family, because we were closer to his work and he was able to spend time with the family.”

Rose works two weeks straight with a week off. He earns enough to let Jessica stay home with the kids.

“I didn’t want her to work because back home I was working full time and she was working full time, and neither one of us were around,” he said. “One of us has to be there to take care of (the kids) and make sure they’re raised the way we want them to be raised.”

“It’s great going from full time work and full time mommy to stay at home mommy,” said Campbell. “I don’t miss anything.”

Roustabout salaries range from $21,860 to $51,550 yearly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“You hear about high salaries, and they range from $10 … to $18 an hour to start,” said Joltes. “I know of a couple folks making $20, $26, $28 dollars an hour”

Those paychecks do not come without risks, however.

“You got all kinds of dangers in there,” he said. “You can slip and fall all the time, it’s slick. You got machinery in there that’s running around all the time. I’m sure these people are watching, but you gotta be watching too. You could walk into a blind spot behind a loader, slip, he not know you’re there, put it in reverse and go.”

That danger became more real Feb. 25, when Abdal L. Audeh, 28, of Dover was killed and Alex Cox, 21, of Cadiz was injured in Carroll County on a rig owned by R.E. Gas Development, a subsidiary of Rex Energy. Sheriff Dale Williams said the two had forgotten to hook up a safety line on the drilling equipment they were working on and a piece of the equipment swung around killing Audeh. Cox was able to move out of the way.

“When I heard about that out here, I thought about it all day,” he said. “It’s scary knowing it happens.”

Faced daily with the reality of injury or death, Rose keeps his guard up.

“I’m not afraid, but I know it’s there. It’s in your head constantly. Don’t be in a rush, that’s when things happen.”

“I call him at least 20 times a day,” Campbell said. “Anything can happen, and I’m not going to be able to raise the kids unless he’s here. He just has to be careful.”

Rose isn’t the only one concerned with safety. The drilling companies stress it as well.

“There’s safety meeting every day before your shift and there’s probably another one during your shift,” said Rose. “They stress safety like crazy here. If you’re caught not using safety measures we talk about every day, there’re consequences.”

Those consequences can include being suspended without pay.

Rose does not have long-term plans as a roustabout, citing his age, the work schedule and the job itself.

“Most of the guys who do this are younger. It’s a little rougher on me,” he said. “Some of these guys out here are pretty old and you can tell they’ve been doing it awhile. They’re broke down. I don’t want to be like that.”

“I’d like for him to be home,” said Campbell. “It’s long hours, but he’s doing what he has to take care of his family.”

Despite the lifestyle and risks, Rose said being a roustabout is a good job.

“The company takes care of me, they’re fair” he said. “They give me insurance and everything. I can take care of my family, so I like my job.”

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

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Mayoral candidate Jamael Tito Brown’s slogan is “Youngstown Forward.” Brown shares the course he’d plot for the city’s future with News Outlet reporter Andrew Donofrio.

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Current president of City Council, Tito Brown says he’s set to lead Youngstown.

I’ve been at the table. I’ve had a firsthand experience of the resurgence of the city of Youngstown.

Brown says he’ll improve the city’s relationships with neighboring municipalities and outside investors.

It’s not just sitting at the boardroom table. It’s about building some social capital, where I’m sitting down with mayors, or council members or president of council from other townships in non-business settings.

He says social capital or mutual cooperation includes strong partnerships with the city’s higher education centers. He wants a workforce that’s …

…educated and prepared to continue the job growth in this community.

Brown says, if elected, he’d declare an …

… all out war on finding new jobs.

Where it concerns the oil and gas industry, Brown says:

We’ve watched the worst of this industry happen right here in our community: earthquakes, spilling and dumping.

While Brown says he’ll work for greater local control, he doesn’t believe fracking should be stopped.

I see why it’s cautious to say, ‘Well, we don’t want that industry.’ But, if we didn’t want that industry, we wouldn’t have a V&M (Star) that invested $650 million.

Brown plans to put the roughly $2.8 million left from the city’s three-year lease agreement with V&M Star toward infrastructure. He points to roads, streetlights and housing.

As for blight …

… If there’s one bad home on that block, let’s specifically remove that. If you have a bad tooth in your mouth, if you remove that one, the rest are smiling and bright.

He calls for stronger state regulations on abandoned homes. He does not want investors and lenders to walk away leaving otherwise good homes vacant, empty and unkempt.

I’m dealing with banks saying, here’s what, I’m going to do – tell the people to leave, and now, I’ve decided no we don’t want it on our portfolio. So, the city is holding the bag. And I think, there needs to be a greater accountability for those lending institutions.

Brown says it’s time the city had an urban planner, and he says that planner should be aided by interns from Youngstown’s higher education institutions.

Who would not want to work on an urban plan in a city such as Youngstown with the great potential that we have.

The News Outlet plans to keep you up to date on any new developments or candidates as the 2013 mayoral election unfolds. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

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Youngstown City Council will make a vague idea a reality next week when they vote on whether to begin the search for a city planner. Here’s Rachel Lundberg with the story.

The city planner position – empty since 2009 – could be filled by one person or an agency. Third Ward Councilman Nate Pinkard prefers an agency.

If we hire an agency to do the planning for the city, we might be able to get more bang for our bucks.

The Community Development Agency met Monday and voted to send the proposal before the full city council April 3.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

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Voters will go to the polls May 7 to elect the democrat candidate for mayor of Youngstown. The News Outlet brings you an interview with each of the candidates. This is the second in our series. Candidate John McNally IV shares his plans for the city with News Outlet reporter Andrew Donofrio.

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John McNally IV is vying to be the Democrat Party candidate for mayor of Youngstown. He plans to work on better city planning, tackling blight a block at a time and better communication with residents. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

McNally has served as city law director and Mahoning County Commissioner. He says he’s ready to hold the city’s top job.

I’ve been gearing up for this position, I think, for most of my professional life. And, actually I think I have the right temperament and the right frame of mind to move this city forward in the next four to eight years. 

The mayoral hopeful says cleaning up the city is a step in the right direction.

We have to put a better, a cleaner, face on the city of Youngstown.

McNally wants to target blight one block at time rather than one home at a time, focusing his efforts on South, Belmont, Logan and Wick avenues as well as Market Street.

You’ve got to put a hammer down to prevent further blight from creeping into some areas.

He wants a committee to oversee city planning.

The work we need done requires much more than one city planner. It requires the weight of some type of organization.

On the oil and gas industry issues dividing many voters, McNally says:

These jobs are needed and we cannot turn our backs on this industry.

McNally expects the state to continue to monitor fracking, and says local government doesn’t have the manpower to oversee the industry.

I think you have to pay attention to both sides out of respect for the people who are very concerned and very anti-fracking, anti-oil and gas.

Along with city schools, McNally says he will zero in on job training for veterans and ex-offenders who are returning to the community.

Those are going to be some of the social issues that if I’m elected mayor that I’m going to try to tackle on a more serious basis than has been done in the past.

If elected, he plans to be a sounding board for his constituents.

One of the things I want to do when I’m mayor is to start something called Five Minutes with the Mayor.

One Tuesday a month he plans to …

 … open up the mayor’s office and I’ll sit there as long as people want to come in and give me their five minute rant, or five minutes of praise or five minutes of suggestions.

Next, the News Outlet will sit down with candidate Tito Brown. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

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Not so long ago, drivers traveling through the rolling hills of Carroll County waited for the occasional tractor or combine to pull to the side of the narrow road before they could proceed … but that time has passed into the history books.

Now, drivers do battle with oil and gas industry trucks as Carrolton evolves from sleepy farm town to boom town.

I mean its traffic like you could never even have imagined.

That’s Carrolton Mayor Frank Leghart.

There is no way you could have been prepared for the traffic. The traffic starts rolling somewhere between three and four o’clock in the morning  and it will go ’til 6, 7 o’clock at night.

(Sound of traffic) 18-wheelers, box trucks, cement trucks, utility vans and pickups roll through Carrolton’s Public Square. That’s where state Routes 9, 39, 43 and 332 intersect. It’s also the site of Archer’s Restaurant. Here’s owner Ken Joseph.

