SAVINGS & CHARM
The Windamere turns a stately bank into years of beautiful new memories
The Middletonian
SAFETY FIRST
Safety Town teaches incoming Kindergarteners valuable safety skills
SPRING 2020
RISE UP & BE THE REASON
"The culture of Middie Rising is inclusive, it's about everyone's strengths and even their shortcomings...Middie Rising is not just a hashtag, it's a movement...it reminds us that we're great. It reminds us of all the things that we've done in the past, and all the things that we can do in the future." -Jackie Philips, Health Commissioner, City of Middletown
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Spring 2020 • Vol. 2, No. 5
I NSI DE
6 Savings & Charm
The Waldemere turns a stately bank into years of beautiful new memories
11 Breaking the Mold
Butler Tech is transforming public education away from the traditional model
12 Sipping, Sampling, and Shopping
The Women’s Wine and Chocolate Walk promotes fun, exploration, and local businesses
16 Safety First
Safety Town teaches incoming Kindergarteners valuable safety skills
18 20 The Sipple Effect
Paul J. Sorg: Mr. Middletown
The story of Middletown’s favorite industrialist
The Mohawks and ace Tristan Sipple look to dominate the Southwest Buckeye league again
16
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Hamilton, Ohio 45011 | 513-816-1450
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We live in this neighborhood, we serve our neighborhood. Our specialty is home hospice care, providing quality care for your loved one wherever they call home. For over 35 years Hospice Care of Middletown has served as your hometown hospice. We are Number 1 in the southwest region based on family satisfaction surveys (medicare.gov/hospicecompare). Hospice Care of Middletown is the recipient of the Hospice Honors Award. As the only community-base, not-for-profit hospice headquartered in the Middletown area, we look to enhance care by celebrating a patient’s life journey. Services Provided Include: Expert Pain & Symptom Management; Medications, Medical Supplies, and Equipment Related to the Hospice Plan of Care; Grief Counseling; Massage Therapy; Pet Therapy; Fidget Blankets
Savings & Charm The Windamere turns a
stately bank into years of beautiful new memories
BY L AUR A LE AVITT
M
ica Glaser-Jones brings a diverse work background to her role as a small-business entrepreneur. She’s worn many hats that all help with the journey to where she is now, as co-owner of Toast of the Town Events and the Windamere event venue in downtown Middletown. “I didn’t come from a typical food and beverage background, but my previous jobs all come together in owning a venue,” Glaser-Jones explains. “I’ve worked as a bartender, as a representative for beer, wine, and spirits, and I’ve consulted at a bridal store; I’ve even done marketing.”
and my dad and brother are electrical contractors who helped a lot. I worked on the design, and was here every day watching the transformation.’” The long days and nights paid off in the unique venue that emerged. They found gorgeous floors under the previous carpets they had removed, and whenever possible they used reclaimed hardwoods from other areas of the building as accents and elements in the event space. For example, the bank’s privacy booths
maybe more limited,” says GlaserJones. “With us, the clients have exclusive access to the venue for the day, and we do the two things I enjoy which are the decor and drinks, and they can hire any vendors they want. They get to make all the decisions, and we do all the work. I handle all the vendors, logistics and timelines so that when they walk in the door, they just get to relax and enjoy themselves.” She’s noticed that this model works well and brings back repeat clients
Like many entrepreneurs, she began thinking big about what she wanted from her career, and realized she knew what path she wanted to be on. “I had a deep conversation with my nowhusband, asking the question, ‘If you could have any job, if money wasn’t an issue, what would it be?’” says GlaserJones. “Weddings have always been my thing. I said, ‘I think I want my own venue, for it to be the place where all the magic and memories are made.’” When considering the idea of owning a venue in 2013 and 2014, Glaser-Jones found the historic Oglesby Barnitz Bank building, owned by the City of Middletown. The city put the building on sale, and Glaser-Jones and her partners had the winning bid. “We came in and saw all the detail, the ceilings, and the character. After we left, I thought, ‘I think this is our space,’” she says. The sale went through in June of 2015, and Glaser-Jones and her fellow coowners got to work. They had booked their first wedding for October 20th, 2015, giving them four short months for renovations, taking the building from an out-of-commission bank to a stately event space incredibly quickly. “We did 90% of the demo ourselves on nights and weekends, while I was also meeting with subcontractors to get quotes and bids,” she says. “We had a general contractor,
became stalls in the restrooms, which are often commented on for their ornate beauty.
for downtown Middletown events, be they weddings, social gatherings, or corporate meetings.
