SUBURBAN LIFE Your Community Press newspaper serving Deer Park, Kenwood, Madeira, Sycamore Township and other Northeast Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
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Cincinnatian directed new TMZ special investigating Tiger King Briana Rice Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Kids First Sports Center in Sycamore Township had to shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a place for kids to participate in sports and other physical activities. Owner Jeff Metzger and his wife Penny Metzger play pickleball here to stay active. PHOTOS BY PHIL DIDION/THE ENQUIRER
‘This isn’t real’ Ohio businesses race to apply for SBA loans to pay workers Alexander Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Before the new coronavirus outbreak, Jeff Metzger had an expanding and thriving business, Kids First Sports Center in Sycamore Township. The business, which teaches youngsters gymnastics, basketball, swimming and other sports throughout the year, coached more than 5,000 kids a week and employed more than 250 full- and part-time staff . Late last year, Metzger bought out his partner and expanded his sports complex with a new $6.3 million wing. Recently, Metzger was forced to lay off most of his workers after Gov. Mike DeWine ordered non-essential businesses closed to combat the spread of the pandemic. “This isn’t real – it’s like a bad dream, there’s just a surreal feeling,” Metzger said, adding his business has found its way to thrive even in past recessions. Now, he’s also one of the thousands of Ohio businesses
that have applied for $349 billion worth of rescue loans that are part of the $2 trillion relief package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in late March. Metzger just might get to hire a bunch of his workers back. He’s applied for about $750,000 in loans under the small business program, called the Paycheck Protection Program, created to preserve small companies – and jobs. Local banks and credit unions say they’ve been slammed by applications from small businesses. First Financial Bank, which does most of its business in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, said Thursday, April 9 that it has received nearly 7,000 applications for $1.3 billion worth of loans and that 1,600 for $500 million worth of loans were nearing approval. “We have an army of employees working around the clock,” said Jeff Magginnis, the director of government
Tigers, a throuple, a missing man and a murder for hire. The Netfl ix docu-series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” had all of that and more as it explored the world of big cat breeding. More than 34 million people watched the show within the fi rst 10 days of its premiere. After a few weeks of unemployment, native Cincinnatian David Thies, producer of The Peanut Butter Falcon, helped direct a special for TMZ and Fox that caught up with the characters from the viral Netfl ix series. “Tiger King has become such a huge phenomenon. It was fi lmed over fi ve years... This documentary is a way to say what has been going on lately?” Thies said. Harvey Levin hosts and narrates the special, “TMZ Investigates: Tiger King – What Really Went Down?” “Sometimes you get lost in the characters, and you don’t think about, this is really a crime story,” Levin told the Associated Press. Seventeen interviews were fi lmed over four days. Thies, who grew up in Mount Lookout, had just fi nished watching the Netfl ix series when he go the call about directing the TMZ special. “It was a unique challenge and I was grateful to get work,” Thies said. “Our industry, and a lot of people’s lives have been disrupted, and have basically come to a screeching halt.” He was in charge of coordinating inSee DIRECTOR , Page 2A
See LOANS , Page 2A
Joe Exotic and friend share a moment in Netflix's "Tiger King." NETFLIX
A note to readers
The main room at Kids First Sports Center in Sycamore Township, a full acre of various gymnastics equipment and structures to climb over, now sits empty.
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Vol. 57 No. 7 © 2020 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED $1.00
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