So people are running into each other and people are waiting to get out when they never used to. We didn’t have rush hour and now we sort of do and it basically goes up from sunup to sundown  

Sherriff Dale Williams says county traffic has doubled within the past year.

With that you get more accidents. You have more people complaining about trucks and speeding.

Williams says traffic accidents rose 15 percent from last year.

Neither the sheriff nor the Chamber of Commerce Director blames the upsurge solely on the oil and gas workers.

 Our county and township roads, a lot of them weren’t even legal widths. So our people have learned to drive down the middle of the road. Well, now you can’t drive down the middle of the road.

Amy Rutledge says the increased traffic brings a big city problem to Carrolton. 

You used to be able to drive through Carrollton in a blink of an eye really. And we always laughed, if you blinked, you’ve missed us. Now, depending on the day, it can take up to a half an hour to get through our four traffic lights.

In addition to her chamber duties, Rutledge also heads up the Carroll County Convention and Visitors Bureau. She says most of the residents can put up with the traffic because of the pay off.

It is increasing all of our businesses – not just the restaurants, the grocery stores, The Ace Hardware – all of those kinds of places are showing large increases in their business.

Archer’s Ken Joseph agrees.

 The good thing is they are bringing money with them which is helpful to the community, there’s people finding jobs that weren’t finding jobs before

This is one in a series of stories The News Outlet will bring you about the oil and gas industry expansion in Ohio.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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Enterprise Rent A Car is opening an office at The Youngstown Warren Regional Airport. Enterprise joins Budget and Avis at the airport, while Hertz is offsite. Enterprise is the largest car rental agency in North America. It includes 5,400 offices nationwide.

The airport location opens April 1.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Kochera.

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Effects of ruling may be felt statewide

By ANNA TULTZ
TheNewsOutlet.org

When it comes to payday lending businesses and their practices, voters and judges like to just say, “No.”

In 2008, Ohio voters said these businesses had to stop issuing loans with exorbitant interest charges, which were sometimes higher than 400 percent. When these businesses decided to become mortgage brokers and still charge the higher interest rates on the short-term loans, a judge also said, “No.”

“The reason payday lending still exists is because the lenders are using lending statutes that were not meant for short-term, high-cost lending,” said David Rothstein from Policy Matters Ohio.

In 2008, the Ohio Short-Term Loan Act passed with 64 percent of voters agreeing to a 28 percent cap on interest and fees regardless of the borrowed amount.

To get around this law, many payday lenders began licensing themselves as mortgage lenders under three different acts: The Credit Service Organization Act, which allows a lending company to arrange loans with a out-of-state third party; The Ohio Small Loan Act, which allows companies to make loans up to $5,000; and The Ohio Mortgage Loan Act, which allows companies to make loans secured by real estate as well as unsecured loans.

Under these types of loans, the businesses can charge fees for out-of-state check cashing, brokerage, origination, investigation and other services, all of which add up to as much as they used to get in interest on loans prior to the 2008 regulations.

Recently, however, the Ninth District Court of Appeals denied payday lenders the use of one of these loopholes.

“The court basically said ‘no’ to small, short-term, one-pay loans under the Ohio Mortgage Loan Act,” said Linda Cook, a senior attorney for the Ohio Poverty Law Center. Cook is one of the attorneys who filed as a friend of the court.

The ruling was handed down in December in a case that was brought by Ohio Neighborhood Finance, or Cashland, which appealed the decision by an Elyria Municipal Court magistrate.

Cashland was suing a customer with an over-due loan payment. The annual percentage rate on the loan was calculated to be 245 percent.

Elyria Magistrate Richard Schwartz had ruled against Cashland, who had used its mortgage lending license for the loan and charged fees that brought interest rates in excess of the 28 percent limit.

Cashland appealed the ruling.

“The (appeals) court ruled that these statutes were not intended for the payday loans, and if they’re going to do that, they can’t lawfully make them under the mortgage loan act,” Cook said.

“The 9^th District is admiring the lower court decision that lenders cannot collect interest on these because the mortgage loan act was made for mortgage not balloon payments on short term loans,” said Rothstein.

The ruling is valid only in Lorain, Medina, Summit and Wayne counties.

What this means for the rest of the state is uncertain.

“Other courts of appeal may consider the decision if a similar case comes before them, but they are not bound to follow the 9^th District, and could decide the legal questions differently,” said Cook.

Cook also said the arguments used in this case could be used to support similar cases against loans taken out under the Small Loan Act, which was another way payday lenders skirted the Short Term Loan Act. However, the same cannot be said about the third loophole.

“Licensees under the Credit Services Organization Act do not make loans. Instead, among other permissible activities, they may arrange credit. Therefore, the 9^th District ruling does not address the activities of CSOs,” said Cook.

Rothstein said the ruling would indirectly affect the CSOs.

“The CSO use would be interesting because the third-party lender in the CSO transaction is usually licensed under the Mortgage Lending Act. So it could indirectly impact the CSO transaction if the third party can’t loan under that that law.”

Despite these questions, Cook believe that court ruling is a step in the right direction.

“I do not believe that one appellate court decision will substantially change the current face of payday lending in Ohio, but it is a good start down the road.”

It may be a small victory for Ohioans, but the payday lenders aren’t giving up.

“Cashland has taken the first step in an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, but that does not guarantee that the court will accept the appeal,” said Cook.

If the Supreme Court takes the appeal, its decision would affect the way the industry handles payday loans.

A ruling against the lenders would threaten their future business. If they can no longer use these licenses to handle loans, it would put lenders in a bind as Rothstein said.

“There’s a danger for the payday lenders if they appeal and lose. They would be in a tough position.

Lenders are used to this “tough position.” They had the same issue in 2008, and worked their way around it.

The Supreme Court could prevent lenders from using these licenses for payday lending, but, as Ohio has already seen, it is not a guarantee the lenders will comply.

“This industry is very nimble and creative in finding ways to make exploitative loans and argue they are providing a valuable service, meeting a need, etcetera,” said Cook.

Repeated attempts to reach representatives from Cashland for comment were unsuccessful.

Kayleigh Brandt contributed to this story.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

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Jim Barbour, a farmer in Susquehanna County, PA, is happy that a new compressor plant is being built on his property, near his produce stand. However, he is unhappy that the state just implemented a rule limiting air emissions from compressor stations. (Caitlin Cook/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Published March 19, 2013 in The Vindicator (Link)

By CAITLIN COOK
TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

Even with Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to increase the severance tax on gas and oil production, the Buckeye State remains one of the cheapest states for the industry to do business in, Ohio officials say.

In Pennsylvania, one well’s annual impact fees, approved under the state’s Act 13 bill, could generate from $300,000 to $600,000 over the course of 15 years.

Kasich’s severance-tax plan, however, would transition the current tax of 20 cents per barrel of extracted natural gas to a flat 4 percent tax rate.

And that has neighboring Pennsylvanians worried.

In one year alone, 2011, Pennsylvania collected $204 million in well fees. That money was disbursed for bridge repairs ($18 million), parks and green space ($10 million), and state emergency, energy and environment offices ($23 million). Also, $108 million went to counties and cities, with $10 million going into a rainy-day fund.

Jim Barbour is a third-generation farmer who leases 460 acres of his family farmland in Liberty Township, Pa., near Scranton, to the natural-gas industry. He thinks that as Pennsylvanians call for greater fees and more regulation of the industry there, companies will head for Ohio to maximize profit.

“If you push them too hard, and it gets too much, and if the state gets too greedy and starts requiring too much, they’re going to find a place where the dollar fits better,” said Barbour.

Under Act 13, enacted last year in Pennsylvania, impact fees are assessed annually for 15 years. The new legislation allows counties to impose an impact fee on wells to help fund local government projects. In 2012, that fee amounted up to $50,000 per well.

The fee amount depends on the type of well — traditional or vertical and unconventional or horizontal, how long it’s been operating and the average annual price of natural gas.

In year one, the fee in Pennsylvania would be between $40,000 and $60,000. If natural-gas prices average $3 to $4.99 annually, then the impact fee would be a flat $50,000 per well. Once average annual prices exceed $5, then the fee would be $55,000. If gas climbs higher than $5.99, fees would reach $60,000 per well.