Glaser-Jones’ experience in the industry helped her to settle on what would be included in the kinds of events she created at the Windamere.
The business continues to expand, be it when new opportunities like hosting a ballet performance of the Nutcracker, managing the logistics for events off site, or renting the flexible office space in the large adjoining space.
“I’ve found that we’re a hybrid venue: a lot of people usually get just the venue for a wedding, and others are all-inclusive, where you have to use their caterers and the choices of decor
To learn more about how to book the Windamere or Toast of the Town Events, visit their website, thewindamere.com. Spring 2020
7
T
H E T R A D I T I O N A L S C H O O L model is the foundation of our society. For more than 100 years, educational institutions have held classes Monday through Friday, approximately 180 days per year, advancing students one grade level at a time as they master information predetermined by their age and start date.
as job shadowing, internships, and parttime jobs.
Butler Tech, Butler County’s premier career technical center, is committed to supporting the whole child by leading the transformation of public education away from the traditional one-size fits all model.
Cory Hickman, junior aviation exploration student, used his most recent Fifth Day Experience to attend a local business-networking meeting. “I was able to network with insurance companies, realtors and debt elimination companies to help me grow my own aerial drone service business,” explained Hickman.
In February 2020, Butler Tech, one of the largest career technical centers in Ohio, launched an innovative school calendar featuring 15 consecutive four-day school weeks. For students, Fridays became “The Fifth Day Experience,” allowing students to use their Fridays off to personalize their own learning and growth outside of the traditional classroom. “These Fridays are not a school day,” explained Jon Graft, Butler Tech superintendent. “All students will attend the same number of school days and receive the same amount of instructional time with this nontraditional school calendar. Instead, the Fifth Day Experience is an opportunity for students to make their own educational choices and grow outside of an outdated model that no longer meets all of the needs of our students.” The students are responsible for choosing their own Friday activities with more than 100 options supported by Butler Tech on their campuses. Students can choose to pursue college credit, learn new skills, take courses to earn additional career certifications, attend drivers’ education classes and participate in guided college and industry tours across the region. Additionally, many students are pursuing off-campus experiences such
“The Fifth Day Experience has been an amazing opportunity. I have been able to try out personal interests, such as dance and culinary classes that I would never had tried if it wasn’t for the Fifth Day Experience,” explained Ben Rose, senior graphic design student.
The “Fifth Day Experience” is the first of its kind in Ohio and is drawing interest from educational leaders across the state and beyond. “Butler Tech has taken the seed of an idea—to extend the real-world experiences of students in ways that meet their interests—and created a world of opportunities with and for students that are engaging, thoughtprovoking, and real,” shared Thomas S. Poetter, PhD, professor and chair, Miami University Department of Educational Leadership. “You can tell by the students’ responses and participation in the Fifth Day Experience that they care deeply about their educational experiences today, as well as their futures tomorrow. And that’s not just on the Fifth Day, but every day.”
replicable across the state and the nation. As far as a historical significance of being the first or one of the firsts to implement a model like the ‘Fifth Day Experience,’ it will only be historically significant if we inspire others to replicate the model,” explained Graft. “My hope is that other districts join the education revolution. Our communities are demanding it, and our students deserve it.”
ABOUT BUTLER TECH
Butler Tech is one of the largest career technical schools in Ohio. Its passionate educators are on a shared mission of transforming lives to make our students career-ready and collegeprepared. Our teachers serve more than 17,000 students daily on Butler Tech’s five campuses and in classrooms within our 11 associate school districts. Butler Tech also serves adult students with programs in healthcare, industry, public safety, commercial trucking, drone piloting, high school diploma programs, and English as a Second Language. For more information, visit ButlerTech.org.
