The Ironton Tribune • Profile 2021

Profile 2021

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4 e c n e r aw MADE IN

COUNTY

Lawrence County Profile United Way of the River Cites invests....

In the Community Funding for nearly 6000 meals provided to local food pantries (Harvest for the Hungry, Community Mission Outreach).

Over $18,000 in COVID-19 relief and recovery grants award directly back into the community through local food pantries and other non-profits to help meet the increased need of the community.

Over 2500 masks distributed through local non-profits and libraries to the residents of Lawrence County.

In Students $7,500 awarded to local schools for student groups to help buy clothing, food and toys for other students through The Big Cover-up.

Nearly 600 weekend meals provided through funding made to Backpack Buddies.

In the future of all Lawrence County.

United Way of the River Cities

www.unitedwayrivercities.org • 304.523.8929

LIVE • WORK • PLAY • CREATE • TASTE • BUILD We volunteer, start businesses, lead, vote, spend time outdoors and contribute to our community. We take you on journeys through culture and history while embracing new perspectives and energy. We have a diverse economy, entrepreneurs of all stripes and value creativity and innovation without forsaking grand traditions. From the young transplants to fourth generation old hands who call this city home, together...

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PROFILE PROFILE2021 2021

55

Table of Contents 14

40

10

28

6

58

16

Raising Cane................................................... 6

Backporch Fibers.......................................... 40

Tarheelbilly Farm...........................................10

Church Directory........................................... 42

Equipping the Pros.........................................14 History Preserved......................................... 20 Promoting Courage........................................16

Horror Business............................................. 46 From Ironton to the World............................ 52

Abby Shae Bakes.......................................... 28

CCTC: Ready for the Future........................... 58

Swift Manufacturing..................................... 36

Index of Advertisers...................................... 64

Profile 2021

4 e c n e r w La MADE IN

COUNTY

6 PROFILE 2021

Raising Cane Chesapeake artist carves wood into one-of-a-kind works of art STORY BY HEATH HARRISON

C

HESAPEAKE — Each year, as the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade steps off in May, its grand marshal carries a special item.

Since 2009, Charlie Cooke, of Chesapeake, has been hand carving intricate, decorative canes for the parade each year.

Cooke, who retired in 2007 from the wholesale pharmaceutical business, says he has been carving wood for more than three decades.

“I did little figurines for years — Santas, angels,” he said.

He and his wife, Donita, ran a shop in Ironton for several years, My Heart Is In The Country, and it was the Santa

figures he displayed there that led to his involvement in the parade.

Cooke met one of the organizers of the annual Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade, Lou Pyles, who is a huge fan of carved Santa Claus figures.

“I’ve collected his work for 25 years,” Pyles said. “Charlie and his wife owned the store and used to put Santas in the window. I asked if he could carve me one every year.”

Cooke said Pyles asked him if he would be interested in taking over the carving of the canes, after

His work is just exquisite. He has god-given talent and we’re so blessed to have him on the parade committee.

— Lou Pyles, parade organizer

Bill Ellis, who had done so previously, passed away.

“I said yes, and I’m so glad I did,” Cooke said. “So, every year, I give one out at the past grand marshals dinner and it’s come to be a tradition for me.”

Cooke said he works primarily with a balsa wood stick, but he has also used woods such as willow.

He said he prefers the balsa because it is “Something lean and easy to carve.”

He said he is usually contacted

8 PROFILE 2021

in late January by Pyles, who tells him the theme of the year’s parade, then he gets to work.

He said he uses a lot of hand gouges for the carving, but, due to arthritis, he has recently used a power carver to rough in the shape first.

"It reduces the knife and gouge work,” he said.

After the carving is done, his wife paints the items.

Cooke said he carves off and on through the following four months and has the finished piece ready by mid-May. While he has never counted his total carving time, Cooke said he estimates if he were to work continuously, a typical cane would take him about two weeks to finish.

Cooke’s work has been seen at the Bob Evans Farm Festival and at craft shows around the region. He said he also carved a tiger head cane for the openers of the Cincinnati Bengals.

As for other projects, he said he is making canes for his family.

“With little wood spirits, faces and animals,” he said. “They’ve turned out fairly good.”

He is continuing to make Santa figurines for Christmas and is working on a freestyle owl piece at the moment.

“I stay fairly busy,” he said.

Pyles, who will be the parade’s grand marshal this year, said this will be the first cane she has received from Cooke. She served as grand marshal previously in 2006, and has a cane made by Ellis.

She said her request to Cooke is for a red, white and blue theme, with stars and stripes.

“He’s one of the greatest people you could ever hope to meet and know,” Pyles said. “He’s a wonderful friend. His work is just exquisite. He has god-given talent and we’re so blessed to have him on the parade committee.” 

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10 PROFILE 2021

Legacy

Continuing a

Tarheelbilly Farm expands on farming tradition STORY BY HEATH HARRISON | PHOTOS BY HEATH HARRISON, SUBMITTED

F

rom wool to maple syrup to honey, Tarheelbilly Farm in Willow Wood produces a range of products made locally.

It began in 2013, when Ben Walker and his wife, Charis, moved to Lawrence County, where his family had a history of farming.

The Walkers met in LaGrange, North Carolina, where Ben was stationed in the U.S. Air Force, finding each other through the dating site farmersonly.com.

They married in 2007 and began microfarming on a half acre in North Carolina, where Charis is a native.

Now near Ben’s childhood home, the couple launched their farm, drawn from their two heritages.