Right now, there are no projections on how much Pennsylvania will rake in. Jennifer Kocher, press secretary for Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission, said there are “too many variables” to predict future revenue. She did say the state hopes to have some projections by April.

Unlike Pennsylvania, Ohio’s money from the severance tax will go in the general fund to reduce personal income tax by 20 percent, said Gary Gudmundson, spokesman for the state Department of Taxation.

The severance tax is projected to earn $45 million in fiscal year 2014 and $305 million by fiscal year 2016, Gudmundson said.

The petroleum industry, however, has taken a stance on Kasich’s plan, arguing that any tax increase on drilling is counterproductive.

The proposal is “ill-conceived and ill-timed,” said Reid Porter, spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute. He would not say, however, whether the industry prefers Pennsylvania’s impact-fee model to the severance-tax plan proposed in Ohio.

State Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, said Ohio must look at the administrative costs associated with tax collection at both the state and local level.

She previously suggested a severance tax for the oil and gas industry be distributed similar to the casino revenues.

“I think we could have applied a similar model where the communities that have the high share of activity pertaining to the oil and gas industry would receive a larger portion of the severance tax and then the remaining balance would be allocated to the other counties in the state,” Cafaro said.

Barbour thinks Ohio’s low tax, coupled with pushes for greater restrictions in his state, could dampen the boom in Pennsylvania before it even peaks.

As late as Jan. 31, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection mandated tighter restrictions on emissions from compressor stations. The agency also is looking into reducing wellhead emissions.

This latest regulation worries Barbour because a compressor station is being built next to his produce stand along state Route 29. That station will pressurize gas and move it quickly through pipelines to market.

Barbour doesn’t agree with the ongoing regulations and taxes being slapped on the industry. He said the oil and gas companies are finding out business in Pennsylvania isn’t like Texas or Louisiana.

“We were a lot less restrictive, but it keeps getting worse,” he said.

That’s why Barbour worries that Ohio might become more attractive to drillers than Pennsylvania.

Doug McLinko, a commissioner in the most-drilled area of Pennsylvania, Bradford County, shares Barbour’s concerns.

“When you start taxing prosperity and growth, I’m damn scared you’re going to chase the industry away,” McLinko said.

McLinko didn’t support Act 13 because of the enormous charitable contributions the natural-gas industry already invested in his county. He also didn’t agree with the state’s impact fee reaching back and placing fees on wells drilled in 2008 and 2009.

Bradford County has about 1,000 wells and 500 drilling units with roughly 800 miles of gathering pipeline line dispersed throughout its boundaries. The county received the most money in the state in December from the first round of impact fees with roughly $8 million. In July, McLinko expects to receive just under $7 million.

Amy Rutledge, director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, Ohio’s most-drilled area, said the chamber hasn’t taken an official stance on the increase in severance tax but believes Ohio will remain competitive. Carroll County is one of a handful in Ohio that has seen a boom in tax revenue from shale exploration as sales in the county rose 33 percent from 2011 to 2012.

“I think it’s premature, personally, to raise taxes on an industry that is just trying to get started and to do something,” Rutledge added.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University, Kent State University and University of Akron journalism programs and professional media outlets including WYSU-FM Radio, The Vindicator and The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio, both of Akron.

The post Despite possible increase in Ohio taxes, Pennsylvania Fears Drilling May Move West appeared first on The News Outlet.

Jerry O’Hara, president of the Garden District Neighborhood Association, said the effort to revitalize the West side neighborhood has received help from the Mill Creek MetroParks and the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. (Christopher Kochera/TheNewsOutlet.org)

By CHRISTOPHER KOCHERA
TheNewsOutlet.org

In one of the older neighborhoods on the lower West Side of Youngstown, the signs of blight are wilting.

This blooming resurgence is being cultivated by the Garden District Neighborhood Association, which was formed in 2011.

The 80 members of the association tend to the area, which is surrounded by the serenity of Mill Creek Park and the bustle of Mahoning Avenue.

“Our biggest concern down here was the blight, the abandoned houses and the absentee landlords,” said Jerry O’Hara, president of the group.

Constructed in the 1930s, the neighborhood stretches from Fellows Riverside Gardens to Belle Vista Avenue. From there, it extends south to McCollum Road.

The Garden District is filled with a mixture of American Foursquare, Victorian, Cape Cod and ranch-style houses. Many of these homes are abandoned, foreclosed on by banks and forgotten by the city. Some pose a safety hazard to residents.

The neighborhood group works with the city to report and demolish the buildings. O’Hara said members also work with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative to hold banks accountable for empty homes.

Keeping up with the abandoned homes is “an everyday chore,” said O’Hara.

“If it needs boarded up, we board it up. If the grass gets so high, and the city can’t cut it, we can have a volunteer cut the grass. We do what we can to try to keep that structure safe,” he said.

The group’s ultimate goal is to create a vibrant art community in the area.

“We’d like to see this area to be an art area,” he said. “We already have different artists that have moved into the area, and that’s what we’d like to see it advertised as.”

Although the area is in transition, O’Hara said it is a great place for families to call home.

“It’s one of the safer areas in the city,” he said. “It’s close to public transportation, within walking distance of Mill Creek Park, has nice housing stock and good neighbors that are concerned about one another.”

Community involvement and the close proximity of Mill Creek Park attracted Tammy Adams to the Garden District. A former Idora Neighborhood resident, she moved into her Milton Avenue home in June 2012.

“I love it down here, it’s really quiet. There’s low crime and everyone’s really nice.”

The park makes for beautiful scenery, especially during the summer months, she added.

O’Hara said several area organizations, including the MVOC and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Coalition have helped with neighborhood improvements.

Mill Creek MetroParks and the Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens have taken a special interest in the Garden District neighborhood.

“The MetroParks’ role with the Garden District is to be a good neighbor. It’s important what the neighborhood looks like to us,” said Keith Kaiser, director of horticulture for MetroParks. “It’s our neighborhood, it’s our front door. We want to help them.”

“The park’s done some great things,” said Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th. “One thing the (neighborhood) doesn’t have is a community center. The MetroParks has opened its doors for them to have meetings, and support the neighborhood block watch groups.”

“They just do things for the neighborhood. They’re more or less working hand in hand with us trying to keep this area down here nice,” said O’Hara. “They help us whenever they can.”

Ray said although the neighborhood has made improvements, a fair amount of work remains.

“Code enforcement and demolitions, these things would stabilize the neighborhood,” he said. “Some of this stuff takes years to achieve. The neighborhood didn’t get in the state it’s in overnight, so it’s kinda like baby steps. Slowly we chip away at it and build capacity and build momentum.”

O’Hara encouraged the involvement of Garden District Residents to maintain a good quality of life. The group meets monthly March to December at the Davis Education and Visitor Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

“Community involvement is a big part of it. There are so many eyes and ears down here that it’s ‘Mrs. Kravitz’s’ neighborhood. But that’s what it takes nowadays. If you don’t pay attention, you’re going to get stung.”

Those interested in the effort can visit gardendistrictcw.tripod.com and or the group’s Facebook page.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, The University of Akron and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown), The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).

The post Garden district blooms on West Side of Youngstown appeared first on The News Outlet.

Mobile Readers – Download “Voter turnout, race to decide mayoral outcome in Youngstown” as an MP3

Unless voter turnout is higher than expected, Joyce Kale-Pesta, the director of the Mahoning County Board of elections, said the Youngstown mayoral election will come down to the city’s Fifth Ward. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Voting is the only instrument we have to change things. People in foreign countries, they fight for the right to vote. They’ll die for the right to vote. They’ll stand in line for five or 10 hours for the right to vote. We take it for granted and we don’t use it the way we should.

Kale-Pesta says people often lose sight of the importance of local politics and put  their eggs in the federal basket when it comes to voting.

It’s surprising how the people only get excited in their presidential election. Sometimes they come and they only vote for President. They don’t vote for anybody else on the ticket and that’s the sadness of it. 