ABOUT FIFTH DAY EXPERIENCE
The Fifth Day Experience is an opportunity to transform our students’ learning experiences by restructuring the traditional school calendar to include 15 consecutive four-day weeks beginning Friday, February 7 – May 15, 2020. Fifth Day Experience applies to high school students who attend Butler Tech’s high school campuses (Fairfield Township, Monroe, West Chester).
This is not the first time Butler Tech has disrupted the traditional education model. Through new programs focused on robotics and automation, as well as drone technology and aviation, Butler Tech continues to create next level opportunities for students.
These Fridays are not mandatory school days. Instead, they allow our students to pursue personalized experiences determined by their own voice and choice. The overall goal of the Fifth Day Experience is to enhance students’ education and growth through freedom and flexibility based on their interests, needs, and ambitions.
“We are committed to meeting the needs of students by creating innovative models that can be
For more information about the Fifth Day Experience, visit www.FDE. Butlertech.org Spring 2020
11
SIPPING, SAMPLING, AND SHOPPING
The Women’s Wine and Chocolate Walk Promotes Fun, Exploration, and Local Businesses
T
HIS YEAR marks the 8th year of the Middletown Women’s Wine and Chocolate Walk, and it’s no wonder that it’s been successful: wine, chocolate, and shopping are a combination that clearly make waves all around this region. “This event attracts women from the tri-state area, with only 15% from Middletown,” explains Mica GlaserJones, a board member of Downtown Middletown, Inc., which organizes 12
The Middletonian
the event. “We see this event as an introduction to all that Middletown has to offer. DMI, in collaboration with the Middletown Visitors Bureau, creates a WWCW Shopping Guide that features all of the participating businesses with bounce-back offers that encourage women to come back and visit us again and bring their friends.” The Walk offers the opportunity to try 20 tastings of wine and chocolate located in retailers and businesses
By Laura Leavitt
throughout downtown. Many women plan a girls getaway where they spend the whole weekend in downtown, enjoying the event and then exploring on their own afterward. “After a few years, it has become a tradition; it’s an excuse for friends to come in from out of town to visit for a whole weekend,” explains Monica Nenni, co-owner of West Central Wine, the event’s retailer. “There’s now lodging where you can stay downtown so you can make a weekend of it, with more
bars and restaurants that have opened up as well.” The walk begins at the Windamere event venue with check-in, where VIP ticket holders get started a little faster with an “extra” VIP wine tasting. The Windamere also is where people return if they’ve purchased items that they didn’t want to carry around during the event. A concierge service helps shoppers purchase with ease and load up their cars after the event is finished. Generous sponsorships make the
event affordable while still allowing it to raise funds for DMI’s economic revitalization efforts. “Grandpa Joe’s Candy sponsors the chocolate tastings,” says Nenni. “The chocolates they feature are available year-round at Grandpa Joe’s, so if you love a particular chocolate, you can have it while supporting a local business and helping to promote them.” Sponsor Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits works with a supplier each year to choose the all-important wine selection. “We try to make a diverse
group of wines for women who like sweet and dry wines, whites and reds,” says Karah Debord, a representative of Southern Glazer’s. “We try to make it diverse, since not everyone loves everything. It’s a great opportunity for our company to get new wines out to people who might not have ever tried them. It’s a way to find something new to enjoy.” The wine selections are kept under wraps to make the surprises of the day even more exciting, but afterward, West Central Wines makes a special effort
to keep popular Walk wines in stock. “We stock the trends from the Wine and Chocolate Walk for the next season or so, recognizing what kinds of wine were really popular,” says Mel Kutzera, co-owner of West Central Wine. “We get a chance to taste all the wines ahead of time and then sell them during and after the event.” To add to the fun, this year’s event has an additional fun theme, based on being the 8th year. “We have decided to make this year ‘Totally Awesome,’ and we are going to be channeling
everything 1980’s,” says GlaserJones. “So break out the leg warmers, scrunchies, and banana clips because this year we are pumping it up!” While the fun of exploring downtown while tasting your next favorite chocolate and wine may seem like just a wonderful afternoon, participating is also helping Middletown grow. “The economic impact speaks to how far reaching an event like this can be,” explains Nenni. “DMI is interested in supporting the growth of Middletown as a whole; it’s really
