March 3, 2011
CAC March 3 meeting
Morse-Bethel Connector back in mix By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Normally, controversy breaks out during a Clintonville Area Commission meeting. This time around, it was a case of: Why wait? Shortly after chairman John DeFourny John DeFourny
circulated the agenda for the March session, scheduled for this evening (Thursday, March 3) at 7 p.m. in the Whetstone Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, D Searcy inquired via e-mail why it didn’t include updates on all the matters she requested during her report the previous month. “Thanks for including in the March CAC meeting agenda updates regarding historic preservation and the library
sign that I requested in my district written report at the CAC February meeting,” Searcy wrote. “I also requested an update on two additional items: 1. the Morse-Bethel connector that you mentioned at the December CAC meeting and had indicated would be discussed at the February CAC meeting and 2. Jim Blazer’s appointment in the CI Board. “Unfortunately I don’t see those items
on the CAC agenda. I hope that you will add those items to the agenda as you indicated would be done.” Not to worry, according to DeFourny. DeFourny did indeed invoke the highly divisive Morse-Bethel Connector at the December meeting, and he said last week the matter would come up this evening during his district report. DeFourny represents the CAC’s District 8.
The proposal for a bridge across the Olentangy River to create a new eastwest corridor is, at least according to DeFourny, still very much among the living. “The issue of the Morse-Bethel connector has not only never gone away, it has been given new life by the people supporting the left turn on Broadway,” See MORSE-BETHEL, page A2
First ‘Meet Your Council’ event draws about 50 By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
It WAS like speed-dating. Northland Community Council president Dave Paul’s playful description of the format for a series of “Meet Your Columbus City Council” events, the first of which took place last week at the Fedderson Recreation Center on Dresden Street, proved to be fairly accurate. Only instead of, “Do you find me attractive?” over the course of several minutes of conversation, it was a case of, “Can you fix this problem?” and “Do you understand my concern?” Last week’s gathering, which is to be followed by four others through mid-April, was held at the recreation center not far from the intersection of Karl and Cooke roads to attract residents from Clintonville, the Northland area, North Linden and the Northwest Side. Several Northland Community Council representatives were on hand, as were some members of the Clintonville Area Commission. The format involved a brief introduction from Council President Andrew J. Ginther, during which he outlined the committee assignments of the various council members so people with specific concerns would know who best to approach: • Michelle M. Mills, public safety • Zachary M. Klein, development and recreation and parks • Eileen Y. Paley, public utilities and public services and transportation • Priscilla R. Tyson, finance • Hearcel F. Craig, health, housing and human services, as well as minority, business and workforce development • Troy A. Miller, administration and zoning Ginther, who heads up council’s rules and reference committee, told the approximately 50 people on hand for his introduction – perhaps a dozen or so more arrived after the start – that any con-
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Marvin Watkins plays gin rummy recently with recreational therapist Morgan Mathews as her therapy dog, Bella, watches at Dodd Hall at the Ohio State University Medical Center. The game helps Watkins work on his memory, problem-solving skills, planning ahead and other mental skills. Mathews is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her liver transplant. She was diagnosed with a rare liver disease as an infant and was placed on the liver transplant list during her first semester of college after becoming ill.
Resident given ‘second chance of life’ decade ago By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of her lifesaving surgery, liver transplant recipient Morgan Mathews went to San Diego with her mother. The reason: She’d never been there. Without the operation, without “things lining up” in just the right way, the Clintonville resident would never have gotten there. Once every 48 hours, according to Lifeline of Ohio media relations and community outreach coordinator Rachel Lewis, a resident of the Buckeye State dies while awaiting an organ transplant. A decade ago, Mathews learned after her surgery that she was probably within as little as two weeks of becoming a statistic.
But she didn’t, and Mathews knows just how much luck was involved. Or maybe it was prayer. Morgan Mathews was born in Athens and grew up in the small, closely knit town of Pomeroy. Blood tests when she was an infant revealed that Mathews had a rare genetic disorder, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The condition, which is inherited by children only if both parents carry the gene for it, affects about one in 1,500 to one in 3,500 individuals of European ancestry, according to the website of the National Institutes of Health. “About 10 percent of infants with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency develop liver disease, which often causes yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes … ,” the website states. “Approximately 15 percent of affected adults develop liver damage … due to the formation of scar tis-
sue in the liver.” Morgan Mathews was on a low-salt or no-salt diet and many medications from infancy. “I pretty much grew up taking medicine,” she said last week. She made visits to Children’s Hospital every six months and wasn’t allowed to participate in contact sports while growing up. But that was OK; there were no contact sports for girls in Pomeroy. “My body was growing weaker over senior year,” Mathews recalled. Nevertheless, she enrolled at Marshall University in West Virginia, only to become too ill by the Thanksgiving break to return to classes. After two days of testing at Ohio State University Medical Center, Mathews was placed on See RESIDENT GIVEN, page A4
See FIRST “MEET YOUR COUNCIL’, page A2
Nonprofit gluten-free bakery holding fundraiser By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The second annual silent auction fundraiser for Food for Good Thought Inc., a nonprofit glutenfree bakery and job-training rehabilitation facility, will take place on Saturday, March 12, beginning at 3 p.m. Food for Good Thought is at 4185 N. High St.
The goal of the event is to bring in $5,000, according to president and chief executive officer Audrey Todd, Ph.D. The clinical psychologist founded Food for Good Thought in 2008. Todd’s son Liam has autism, and she and her husband Scott Bogner, in researching ways to help the boy, discovered a possible connection between a glutenfree diet and improvements among
DIRECTORY News: (740) 888-6100 editorial@thisweeknews.com Sports: (740) 888-6054 sports@thisweeknews.com Retail ads: (740) 888-6000 www.thisweeknews.com/advertise Classified: (740) 888-5003 classified@thisweeknews.com Customer Service: 1-888-837-4342
autistic children. The $5,000 would provide the local match for an Ohio Department of Transportation grant providing 80 percent of the cost of a 12-passenger van to transport the supported employees at Food for Good Thought, which Todd said received national accreditation as a rehabilitation facility in November. If the effort falls short of that
goal, the president added, the funds raised March 12 would go toward salaries for bakery employees. Food for Good Thought, in addition to being a bakery, is also formally now a nonprofit organization able to apply for such grants. It took 11 months to achieve that status, according to Todd.
A closer look The goal of the Food for Good Thought Inc. event is to bring in $5,000, according to president and chief executive officer Audrey Todd, Ph.D. The $5,000 would provide the local match for an Ohio Department of Transportation grant providing 80 percent of the cost of a 12-passenger van to transport the supported employees, which Todd said received national accreditation as a rehabilitation facility in November.
See FUNDRAISER, page A5
Still looking for fun things to do with your money? Find things to do for $10 or less with the Cheap Thrills blog at www.ThisWeekNews.com.
Who has the
BEST DESSERTS in Columbus? Find out online at ThisWeekNEWS.com/readerspoll Readers Poll of the best Columbus restaurants.
Find everything for your home and garden all in one place!
Feb. 26 – Mar. 6
Ohio Expo Center
Presented by
In partnership with our official sponsors:
Saturdays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sundays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. CLOSED MONDAY Tuesday – Friday Noon – 8 p.m. TICKETS AT THE DOOR: Admission: $12. ($8 for guests 55+ on Senior Day, March 2). Children 12 and under FREE. For a $2 OFF discount coupon log on to dispatchevents.com