COMING
TOMORROW Training teachers Commitment To Community
INSIDE: High 87, low 68. P.M. showers and t-storms. Page 3.
VOLUME 130, NUMBER 116
INSIDE: Keeping it real. Page 5.
INSIDE: Football camp held for area youth. Page 9.
W E D N E S DAY, J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 3
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Raffle Tips to to aid Police Fallen stress Heroes common sense on fund BY ALYSSA RECK Staff Writer pdceditorial@civitasmedia.com PIQUA — Miami Valley Centre Mall will be selling raffle tickets now through Aug. 3, to raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Based in New York, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund is a non-profit organization that supports United States military personnel and their families across the country. Beginning in 2000, the fund has provided an estimated $150 million in support for families of US military personnel that have been wounded, lost in service, as well as Vveterans. The fund relies entirely on the public for donations. The raffle tickets are for a small block Chevy engine 305ci with automatic transmission donated by Wally Henne of Valley Safety Equipment Company, based in Piqua. Tickets can be purchased 6 for $5 or $1 each. Pick up your tickets in the Mall Management Office Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All the money given to this raffle will be going directly to See Fund/Page 8
Correction In Monday’s edition of the Piqua Daily Call, the Newspapers In Education page contained a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance that omitted the words “under God” from the pledge. The words “under God” have been a part of the Pledge of Allegiance since 1954, and omitting those two words from the pledge was an unintentional mistake. The Piqua Daily Call deeply regrets the error and apologizes to anyone who may have been offended.
Index Classified ...............13-14 Opinion ..........................4 Comics ........................12 Entertainment ...............5 Golden Years .................6 Health ............................7 Horoscopes.................12 NIE ...............................16 Obituaries ..................2-3 Sports.......................9-11 Weather .........................3
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popular 13-mile route
safety on path
ISAAC HALE/STAFF PHOTO
A bicyclist speeds along on the bike path around Swift Run Lake on Monday afternoon.
BY WILL E SANDERS Staff Writer wsanders@civitasmedia.com
ATV police patrols on the path, but that’s dwindled since a reduction of staffing was put into place several years ago, Jamison said. PIQUA —With the weather clearing and Now, a group of volunteers, Volunteers in the temperatures rising, summer will soon Police Services (VIPS), who are trained be in full swing, which means one popular local and recreational destination with be the city’s 13-mile paved bike path. Information and tips for bike path users: Attracting walkers, runners, bicyclists • Bicyclists must yield to all other users. and other outdoor enthusiasts, the path, • Keep right except to pass. known as Linear Park, is Piqua’s newest, • Move off paved trail when stopped. longest and largest public park that re• Trail users do not have the right of way ceives a fair share of traffic in the summer when crossing traffic on city streets. Trail months. users should yield to all vehicular traffic. Last week two Piqua men were charged Linear Park Rules (City Ordinance 7:01) with rape involving a woman both men • Linear Park is open from dawn to dusk. knew that allegedly occurred in proximity • No motorized vehicles except motorized to the bike path near Swift Run on June 2. wheelchairs are permitted in Linear Park. The alleged crime itself happened outside • Dogs must be leashed. the jurisdiction of the Piqua Police Depart• Dog owners are responsible for removing ment and is being handled by the Miami waste left by dogs. County Sheriff’s Office. • Speed limit for Linear Park is 20 mph. Nevertheless the police department, as • Persons must remain within fenced-in they always have, stress common sense and areas of all bridges. safety to bike path users with the start of • Fishing or angling from Great Miami summer officially beginning later this River Bridge is prohibited and fishing or anmonth. gling from the pavement or stone areas is proChief of Police Bruce Jamison said the hibited. most frequent sort of criminal activity • Smoking or use of tobacco products or along the path is petty vandalism, whether possession of an open flame on the bridge over it be in the form of defacing objects with the Great Miami River, the bridge over Colspray-paint or breaking objects, like por- lege Street or in the tunnel under Sunset tions of fence along the route. Drive is prohibited. “We have had very few random assaults • City of Piqua is not liable for damage or or anything like that,” Jamison said. “Our injury to persons and their personal property biggest problem on the path is vandalism.” while using Linear Park. The police department once actively had
with how to operate an ATV routinely perform checks and report back any vandalism or other crime-related information. Jamison said the higher increase of pedestrians on the path in the summer months actually acts as a deterrent for would-be vandals. “Nobody wants to do that when someone is around,” he said. Among some of the tips police offer to citizens regarding how to safely use the path include staying aware of one’s surroundings, trusting one’s instincts, carrying a cell phone and using the path in pairs. Authorities also urge path users to report criminal activity if they come across it. “Don’t hesitate to make a phone call to 91-1,” Jamison said. “We have pretty good eyes on most of the path, but certainly anything in progress should be reported.” Presently the Piqua Police Department is working with the county with coming up with a way to place pavement markers along the bike path to better allow police to respond to a scene of any crime that may occur on it, Jamison added. In recent years the bike path bridge of the Great Miami River in the city’s downtown has caught fire, either through careless cigarette smokers or vandals. To hopefully avoid yet another summer where the bridge is closed to the public because of a fire, the city’s street department will soon be temporarily shutting down the bridge in the next month to apply a fire retardant to the wooden structure as a preventative measure.
Senator says intel chief was not forthcoming BY LARA JAKES AP National Security Writer
Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, say the programs were valuable tools in counterterror and that the former NSA contractor who leaked them is a traitor. President Barack Obama has vigorously defended the program, saying Americans must balance privacy and security to protect the country from terrorists. Wyden, however, complained that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, during a Senate Intelligence hearing in March about threats the U.S. faces from around the world, was less than forthcoming. “The American people have the right to expect straight answers from the intelligence
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the staunchest critics of government surveillance programs said Tuesday that the national intelligence director did not give him a straight answer last March when he asked whether the National Security Agency collects any data on millions of Americans. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for hearings to discuss two recently revealed NSA programs that collect billions of telephone numbers and Internet usage daily. He was also among a group of senators who introduced legislation Tuesday to force the government to declassify opinions of a secret court that authorizes the surveillance. But other key members of
See Chief/Page 8
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