March 24, 2011
Northland Alliance
New leader hopes for ‘nonprofit summit’ By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Recently installed as the new head of the Northland Alliance, longtime member Joyce Bourgault wants to take it in new directions. The executive director of the Helping Hands Health and Wellness Center free clinic has been on the board of the Al-
liance practically from its inception a decade ago. The organization was formed to work cooperatively with the Northland Community Council and Northland Area Business Association to help a part of the city that was reeling following the closing of the Northland Mall. “It’s been quite a while,” Bourgault said of her tenure on the Alliance board, which dates to her days as business man-
ager of the Ascension Lutheran Church on Morse Road. While looking to the business interests of the Northland area has been the major focus of the Alliance in its first 10 years of existence, Bourgault said last week that board members have decided to broaden their scope to include the services people in the community need. “That’s my arena,” said Bourgault,
who was among the founders of Helping Hands in April 2007. It originated in response to growing numbers of people who were forgoing health care because they lacked insurance. “I am an organizer, and I try to find resources in a community and all the assets in the community and I try to make those workable so that things needed by people in the community become avail-
able,” Bourgault said. To that end, the Northland Alliance chairwoman said that she would be meeting with Paul Weber of the North YMCA to discuss the possibility of a “Nonprofit Summit,” either at the YMCA on Sandalwood Place or the Haimerl Center next to Ascension Lutheran. See NEW LEADER, page A2
Block REGIONAL CHAMPIONS Watch members hear from Crime Stoppers
By KEVIN PARKS
By KEVIN PARKS
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
NCC development
Heart attack considered ‘temporary setback’ for Thurman
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Just slightly over two years ago, Kevin Miles drove from Columbus to Philadelphia to be on hand for the sentencing of a felon-turnedphilanthropist-turned-felon. The volunteer president of Central Ohio Crime Stoppers had a personal stake in wanting to see Joe Mammana go back to prison, this time on federal tax-evasion and weapons charges. Miles and his dog, Archie, were out for a walk in Victorian Village on Nov. 19, 2006, when both were attacked by a man wielding a baseball bat. At the time, Crime Stoppers was involved in a legal dispute with Mammana over the refusal of the urban egg farmer and self-styled anti-crime crusader to come through on an offer to pay a reward for tips leading to the arrest of whoever killed Julie Popovich. The 20-year-old and college student disappeared from a University District bar on Aug. 11, 2005. Her body was found three weeks later near the Hoover Reservoir. Reached by reporter for The Columbus Dispatch the day after Miles was attacked, Mammana was quoted as saying, “I have everybody in the country calling me about this. But if it was me who beat him or had him beat, he would still be in the hospital. Maybe he fabricated the whole thing, or stole some Girl Scout cookies. “I’ll post a $25 reward for the arrest but not the conviction. I’ll put the money up up front. ... I wouldn’t wish any harm on Kevin Miles.” Pretty certain it was Mammana who ordered the assault with the baseball bat, Miles showed up in federal court in Philadelphia on March 5 as the man was being sentenced to eight years behind bars for one reason: to show he was still standing. And that’s the point of Crime Stoppers and of all citizen-driven initiatives against crime, according to Detective Gerald Milner, during a presentation he and Miles gave last week to Block Watch coordinators from throughout the Northland area. Whether it’s drive-by shootings in one part of the city, home invasions in another or gang graffiti showing up at a neighborhood park See BLOCK WATCH, page A8
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Northland High School basketball team members Roberto Pierre and Lequan Williams celebrate as the Vikings widen their lead over Westerville South in the second half of the Division I regional basketball tournament March 19 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. Northland won 80-62 to advance to the final four. See Sports on page B1 for the story and more pictures.
The head of the Northland Community Council’s development committee had a development of his own earlier this month: a heart attack. But Bob Thurman said last week that he sees his “heart issue” as only a minor setback, and added that he hopes to be back in time for the next meeting of the development panel. It helps that nothing was on tap for this month’s session, according to community council president Dave Paul. “That obviously buys us a little time in terms of how we keep the committee going, and so forth,” Paul said. The next committee session is not scheduled until Wednesday, April 27. At least one item is scheduled for the April committee meeting, and it’s one that Thurman has been looking forward to, although he said he would find a replacement as chairman if upcoming double bypass surgery prevents him from attending. A group of Northland High School business teacher Jaime Elledge’s students is tackling a project involving some real-world tough decisions. Their assignment is to select vacant lots or buildings within the Northland area, create a business plan for their use and present that concept to the NCC’s development panel. If all goes well, Thurman has said, the students might be able to go on with their plan to have it considered by the city’s Development Commission and perhaps even city council. “That’s still moving ahead,” community council education committee chairman Chuck Wolfe said of the NHS business class project. “I want to make sure we get it done in April,” Thurman said. The development committee chairman said that he hopes to able to preside over that April 27 meeting. If not, someone will be on hand. “I’ll have a substitute chairman taking my place,” he said. “I’ll be asking the committee to See THURMAN, page A2
Liaison officer recommends next-of-kin registry By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
People involved in accidents far from home or just around the corner may face their injuries alone if emergency responders have no way of knowing who to contact. In 2008, Ohio became the first state to allow residents to voluntarily provide emergency contact information as part of driver’s license or state identification records. But few seem to be aware of the simple processes for providing multiple names and telephone numbers for those who need to know if a person suffers an incapacitating injury, one that leaves them unable to communicate with law enforcement or emergency personnel.
A story in The Columbus Dispatch last week noted that fewer than 150,000 of Ohio’s 7.9 million licensed drivers have signed up for the next-of-kin registry. That’s only about 2 percent. Two mothers who know the pain of not finding out until it was too late that their sons were involved in traffic accidents have formed a nonprofit organization to educate people about the existence of the Ohio Next of Kin Database. At last week’s meeting of Northlandarea Block Watch coordinators, liaison officer Scott Clinger urged those in attendance to take the few minutes needed to visit www.MyEmergencyContactInfo.org and follow the links to provide information to the Department of Motor Vehicles on who to contact.
“It’s a really good idea to do it,” Clinger said. “It’s important because it is difficult for law enforcement and hospital personnel to find your family members if you are hurt and can’t tell them who to call,” according to an information sheet Clinger distributed to the Block Watch leaders. Clinger noted that the next-of-kin contact details can even be obtained by authorized personnel over the Law Enforcement Automated Data Systems, or LEADS, meaning that notification delay can be cut down significantly even in cases where accidents occur in other states. The nonprofit organization promoting the Ohio Next of Kin Database was formed by Linda Wuestenberg of the Strawberry Farms area and Mechanicsburg resident
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Carmela Wiant. Both were behind promoting the 2008 legislation that created the database. “My family and I worked with our law enforcement and government officials to create this law after my son was involved in an accident and it took seven long hours to find me,” Wuestenberg wrote on the information sheet Clinger handed out. “He died from his injuries.” The son, 33-year-old Steve Burge of Orient, was involved in a rollover crash in February 2007. He died from his injuries before authorities could track down his number. David C. Money, Wiant’s son, was fatally injured in a 2006 accident on InterSee NEXT-OF-KIN, page A2
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