telling a bigger story about their impact. We want to show people that Middletown is vibrant.” DMI is staying current with all protocols from the CDC and the health department. At this time W WCW is scheduled for May 16th, and they realize this may need to change depending on what happens in the coming weeks. Please visit the DMI web site www.DowntownMiddletown.org or their FB and Instagram pages for more up to date information for not only W WCW and other events, but also downtown businesses operating hours. Spring 2020
13
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SAFETY FIRST Safety Town teaches incoming Kindergarteners valuable safety skills BY LAURA LEAVITT
T
HE TRANSITION to Kindergarten is a big one: it’s the first time many children are spending substantial time away from their parents and having to make some of their own safety decisions. Middletown has been a leader for over 40 years in educating children to be able to make safe choices, from walking across the street to how to ride a bus. After multiple accidents involving children happened within a relatively short amount of time, Officer Harvey Poff created the Jack Combs Memorial Safety Town in 1977. While small changes have happened over the years, the program is still an engaging and fun week-long program offered multiple times each summer. It consists of short sessions each day that culminate in a graduation on Friday where families are invited to attend. The children watch videos, take a bus trip to the fire station, and practice driving pedal cars through a village set up in the gym of Amanda School. “We now have secondgeneration and, soon, third-generation children coming to Safety Town,” says Kristy Duritsch, executive director of the Safety Council of Southwestern Ohio. “Parents love Safety Town, and 16
The Middletonian
we end up with about 300 children every summer.” Over the years, multiple officers have administered the program, but Officer Mike Davis was well-known for his 26 years time as “Mayor of Safety Town,” until he retired in 2011. “It’s, of course, hard to measure the full impact of this program, but the children have a wonderful time and learn a lot,” says Duritsch. “Officer Mike Davis remembered everyone of the children’s names, and even the parents’ names, which was quite a gift. He made people feel really special.” Since 2015, Officer Robyn Rawlins has taken up the mantle of running the program. She saw the potential to expand to include a few new topics given some 21st-century safety concerns and the interests of children. “I felt the need to add Gun Safety to the program,” says Officer Rawlins. “I also felt the need to talk to the parents themselves and show them various types of gun locks and give them material about gun safety at home. I’ve also added a new bike safety video, Donald Duck Fire Safety video, and a Pumba and Timon video on safety tips.” Videos that feature beloved children’s characters, as well as the engaging
instruction from Officer Rawlins, help the safety tips really stick with these children. Even during a scary moment a few years back, it was clear that children were remembering these lessons. “There was an incident that occurred a few years ago that involved a few Safety Town graduates that made it clear that the program works,” explains Officer Rawlins. “There was an accident in which a church van struck a train. The Safety Town kids were able to state their information to the nurses at the hospital. I am a big believer in the impact it has on our incoming Kindergarten kids.” If you want your child to learn these useful lessons, sign-up begins May 4th
online, and spots fill up fast; you can also call the Safety Council to sign up, and the program is free of charge. Officer Rawlins loves getting to share such important lessons with the children, but she also sees a long-term impact from just getting to know children in the community. “The most rewarding part of instructing Safety Town is the relationships I build with the kids in the class,” says Officer Rawlins. “The students I taught my first year of Safety Town are now 4th graders, and they will still run up and give me a hug.” Download a flyer for Safety Town at www.safetycouncilswohio.org /safetytown.html today! Spring 2020
17
PAUL J. SORG:
MR. MIDDLETOWN
M
By richard O Jones
iddletown ought to be called Sorgville.” So was the declaration of the local media when the city’s favorite industrialist Paul J. Sorg earned the democratic party’s nomination to the United States House of Representatives in October, 1894. He first gained the seat earlier that year in a special election following the sudden death of George Washington Houk, the Dayton democratic who had held the seat since 1891.
cars full of the Third District’s democrats from the train station to the theater.