Citing the city’s Fifth Ward as a possible battleground for votes, she believes race will play a major factor in the outcome of the election.

This election is going to be racially motivated. I mean it’s just a matter of the way the wards in the city is broken up. And, that’s a sad thing, but that’s the reality of it. I think the Second and Third Wards will go for Tito. McNally will have the Fourth and Seventh, part of the Fifth. Tito will have part of the Fifth. So, I think it depends on voter turnout.

Kale-Pesta adds that the party endorsement forces Brown to work harder than McNally.

If the committeemen who voted for John McNally work their precincts and get the vote out for him and, and, truly get his ideas pushed, I think he has a better shot than Tito. I think that Tito will have to work a little harder without the endorsement.

Though she expects McNally to hold an advantage, Kale-Pesta says she’s confident in Brown and McNally’s abilities to run the city. In Smith’s case, she’s not sure he’s ready.

They both are experience and qualified. I think either one of them will do a good job. I like Mr. Smith. I think his heart is in the absolute right place, but I don’t think he’s got the wherewithal to run the city of Youngstown.  

In Kale-Pesta’s experience, the disheartening part of local elections is that the people who say they want change the most tend to stay home rather than cast a ballot.

Either the people that are angry don’t go and vote, the people that really want change don’t vote and the people that are behind the candidate do. So, what they have, they one instrument they have to change things, they don’t use. They don’t vote.

For our next segment, we’ll sit down with Thomas Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Voter turnout, race to decide mayoral outcome in Youngstown appeared first on The News Outlet.

Mobile Readers – Download “Smith plans to surprise Dem Party with strong primary showing” as an MP3

Matthew Smith, may be upset he didn’t get the endorsement of the Democratic Primary, but he believes he will have a good showing during the May 7 primary. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Smith says he’d focus his efforts on restoring the city’s East Side neighborhoods, which he believes are the key to strengthening the city as a whole. Smith says he’s more in tune with voters than his opponents.

Smith questions John McNally’s leadership and experience.

McNally ain’t did nothing. That’s what I’m trying to say. He’s a young boy trying to do something, but he got to, he got to, know.

According to Smith, his other opponent, Tito Brown, has failed to show voters enough progress during his tenure as city council president.

If you think Tito Brown did a good job, OK, then vote for him. But, everybody knows that the way things are right now, he ain’t did a good job. And, that’s why people want people like myself to get in there and get involved in what’s going on.

Smith says he’s the right candidate for mayor because he can handle the unexpected.

Things happen. The job is very pressured. Again, you got to know what to do when it occur, OK. And, if you don’t they what to do when things happen, you’d be in a lot of trouble.

Next, we’ll sit down with mayoral candidate John McNally IV. The News Outlet encourages Youngstown voters to have their say in the election by tweeting their questions to hash tag Ask the Candidate or by posting questions to the News Outlet’s facebook page. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Smith plans to surprise Dem Party with strong primary showing appeared first on The News Outlet.

Mobile Readers – Download “Mill Creek is more than a park; it’s a breath of fresh air” as an MP3

Some Youngstown old timers talk about when a doctor could look at a chest X-ray and know immediately if you grew up in Youngstown. That X-ray looked as though you smoked three-packs-a-day. (COUGH)

 If you have grown up in Youngstown you have to be of a certain age to remember when the air was quite filthy. I mean most of the mills that polluted the air were seen as a good thing. A dirty sky was seen as a sign of prosperity because it meant the mills were running.

That’s Rick Shale, local author and Mill Creek MetroParks volunteer. He’s talking about the late 18-to mid-19-hundreds, when the steel industry boomed. The city thrived, people had jobs, but some residents had trouble breathing.

One man thought he could solve that. Attorney Volney Rogers had a dream: that everyone in Youngstown could breathe fresh air. He wanted it not just for the wealthy – who could move away from the soot and smog – but everybody. That dream is one of the reasons he founded the park, in 1891.

Volney Rogers when he conceived the par,k it wasn’t simply to preserve a green space,  He was very interested in public health.

Hunter Morrison heads up the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium. He says parks played a vital role in our then-industrialized society.

Historically, parks were the lungs of the city. They were the natural places preserved when cities like Cleveland, New York, Boston, Youngstown were growing rapidly.

… With good reason …

Initially, these facilities were the living rooms of the city. When people didn’t have air conditioning, television, a lot of space, they didn’t have clean air, water these were the big recreational zones.

And to this day, Mill Creek Park has been living and breathing that public health mission.  Just ask Karres Cvetkovich, who teaches yoga at the Davis Center.

 In the summertime, we do the classes outside and there couldn’t be better air to breathe than the fresh air coming off the lake with a little breeze.

Cvetkovich admires the park’s founder.

 I think Volney Rogers wanted health for people. He wanted people to be able to appreciate the beauty of Mill Creek Park, the beauty of their surroundings…

Shale likens the park to an oasis.

It’s a way of escape I think. The air is fresher. Spring when the buds start to come out and the park starts to green up again,

It just makes you feel good.

(Cvetkovich leads a breathing exercise: And now take your awareness to the breath….through the nose …)

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

The post Mill Creek is more than a park; it’s a breath of fresh air appeared first on The News Outlet.

Lee Murray brings us her story.

Mobile Readers – Download “Running the trails in Mill Creek sparks woman’s creativity, imagination” as an MP3

Kris Harrington keeps a busy schedule. She is the vice president of the board of directors of Youngstown’s Oakland Center for the Arts, and she teaches writing at Youngstown State University. Mill Creek Park was an integral part of her childhood, and nowadays, twice a week, she runs in the park to find some solitude and to rediscover the quiet comforts of her youth.

My father was the only one who worked in the household and he was a mechanic, and so we didn’t have disposable income for my Mom to take us out to do paid activities, so we would pack a lunch and explore the park, and that’s what we did, that was our childhood in the summer.

Harrington grew up in Youngstown, not far from the park, and now her home in Boardman backs onto the walking trails. She still finds excitement in wandering off the asphalt track and discovering new parts of the park.

It actually still feels like this way to me, but it felt huge. I think of it now even when I go down and run the trails. You feel like you’re transported into some kind of magical forest, that this place exists in Youngstown. Where you get away from the schools, and the steel mills and all of the other things that were associated with Youngstown during my childhood and you go to this place that feels like it’s from a  completely different land …

As a child, the park sparked Harrington’s imagination and fed her creativity.

It felt like I was in a storybook, and I that I was in one of the books that I read and that I was an explorer with my sisters and that we weren’t these girls from Youngstown, that we were maybe adventurers.

Harrington recently wrote a story, published in YSU’s literary magazine “The Jenny,” about running in the park. She continues to be inspired.

And I’m not really a runner, so I don’t run on concrete or tracks or on treadmills or anywhere else but the trails in Mill Creek Park, it’s the only (place) where I run, and it’s the only place I m feel like running something about being in the woods makes me want to run. And, so, I do.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Lee Murray.

The post Running the trails in Mill Creek sparks woman’s creativity, imagination appeared first on The News Outlet.

Download “Money, endorsements key to Youngstown mayoral race” as an MP3

Bill Binning; a local author and former chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party; predicts the candidate with the most money and the most endorsements will win the Democratic Party primary. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Three candidates will seek the Democratic nod in the mayoral primary: former city law Director, John McNally IV; current city council president, Tito Brown; and Matthew Smith, who has not held an elected office.

Bill Binning, former Mahoning County Republican Party chairman, says he expects Smith to grab some votes, but says the real race will be between McNally and Brown.

The real challenge for these candidates is to get the people to come out and vote for them. I mean Tito has got to, he’s got to, really build a good grass roots organization, get a big turn out. McNally has to do the same thing.

Binning says he expects Brown to prevail in the predominantly African-American wards while McNally should capture the white vote. But for his money, Binning says campaign funds, endorsements and union backing will be greater factors in who wins the Democratic primary.

The person who spends the most money, has the best ads, has an advantage. And, the unions will be endorsing and that will be important particularly if the public sector unions endorse. If they endorse, I think that will be important

So far, McNally has raised $32,000 to Brown’s $7,500. McNally has also secured the Democratic Party endorsement. The candidates will release updated campaign contributions April 25^t.