“The big opera house on Main street in the pretty city of Middletown was the place selected for the love feast,” wrote Hamilton’s Daily Democrat. Brass bands, drum corps, “red fire skyrockets and Roman candles” escorted twelve train
“When these two worthies marched down the center aisle of the opera house, locked arms, the scene beggars description. At first a murmur, then a roar, and finally a deafening storm of cheers, shouts, cries and whistles
18
The Middletonian
“Half of the boys were unable to obtain admittance, but with characteristic good humor they stood on the outside and cheered when the crowd inside cheered.” The party was well underway before the guest of honor himself arrived, marching arm-in-arm down the aisle with Ohio Governor Campbell, another popular Middletown man.
greeted Sorg and Campbell and for ten minutes the very echoes of the Heno Hills were awakened and called into responsive action.” Sorg’s rise to prominence rose Middletown’s profile as well. Earlier in that second campaign, the Cincinnati Enquirer published a glowing, nearly full-page profile of the “Great Big Bee Hive” of Middletown, with the evocative subhead “She Has Some Big Factories, Big Men—In Fact, She Is Big Any Way You Have a Mind To Take Her.” “Swept by the brawn air of prosperity, like a flaming forge, fair Middletown glows warmingly when the zephyrs of trade sweep o’er her,” the Enquirer effused, remarking on the city’s
delayed but sudden rise. “In about 1802 the first settlers conceived the idea of building a town here. A nucleus of a few cabins was begun, and for many long years, no additions were made to the meager population. In the [1840s], however, Middletown began to grow appreciably, and at the close of the war she began to call attention to her metropolitan ways and manners. Today, she stands peerless as the greatest manufacturing city of her size in the state, if not in the Union.” In enumerating the city’s most elegant buildings, it mentions Sorg’s residence and the opera house he built. Although the Sorg name was so closely celebrated with Middletown, he was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, September 23, 1840, to German immigrants. The family moved to Cincinnati when he was 12 years old, where he began aiding the support of his family by caning chairs and selling flowers in the street. He didn’t care for the work much, and at 16 he apprenticed himself to a foundry where he learned the moulder’s trade, but was so industrious that within a few years he was named foreman of the foundry, all the while attending night school to get his education. His father had also died, leaving him the sole support of his mother and siblings. In 1864, still in Cincinnati, the 24-yearold made the acquaintance of John Auer, who would also become a
prominent Middletonian, and together they went into the manufacture of cheap, locally-grown plug tobacco. Auer knew tobacco but could not keep books and Sorg had tremendous business sense, so they made a perfect team. They were soon joined in the venture by Robert Wilson, and in 1872, Wilson, Sorg & Co. built a large factory in the growing industrial city of Middletown where land and labor were cheaper. By the time he sold the business to the Continental Tobacco Company, he had built the second largest tobacco manufacturing plant in the nation, employing 1,000 people and producing over two million pounds of product a year. It was reported that he knew every employee by name. The profit he earned from that funded other ventures, until, as one obituary noted, “No one added more to the prosperity of Middletown than did Paul J. Sorg during his business career.” He made his mark on the city not only by building the theater and mansion, but by encouraging other business interests to settle in Middletown. He was chiefly responsible for bringing some railroad concerns to Middletown and helped bail out the Merchants National Bank when it was on the brink of failure and made his son, Paul A. Sorg, the youngest bank president in the country. Likewise, when a nation-wide recession forced the Middletown Paper Company to shut down, Sorg stepped in and put the people back to work.
He saw the future of the bicycle industry and founded the Miami Cycle Company, and during the SpanishAmerican War turned the factory over to the production of ammunition. After one partial and two full terms in Congress, he declined a third, but left as the ranking member of the Labor Committee. That was the end of his political career except for a brief moment when he allowed his name to be put on the ballot for the democratic nominations for governor in 1897 and 1899. In his later years, he suffered from paresis, a weakness and paralysis of the limbs. He died in Middletown, 28 May, 1902. Effusive obituaries appeared in countries throughout the nation, the Dayton Daily News reporting that 10,000 people attended his funeral in a cortege three miles long: “Business was generally suspended in the active manufacturing center, municipal officials, bankers, merchants, mill men and artisans of all classes, and women and children were all bowed in genuine grief which was markedly displayed... So thoroughly had the late Mr. Sorg interested himself in the welfare, practically, of every citizen of Middletown that the funeral obsequies were properly of a public character.” Sorg himself was quoted as saying, “I love Middletown. I fancy I sleep and rest better there. I know I am happier there.”
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the Madison Mohawks and their ace, Tristan sipple, are looking to dominate the Southwest Buckeye League again By reid Maus
W
HEN YOU line up in the batter’s box and see the left-handed Tristan Sipple staring you down from the pitcher’s mound—you’re in for a world of trouble. As the Madison Mohawks gear to repeat as District champs, their ace is looking to dominate the Southwest Buckeye League again, and hopefully 20
The Middletonian
the state. “I’m most excited for my senior year to get to play with my teammates one more time,” said Sipple on finishing his high school career. “I really want to go far in the tournament. The last two years we’ve gone to regionals, so we are hoping to go to state.” If the Mohawks want to achieve those lofty goals then they’re going to need
Sipple at his best again. As a junior, in 52.2 innings pitched he went 8-0 with a 1.06 ERA but maybe most impressive was his 91 strikeouts. That’s averaging 13 strikeouts per every seven innings. The year before? 65 innings, 95 strikeouts and a 0.43 ERA. Sipple can deal. The southpaw parlayed that success into a big time Division I offer. Next fall he will ship off to Raleigh, North
Carolina, where he will join the Wolf Pack of NC State. “North Carolina State was at my best pitching outing” he said. “They had no clue who I was, I had no clue they were. Come to find out they’re ranked in the country. I was 16 years old and it all just took off from there.” Not too long after Sipple and his dad went down to visit NC State and from the get-go they had a good feeling. “I remember visiting there and I loved it, I loved every second,” said Sipple. “We were leaving the visit and we looked at each other and said that’s the one. We just knew.” Tristan will be the first to tell you how good of memory that was. But it was another in a long line of great memories between him and his dad. “Ever since I was nine I’d throw to him in the backyard,” said Sipple. “Every year before the season we’d look back and talk about how close we threw the year before.”
just to get recruited. Personally, now that I’m committed I can just chill down and throw strikes,” he said. “That’s all I have to worry about. I don’t have to focus on 90, I can just dial in and hit my spots. That’s what I’m most excited about this year, growing as a pitcher and hitting my spots.”
With nearly each year the mound to plate moves back till you’re in high school when you finally reach the full 60 feet six inches. Those landmarks where they used to throw behind the house serve as reminders for how far they’ve come together.
Though he committed, that doesn’t hurt his drive to be the best. “I need to stay hungry,” he said. “I still want to break records. I still want to make hitters look stupid.”
Now the landmark Sipple is trying to surpass is getting his team past where they’ve been the last two years.
One positive going into this year is that he doesn’t have to worry about being recruited. He can focus solely on pitching. “During summer ball I was always told that I have to hit 90 mph
Sipple wants to break the Madison single season strikeout record this spring, which is certainly obtainable. At the end of the day though, the personal goals come second the team goals—winning—is the most important.
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Like You, We Care.
Care for Children 6 Weeks thru 12 Years of Age
4435 MARIE DRIVE MIDDLETOWN, OHIO 45044 513-217-5444 MIDDLETOWN@YLACORP.COM
LOCATION
DOWNTOWN MIDDLETOWN 1120 CENTRAL AVENUE MIDDLETOWN, OH – 45044 WESTCENTRALWINE.COM
BUSINESS HOURS: 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
HOURS
MON TO THUR 11AM – 11PM FRI TO SAT 11AM – 1AM
50+ BEERS
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COCKTAILS
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CHEESE + EATS