In our next segment, we’ll sit down with Mahoning County Board of Elections Director Joyce Kale-Pesta.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Money, endorsements key to Youngstown mayoral race appeared first on The News Outlet.

Aired February 28, 2013 on WQMX and WNWV

Published February 28, 2013 on Akron News Now (Link)

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, creates business opportunities where you might not expect. Rachel Lundberg brings us a story about a century-old jewelry and engraving store in Towanda, PA., and what’s happening locally.

Mobile Readers – Download “When some people think of fracking, they think of jewelry” as an MP3

Gary Wilcox is a jeweler in Susquehanna County, PA. He started getting unusual requests about three years ago. That’s when drillers and frackers came to the area to tap the Marcellus Shale.

Drillers came in and they wanted everything from the drill bits, frack pumps, frack trucks, everything to do with the gas industry.

At one point, about 20 percent of his business came from drillers. Wilcox says the drillers spent about a month in town, before going home. They often bought jewelry for sweethearts during their rotation. He says the drillers have moved on to Ohio and the Dakotas, but other industry workers are stepping in.

We sell some to even the pipeline guys, cause that’s what’s going on here now.

At Wilcox’s store, C& G Wilcox,  people most often ask for tricone drill-bit trinkets. The real tricones are less than 2-feet-wide and have three interlocking heads that spin as they cut into the earth. The imitations are quite a bit smaller.

That’s what we sell the most of – the tricone bit, cause these turn. And they use them for keychains or for pendants.

Wilcox says a tricone drill-bit keychain will run you close to $69, but other fracking memorabilia can cost up to thousands.

The more recently tapped Utica Shale region hasn’t seen local interest in industry-related keepsakes yet. Here’s Robert Komara of Komara Jewelers in Canfield, OH.

We’ve had a lot of customers come in from the Salem and Columbiana area that have gotten their oil rights, but none of them have come in with crazy requests of their fracking jewelry requests.

But jewelers will meet the demand if it ever comes.

We most certainly do what the people are asking for.

And although anti-fracking and pro-fracking jewelry may not yet be available at local stores, they are available through some online retailers.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

The post When some people think of fracking, they think of jewelry appeared first on The News Outlet.

Mobile Readers – Download “Residents not happy with higher gas prices” as an MP3

Gas prices have climbed 67 cents since mid-December. The current national price is $3.79 cents per gallon. Locally, we’ve seen prices as high as $4.25 a gallon.

William Jones of Youngstown filled a portion of his tank for $3.71 a gallon.

It’s ridiculous. Why are we paying so much for gas? There ain’t no gas shortage.  I remember when there was a gas shortage back in the ’70s, gas went up 10, 15 cents. OK, that cost a lot then – $3.71. Why?

Aaron Laney travels from Hanoverton to Youngstown daily.

Forty miles one way, about $10 dollars a day. It adds up. It’s 50 bucks a week.

Here’s Christina Santiago of Youngstown

My truck eats a lot of gas. I have to spend at least $10 a day to go back and forth to work, just to go to work. So at $ 3.80 it’s just too much. I can’t afford to even work to make the money.

Prices at the gas pump strain wallets and pocketbooks.

We have to cut back on stuff for the kids, our entertainment budget – things like that – the extra things we get to do as a family. And bills get paid late, you can only pay certain bills at a time.

According to the American Automobile Association, the average has surpassed $4 a gallon in four states.

Somebody making money off of it and it’s not me. 

(Laugh is heard)

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

The post Residents not happy with higher gas prices appeared first on The News Outlet.

Nationwide to ask court for reversal of suit, or new trial

By RACHEL LUNDBERG
TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

It took three years for Christine Lucarell to win a jury award of $42.8 million against her former employer, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. It took a judge three months to reduce that amount by $10.3 million.

A Nationwide spokeswoman, meanwhile, says the company will ask the court to either reverse the decision in its favor, or grant the insurance giant a new trial.

In 2010, Lucarell, of Boardman, sued Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. of Columbus, claiming breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, invasion of privacy, retaliation and constructive discharge.

She said Nationwide used predatory tactics to lure her into working as an agent for the company, and then set her up to fail.

Nationwide said Lucarell took the loans and grants the company offered, kept poor books, voluntarily signed agreements and then defaulted on the loan.

In November, a jury sided with Lucarell. More than 80 percent of the damages awarded were punitive: $5 million for misappropriation of her name, $11 million for retaliation and $20 million for constructive discharge.

“If a judge feels the jury has made a decision based on passion, rather than reason, then, in those circumstances, it is not uncommon for a judge to reduce a jury’s charges,” said Louis Katz, a Poland attorney.

Lucarell said in a statement Monday, “First and foremost, we must take Nationwide to task for the lies they’re promulgating about me and about my family.”

She insists that since the jury award, Nationwide has deliberately stated and re-stated fabrications that were proved, during the trial, to be deceptive.

“We shall respond vigorously to the lies Nationwide has been disseminating, which are intended to not only discredit me, but to deter other agents from taking similar legal action against them,” she said.

Lucarell has retained the Rubenstein Associates public-relations firm in Liberty to issue statements on her behalf.

“Although Nationwide welcomes the partial reduction of the award, [the company] believes the court erred in failing to apply the mandatory caps on damages to all of the plaintiff’s tort claims,” Nancy Smeltzer, a Nationwide public-relations consultant, said Monday night. “We, therefore, strongly disagree with the ruling and will continue to dispute the amount of the award.

“Nationwide vigorously opposes the decision in this case. Nationwide is asking the judge to reverse the verdict in our favor, or, alternatively, to grant us a new trial,” Smeltzer said.

Nationwide appealed the punitive-damage award, and visiting Judge Thomas J. Pokorny, who heard the case in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, responded Jan. 31 by reducing the punitive award on retaliation from $11 million to $800,000, and the noneconomic damages on the retaliation claim from $400,000 to $300,000, but he left the other awards intact.

Ohio law caps the amount of money that can be awarded in certain lawsuits. Only part of the Lucarell lawsuit fell under those caps, Judge Pokorny said. He then found that the issue of retaliation by Nationwide did not warrant damages of $11.4 million.

“In its post-trial pleadings, Nationwide has sought to advise the court of the legal errors that occurred at trial and the factual misstatements made by various witnesses that improperly affected the outcome of the case,” Smeltzer said. “Nationwide is confident that its claims will be ruled upon favorably before this case is ultimately decided.”

Lucarell’s lawyer, Matthew Ries of Caryn Groedel & Associates Co., said the law and the cap that applies to it should not be applied to employment-related claims.

“The damages were lowered as a result of the court’s application of Ohio’s tort-reform statute,” Ries said. “In 2005, the Ohio Legislature passed a law that limits emotional and punitive damages that a plaintiff can recover for tort actions. Tort actions are typically personal injury/negligence, product liability and asbestos claims.”

While the amount of the award was reduced, Ries still believes the ruling was a win for Lucarell.

At least one juror thinks Lucarell deserves more than the $10 million figure.

Jack Walp, the foreman for the November trial, said the jurors weren’t given much guidance and didn’t originally realize they would be giving two separate awards: compensatory and punitive. Despite this, he feels the new number is still reasonable.

“I don’t really have a problem with them lowering the amount,” Walp said. “I think we’re still in the ballpark.”

Contributor: Peter H. Milliken, staff writer.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, University of Akron and professional media outlets including WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator, The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio, both of Akron.

The post Judge trims $10.3M off jury award in Nationwide case appeared first on The News Outlet.

Shee Wai Wong has the story.

Mobile readers – Download “Artists display creative works at B&O Station” as an MP3

(String instruments playing)

Local artists displayed some of their best hand-made crafts and jewelry at the historic B&O Station in downtown Youngstown.

Marcie Applegate of Boardman uses recycled jewelry to create her artwork. She recently displayed and sold her work in February at the Rust Belt Artists Market at the B&O Station in Youngstown. (Ashley Morris/TheNewsOutlet.org)

From fabric to clay, metal, copper and silver, local jeweler Marcie Applegate uses recycled materials to create her work.

Anytime I find anything – even on the street you know – a bottle cap or a rusty little tool or anything, I try to work it into my jewelry even if its the texture or anything like that.

Growing up in the Rust Belt inspired her work.

My dad worked in the mill, and I gravitate towards a lot of stuff that he … you know industrial things.

Graphic designer, Kirk Poffenberger of Salem, uses small ballpoint pens to create big art.

I do pen-and-ink art. Everything I draw is with a Bic pen. And then I make these coasters out of the drawings that I’ve created.

Kirk Poffenberger of Salem uses ballpoint pens to draw pictures with dots. He then uses the drawings to make drink coasters. (Shee Wai Wong/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Poffenberger, a YSU graduate, has been supporting Artists of the Rust Belt for the past seven years.

I particularly like architecture, which is why I like doing the B&O show. This old railroad station has the architecture … you know it’s over a hundred years old, so it’s really neat to me.

First-time participant, Dru Marchese, showcases her unique creations by using shattered mirror pieces to restore window and picture frames.

I find old windows and refurnish them and glue broken glass shards onto them.

Artist Dru Marchese of Youngstown glues shattered mirror pieces onto restored old window and picture frames. She was one of the artists participating in the Rust Belt Artists Market in February at the B&O Station in Youngstown. (Shee Wai Wong/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis years ago, Marchese sends a message through her art.

It kinda defines me because I’m cracked, but I’m not broken (laugh).

She says her work also reflects the Rust Belt and Youngstown in particular.

Youngstown may be shattered, but it’s not broken.

(String instruments playing)

The next Artists of the Rustbelt Market will be held just before Christmas, Dec. 21.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Shee Wai Wong.

The post Artists display creative works at B&O Station appeared first on The News Outlet.

Mobile readers – Download “Sammarone hopes future mayor focuses on neighborhoods, accountability” as an MP3

Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone wants his successor to focus on the city’s neighborhoods and increase accountability on behalf of government employees. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

To a politician whether it’s a state or federal level, votes is power.

Mayor Chuck Sammarone, who will not run for re-election, hopes his successor shares his concern about Youngstown neighborhoods.

Everybody wants better neighborhoods, because that’s where they live. That’s where they have their life investment that’s where they’re kids go out and play.

Sammarone’s greatest concern – the unrelenting exodus from the city:

When you lose population, you lose money. Federal money is based on population, but you lose power.

In 1980, one year after Youngstown Sheet and Tube closed The Brier Hill Works, 115,000 residents lived in the city. Now, it’s is closer to 66,000. That loss carries with it serious problems – dilapidated and abandoned homes. Sammarone says if left derelict, these structures become breeding grounds for crime while reinforcing taxpayer’s decisions to leave the city.

A lot of crime issues are dealt because of homes that have to be torn down. If you have a house with one broken window, if you don’t do anything with it, eventually you’ve got 10.

Sammarone believes apathy on the part of government officials has contributed to Youngstown’s problems. The ex-football coach wants the next mayor to govern with a solid game plan.

The direction I’d like whoever the next mayor is to continue neighborhood improvement and development with strong demolition and code enforcement and also accountability. People want accountability. They want their government employees to be held accountable.

In our next pre-primary segment, I’ll talk with Conservative Bill Binning. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Andrew Donofrio.

The post Sammarone hopes future mayor focuses on neighborhoods, accountability appeared first on The News Outlet.

Nancy Brundage of Canfield is a well-known area bird watcher. For 27 years; she has led bird walks throughout Mill Creek MetroPark. She is pictured in her backyard; which is filled with feeders for her feathery friends. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

(Sounds of a Cardinal chirping)

You may recognize the song of the Northern Cardinal, Ohio’s state bird and frequent guest at local birdfeeders throughout the Mahoning Valley.

You’ll meet Cardinals and many other birds if you take a walk with Nancy Brundage of Canfield.

They are very easy walks. Anybody practically can do them. Really, my bird walks are really more bird stand-a-rounds.

For more than two decades, she’s led the Mill Creek MetroParks Bird Walks. She embarks on year 27 this spring.

This year we are doing them at the Lake Newport trail down there at the wetlands. And we are doing two up at the Davis Center on that new woodland walk that they just developed

She asks fellow walkers to be aware of their surroundings.

Well, I’m not saying you have to be completely quiet, but you just don’t want to be yak-yak-yak all the time.

Brundage logs a “life list” of the birds she encounters.

 I love birds, I love their motion, their songs – just about everything – their ability to fly.

She favors one bird, a year-round resident of Ohio.

(Sounds of a Titmouse call can be heard)

Titmice just look so inquisitive with that large eye compared to the rest of the body and they’re that grey and they’ve got that little perky cap on them like a blue jay has but they are small little bit of rust on the underside. They just happen to be my favorite bird.

Brundage says if you don’t want to take the walks, you can still enjoy birds.

 It’s a fascinating hobby, you can do it anywhere, you can do it riding in a car, you can do it sitting in your room in the house.

Mill Creek MetroParks volunteer and unofficial park historian, Rick Shale, selects the Ford Nature Center as one place to bird watch.

Yeah, they have several feeders right there next to the porch. And you can just sit there and there will be a steady stream of birds coming around and – depending on the season – sometimes a whole flock of wild turkeys will meander though the back yard of the Ford Nature Center.

(Sounds of a Mourning Dove can be heard)

During the winter season, you may encounter cardinals, chickadees, titmice, blue jays, and mourning doves in your neighborhood and Mill Creek Park.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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Amid optimism that hydraulic fracturing will boost the local economy, there’s growing skepticism about how oil and gas companies are regulated, skepticism shared by members of Frackfree America National Coalition.

News Outlet reporter Andrew Donofrio has the story about This Youngstown activist group that believes shale gas drilling is dangerous.

Mobile Readers – Download “Protesters push for local control over fracking; apologize to Mahoning River” as an MP3

The Rev. Monica Beasley-Martin led a worship service Feb. 10 to bless the waters and apologize to the Mahoning River for the recent illegal dumping of fracking waste. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

(Sounds of people singing: “Wade in the water. Wade in the water, children. Wade in the water.)

On a cold Sunday in February, about 30 people came to the banks of the Mahoning River in Youngstown. The group apologized to the river for the damage caused when the Youngstown company, Hardrock Excavating, dumped about 250,000 gallons of crude oil and brine into a tributary last month.

Frackfree America organized the river apology and blessing.

Frackfree member Bob Parry:

We apologize. We trusted a local company to do the right thing and our regulators to properly oversee their toxic activities.

Frackfree America wants local governments in Ohio to have control over where and how drilling is done in their communities.

 I’m tired of the recklessness of the oil and gas industry just sort of throwing everybody’s safety to the wind, basically, all to eke out a few bucks out of things.

On Feb. 6, its members delivered a petition to city hall. The petition – signed by more than 3,200 residents – asks that a Community Bill of Rights be included on the Ohio Primary Ballot this May. Frackfree hopes the bill of rights, if passed, will give local lawmakers say over how and where gas and oil companies drill within Youngstown city limits.

Sean O’Toole wants more information from gas drilling companies. That would include a list of the chemicals used in the fracking process. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Here’s Frackfree member Sean O’Toole:

Basically, it’s just saying we have a right to clean water, clear air and clean life.

O’Toole says the drilling process has been rushed because of promises of an economic boom. Promises he says, if left unchecked, may threaten the environment long term. O’Toole and other Frackfree members say they want information, including a list of the chemicals that the industry pumps into the ground to extract the natural gas and oil.

I need to know what’s in that fluid. What the effects are, what the long-range effects are going to be. And, I want to know that it isn’t going to be killing our children and grandchildren down the line.

For Frackfree member Terry Esarco, there’s a simple explanation: Local control.

The cities can’t do anything right now because the ODNR – they – have the final say so. We’re trying to put it back to the power of the people, the power back to of local government.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, this is Andrew Donofrio.

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A Youngstown business owner is out on bail today… the feds charge him with environmental crimes. Here’s News Outlet reporter, Chris Davidson.

Mobile Readers – Download “Feds charge businessman with polluting U.S. waterway” as an MP3

MarySweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.orgSteven M. Dettelbach; U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; (left) and Mike DeWine; Ohio attorney general; discuss the criminal and possible civil charges against Ben Lupo; owner of D&L Energy and Hardrock Excavating. Lupo pleaded not guilty to polluting a U.S. waterway. (MarySweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

State and federal agents of the Northeast Ohio Environmental Crimes task force chose a downtown location to hold a press conference about a recent case of illegal dumping.

US Attorney Steven Dettelbach:

We’re here at the banks of the Mahoning River to emphasize what we all know, that clean and  fresh water is one of Ohio’s greatest and most important assets.

These are the first charges related to Ohio’s burgeoning shale industry.

Securing a future that protects our economy and at the same time protects our health, our forests, and our waterways:

The task force charges Ben Lupo the owner of D&L energy and Hardrock Excavating with polluting waters of the United States.

Lupo admitted to the EPA that two of his companies dumped more than 250,000 gallons of fracking waste into a tributary of the Mahoning over the past six months. At the same time, Lupo entered a not guilty plea before a U.S. District Court in Youngstown, which sends the case to a Cleveland Grand Jury.

State Representative Bob Hagan attended the river press conference.

I am satisfied that he is being charged it sends a clear message not only to the Valley but the entire state that the abuse of the environment will not be tolerated

Lupo could face up to three years in jail and $250,000 in fines.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson

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Rachel Lundberg brings us the story of one man, his river and the community fighting for revival.

Mobile Readers – Download “Illegal dumping affects Mahoning, rivers leading to Gulf of Mexico” as an MP3

Lauren Schroeder visited the Mahoning River about a mile downstream from where crude oil and brine from an illegal dump would flow into the waterway. (Mary Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Lauren Schroeder, a retired biology professor, is in his 45^th year of studying and trying to clean up the Mahoning River.

The water quality today in the Mahoning River is much improved.

The Mahoning snakes through the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, Ohio.

For almost 100 years, Youngstown’s former steel companies would dump waste into the Mahoning River. The steel giants caused so much damage that there’s still a ban on swimming, wading, fishing, any contact with about 30 miles of the river.

The river was once the most polluted streams in the entire United States. Sometimes the temperature in the river often exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Industry again threatens the river. But this time, instead of steel companies, it’s gas drillers. The communities surrounding Youngstown are rich with gas and oil reserves and the industry is making itself at home.

This is a bad omen that people will dump their waste to avoid paying the costs of proper disposal.

Dan Mamula, manager of the Mahoning River Corridor Initiative, says he wants the industry well monitored and held accountable.

Right off the get-go. It has to be known that we will not tolerate shoddy business practices.

Schroeder thought the days of dumping were over.

One incident of the spill itself will not have very much impact on the river, but if they occurred frequently that would have a degrading effect.

And these waters won’t be the only ones threatened. Dumping into the Mahoning means pollution is carried to the Beaver, the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico.

Anybody living along there would be impacted by what we dump in the river in Ohio.

This is just another set back in Youngstown’s struggle to bounce back from the steel crisis of the 1970s.  State officials continue to investigate the incident.

It’s a tragedy and very disheartening.

Caitlin Cook contributed to this story. Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

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“Oz the Great and Powerful” debuts on the silver screen this weekend … while locally you catch “The Wizard of Oz” in Columbiana. Karen Bell brings us the story.

Mobile Readers – Download “The Wizard comes to local theater as well as to movie screens” as an MP3

(Music from “The Wizards of Oz” is heard.)

Dorothy definitely isn’t in Kansas anymore. Main Street Theater in Columbiana, OH, presents the opening weekend of “The Wizard of Oz” Feb. 15-17.

Here’s theater owner Don Arthurs.

One of our main focuses is strengthening the families and we want to give families an outlet for creativity. Where they can feel safe, take their kids to it and not have to worry about them hearing things that kids shouldn’t hear.

The Columbiana Theater offers the occasional free movie to help the community grow.

All of our movies here are free to the public and we do that as an outreach as well 

Arthurs says Columbiana residents go for more familiar names, like “The Wizard of OZ,” but hopes original works will also attract theatergoers.

There are a lot of artists involved with the theater here and we do really enjoy writing our original content – plays, music, that sort of thing.

He hopes those with a brain, heart and courage will find a home at the Columbiana Theater.

(Music leads out of the story.)

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Karen Bell.

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The outcry continues this week over the illegal dumping of fracking waste on the city’s west side. Chris Davidson reports on one demonstration combined with a worship service on Sunday, Feb. 10, in downtown Youngstown.

Mobile Readers – Download “Fracking protest combined with worship service” as an MP3

The Rev. Monica Beasley-Martin led a worship service Feb. 10 to bless the waters of the Mahoning River during a demonstration against the illegal dumping of fracking waste. (Christine Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

About 30 people gathered on the banks of the Mahoning River at the historic B&O Station in downtown Youngstown. They’re unhappy about the illegal dumping of fracking waste on Salt Springs Road.

I don’t think the Mahoning River is just a dump that we should be continuing to throw garbage in. I know back in the steel mill times the river took a lot of abuse, but I thought we were a lot smarter than that now and realize that you just can’t continue to pollute and pollute and pollute.

Denny Wertzel of Berlin Center said he came to the demonstration because he wanted to show city officials that somebody cares. His wife, Meredith, echoes his comments.

 To show concern to show that citizens do care about the environment.

Thirty people attended a fracking waste demonstration Feb. 10 on the banks of the Mahoning River at the B&O Station. The demonstration also featured a prayer service to bless the waters. (Andrew Donofrio/TheNewsOutlet.org)

We basically have a concern for the destruction that has taken place within our community where people are more concerned about profit than they are for each other.

She also offered a water blessing.

We want to apologize for what our mankind has done to the earth.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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Mobile Readers – Download “Three local authors pool efforts to write books” as an MP3

Cathy Seckman (left) of Calcutta and Darlene Torday of Berlin Center joined with fellow author, Debbie Schukert of western Pennsylvania on the mystery novel, “Bad Moon Rising.” The trio are working on a second mystery, “H2O Mysteries,” which will deal with disappearances and happenings around water. (Rachel Lundberg/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Darlene Torday, Cathy Seckman and Debbie Schukert hope to soon self-publish their second collaborative book, “H2O Mysteries.”

There’re 17 stories. They all have to do with water, mysterious disappearances or happenings around water.

That’s Darlene Torday of Berlin Center. She, Seckman and Schukert, who is from western Pennsylvania, spent half a decade working on this and their first collaborative work, “Bad Moon Rising.

Seckman says “Bad Moon Rising” inserts local flavor as its characters spend much of their time in the area, whether at Kent State University or getting lost in East Liverpool.

We tried to put them in places we had seen.

As they did with “Bad Moon Rising,” they plan to self-publish “H2O Mysteries” this spring through Amazon Create Space, which provides a print-on-demand version, and Kindle Direct Publishing for an e-reader version.

Seckman, who is from Calcutta, OH, says publishing a book yourself on two platforms takes effort.

You go through their process to format the book, and it’s a long, complicated maze. But when you get to the end of it, you can put your book on Kindle, and that’s all free.

Both books began as homework assignments for their writer’s group, which meets monthly at Barnes & Noble. Seckman says they didn’t originally intend to publish “Bad Moon Rising” or even turn it into a complete novel.

Debbie wrote the first chapter. And Darlene wrote the second chapter and killed off one of Debbie’s characters. So when I got to the third chapter, we decided it should be a murder mystery and it just evolved from there.

After deciding to publish, they sent the story to traditional publishing agencies, but were turned down and decided to publish on their own instead.

As the publishing world changes, using print-on-demand and Kindle, which are low-cost or free options, is another way to get books published.

However, Torday says without an advertiser, they’ve had a difficult time getting a widespread reception of “Bad Moon Rising.” When they offered it for free for a day they had more than 600 downloads, but when they began charging again, sales slowed down considerably.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

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The Garden District Neighborhood, nestled in Youngstown’s West side, is experiencing a resurgence thanks to the cooperation of several organizations. The News Outlet’s Christopher Kochera has the story.

Mobile Readers – Download “Garden District, others work to revitalize neighborhood” as an MP3

Jerry O’Hara, president of the Garden District Neighborhood Association, said the effort to revitalize the West side neighborhood has received help from the Mill Creek MetroParks and the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. (Christopher Kochera/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Motorists on Mahoning Avenue might notice green street signs marking the West side neighborhood known as the Garden District. What they won’t notice are the countless hours and cooperation of several area organizations, including Mill Creek MetroParks and the Garden District Neighborhood Association.

Our main goal is the safety and the upkeep and the concern of the neighborhood.

That’s Jerry O’Hara, president of the Garden District Neighborhood Association.

Formed in 2011, the organization’s goal is to eliminate blight, reduce crime and preserve the quality of life for neighborhood residents. It receives money from various grants and fundraisers. The signs, for example, were purchased with funds obtained by Fourth Ward Councilman Mike Ray.

“Each councilperson has a certain amount of discretionary funds every year so we’ve used discretionary funds on signage, marking the entrances to the Garden District, one on Mahoning Avenue in front of Jenkins Signs and then one on Belle Vista near the park entrance.”

Constructed in the 1930s, the neighborhood stretches west from Fellows Riverside Gardens to South Belle Vista Avenue. From there, it extends south to McCollum Road. The houses – a mixture of Foursquare, Victorian, Cape Cod and Ranch styles – are as diverse as the families that live in them.

O’Hara says Mill Creek MetroParks has taken a special interest in the Garden District.

They just do things for the neighborhood, they’re more or less working hand-in-hand with us trying to generalize and keep this area down here nice.

Keith Kaiser, director of horticulture at Mill Creek MetroParks, says the condition of the neighborhood surrounding the park is very important.

 It’s our neighborhood, it’s out front door so we want to help them along.

The Garden District Neighborhood Association, about 80 residents strong, meets monthly from March to December. O’Hara said the group plans to continue their efforts to make the Garden District a great place to call home.

It’s one of the safer areas in the city, it’s close to public transportation, within walking distance of Mill Creek Park.

Reporting for TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Christopher Kochera.

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Valentine’s Day has gone to the dogs. Here’s Chris Davidson with the story from the Lily Pond at Mill Creek Park.

Mobile Readers – Download “Mill Creek goes to the dogs each month” as an MP3

(Sounds of a dog howling.)

The MetroMutts offers monthly programs for dogs and their owners at Mill Creek Park. (Chris Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

The Sunday before Valentine’s Day a group of about 75 dogs and their owners celebrated by taking a hike.

MetroMutts is a membership program for dogs and their human companions and what we try to do is each month have something dog related whether it’s a hike or a program.

Linda Kostka is the development and marketing director for Mill Creek MetroParks.

 So, today is our annual puppy love Valentine’s Day dog hike. And after we’re done, we are going into Birch Hill Cabin, we’ll have valentines for the dogs.

MetroMutts offers a variety of programs.

We had “doga” last month, which was a dog yoga

Kostka attends the events with her greyhound, Grace, …

… who turns into Cujo around other dogs.

Paula Humason of Champion brings her 19-month-old Golden Retriever, Zoey.

We love Mill Creek Park and we saw that the party was for the dogs and she’s the only one we have left at home.

Katey Malone of Berlin Center comes along with her Rottweiler, Brutus.

We like Mill Creek Park. We run down here.

If you would like to find out more information about MetroMutts, you can go to their website: MillCreekMetroParks.org.

 HOWL

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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Middle age begins at 40 years, eight months and 14 days. Old age begins at 59 years, two months and 14 days. That’s the finding of a newly released study by the UK government.

Gerontologist, Dr. Dan Van Dussen, says the onset of middle or old age is hard to pinpoint.

 I think it all depends on how you see yourself

Van Dussen says it’s all about perception.

 In gerontology we talk about internal versus external age. Internal age is how old you feel. External age is more how old you appear to others and somewhere in there you define how you are in age relative to others.

We asked a few Northeastern Ohio residents about when they think middle age and old age begin.

I’m 41 and I believe middle age starts now. Old age, senior age starts at 70-75. 

I’m 53 years old. I think middle age begins around 55 and old age is about 70.

47. Middle age? Hmm … 55. Old age – 65.

The body’s 75, the mind is 18.

The survey shows the older you get, the later you think old age begins.

The study was released by the Department for Work and Pensions, which is handling welfare reform in the United Kingdom.

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson.

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One of the most photographed structures in Mill Creek Park celebrates its centennial year. Chris Davidson brings us the story.

The Parapet Bridge at Mill Creek Park turns 100 this year. The bridge was designed by Volney Rogers, the park’s founder, and his brother, Bruce Rogers, the park superintendent at the time. (Chris Davidson/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Nestled in Spring Brook Ravine on the east side of Lake Glacier you’ll come across the Parapet bridge … it goes by many names, the Dragon Bridge, the Indian Bridge, or the prehistoric bridge.

Mill Creek MetroParks naturalist Ray Novotny says the bridge links us to the past.

It goes back to the early days of the park when Volney and his brother were designing things, building things, which are still very important to us today.

The Volney he refers to is Volney Rogers, the park’s founder. Volney and his brother, park superintendent, Bruce Rogers settled on a design resembling a castle parapet.

It’s that upper part of stone, which if you look at a castle, that’s where the archers stand behind to fend of the invading hoards to save their king.

Architect Ray Jaminet says building the bridge 100 years ago took some doing.

A lot of those stones are four or five feet long and couple feet square or larger, and getting those in place took some real muscle.

The stone used to construct the bridge originates within the park.

Like down along Bears Den … they cut through there … you can see where they actually quarried the stone from that area. 

The Parapet Bridge has been popular with photographers, especially during the autumn when colors abound. (Dean Sweetwood/TheNewsOutlet.org)

Novoty understands why the bridge is so popular with photographers.

Human-made creation, but made from nature and sitting above nature there on the water of Lake Glacier. And it’s surrounded by trees so any time of the year it’s picturesque, but especially in the autumn when there’s all the color.

Novonty urges park goers to visit the bridge. 

 If you walk underneath you get kind of a nice echo. We have trail walk underneath it and see it from there   I encourage people to do that on their own or with us.

(Snowsteps)

As Ray Novoty just said underneath the bridge it really does have a marvelous sound, there’s a terrific echo here … Hello …  

For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Chris Davidson. 

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Rachel Lundberg brings us the story:
 

 
In the hills of Susquehanna County, PA, farmers and others reaping benefits from the emerging gas and oil industry worry that drillers might get fed up with the state’s fees and rules and look next door to Ohio.

If you push them too hard and it gets too much, and if the state gets too greedy and starts requiring too much, they’re going to find a place where the dollars fits better.

That’s Jim Barbour, a third-generation farmer, who leased his land to the natural gas industry.

In 2012, Pennsylvania charged $50,000 dollars for every horizontal well – those are the wells that are being fracked for natural gas. And also…The Keystone state charged $10,000 for the more conventional vertical wells. Those figures will change for 2013 based on selling prices for natural gas, but won’t vary radically.

According to Ernst & Young, the national accounting firm, Ohio will tax drillers at about half the rate as Pennsylvania.

(Sound of compressor construction)

What you hear is the construction of a compressor station on Barbour ‘s property.  When its up and working, the station will pull in gas from area pipelines, pressurize it and send it along to market. But just last week, Pennsylvania adopted a new rule limiting air emissions from compressor stations – and that doesn’t sit well with Barbour.

We were a lot less restrictive, too, but it just keeps getting worse.

Doug McLinko, a commissioner in the most-drilled area of Pennsylvania, Bradford County, shares Barbour’s concerns.

When you start taxing prosperity and growth, I’m damn scared that you’re going to chase the industry away.

Combined, fracking and vertical wells pumped in $200 million to Pennsylvania’s economy in 2012.

Under Kasich’s plan, revenue from the taxes on the gas and oil industry would build over time. By 2017, it’s predicted Ohio will rake in $413 million.

Caitlin Cook contributed to this report. For TheNewsOutlet.org, I’m Rachel Lundberg.

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