Living on the farm with their

10-year-old daughter, Delaney, the Walkers have a herd of 22 Tunis sheep, which Charis shears and sends the wool off nationwide.

In addition to that, she also spins, knits and weaves and, as a professional welder, makes much of the equipment they use on the farm.

“She’s Wonder Woman,” Judy Ross, of the Lawrence County Farm Bureau, who helped Charis find a local fiber guild, said of her set of skills.

The Walkers typically sell their products at places such as the Ashland Farmers Market, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they have not been doing events this past year.

“We hope to be back,” Ben said, adding that they have been selling their maple syrup through direct sales and

their fibers on Etsy for now.

“It’s tough not being able to socialize with friends and customers,” he said. Though he said the shutdowns have been a blessing, as well, allowing the family to be together more.

“I’ve been able enjoy it with them,” he said.

In the meantime, Ben says they have expanded their herd of sheep and now have 25.

He said he has learned as they have farmed in the county that the woody pastures here are better than realized at first.

“The sheep do better when it’s more diverse,” he said. “It’s not what we thought. The diversity here is better.”

They have also amped up their maple syrup production, up from 15 taps when they started and 450 just two years ago.

“We’ve increased our maple taps,” he said. “We have 600 taps now.”

Ben said he has spent the last few weeks cleaning up the hillsides and the miles of tubing to the trees.

Due to the emerald ash borer, there are numerous dead ash trees falling throughout the county.

He said it takes about 60 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup and that he can get about 1.3 gallons out of single tree.

Ben said that the syrup from Appalachia is popular and often wins taste tests.

“I’ve had people tell me it’s the best syrup they’ve ever had,” he said.

Ben said they try to be as diverse as possible in their work.

They’ve raised their own hogs and hope to get a breeding pair this year, and, as a member of the Ohio River Bee Society, Ben says he has seven beehives going.

He also uses his woodworking skills to build and sell hives to others.

PROFILE 2021

13

Stating that he has “the gift of gab,” Ben’s enthusiasm for talking about farming is quite evident.

He stresses that nothing they do is a hobby and that they are not a “hobby farm.” It is a full time job, and a sustainable business.

Growing up as a teen farming, he said he hopes to “continue a legacy” locally, that his family was a part of.

“When I was a kid, everyone raised tobacco, but that went out,” he said.

Since moving back to the area, he said they have learned a lot from other locals.

“I’ve really enjoyed networking with other producers,” he said.

Everything from Tarheelbilly Farm is chemical free and no fertilizers or shots are used.

“It’s all grass fed,” Ben said, stating they want to grow things as God did.

He said this organic approach is key to their mission.

“We want to be good stewards of the land,” he said. “That’s very important.”

For more information, visit www. tarheelbillyfarm online. 

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14 PROFILE 2021

Franklin Furnace man cut ball gloves for major league players

EQUIPPING PROS STORY BY HEATH HARRISON | PHOTOS BY JEREMY HOLTZAPFEL

W

P H IL N IE K RO

hen a legendary knuckleball pitcher passed away a few months ago, many may not have known of the local tie to Ironton.

Atlanta Brave Phil Niekro, a Blaine, Ohio native and inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, died Dec. 26 at age 86. His 318 victories in his career were the most by a knuckleball pitcher and he ranks 16th on Major League Baseball’s all-time list.

And the equipment used in those games was made right here in Lawrence County.

Gary Gannon, 86, of Franklin Furnace, worked at Wilson Sporting Goods factory on Third Street in Ironton, where it was located for 40 years.

The Chicago-based company, which produces balls, uniforms and equipment for baseball, football and basketball, had a plant in the city until 1984.

Gannon worked at the facility from 19531983, where he was a supervisor and cut gloves for 18 years. His specialty was making custom gloves for the pros.

Gannon said he made the mitts, which he said were “as big as a bushel basket” for the catchers of Niekro and two other knuckleball pitchers.

Because the knuckleballs had so much movement when in the air, the gloves were unique and much larger than a typical catcher’s mitt.

“They turned the gloves back, one finger at a time inserted the lining, then the girls laced them up,” Gannon said of the process at the mill, where about 300 were employed.

Gannon and his wife Patricia had one son. He also crewed with Roger Gustin Motorsports for several years, where his nephew drove a jet funny car.

Gannon said he cut gloves for the company for about 18 years.

“All the pros years ago had hand-cut patterns, paper patterns,” he said. “We made dozens for each of them and we did it once a year.” 

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Promoting Courage Homemakers make headwear for those battling cancer

T

STORY BY HEATH HARRISON | PHOTOS BY JEREMY HOLTZAPFEL

hose battling cancer have been given a special gift, created by a group of volunteers from Lawrence County.

For the past six years, a team of volunteers based in Proctorville have been creating Courage Caps, made from material donated from throughout the region.

The effort is spearheaded by Delma McComas of the Ensee Homemakers, one of three groups that comprise the Lawrence County Homemakers. For her, the mission is a personal one.

Her daughter, Kristin McComas-Parsons, who was a speech language pathologist at Marshall University,

PROFILE 2021

17

passed away from leukemia.

McComas said her daughter was known to her coworkers for being brilliant and humble and willing and able to do anything and everything for others.

“When we lost her, I was devastated,” McComas said.

And it was five years after her daughter’s death that the project began.

McComas said she had heard of the idea of The Turban Project through Facebook.

The group, based out of Zanesville, Ohio, creates headwear for those who have lost their hair due to cancer and other illnesses.

“I saw that and I said, ‘I have to get involved,’” she said, remembering how hard it was for her daughter when she had to shave her hair.

McComas was able to establish a satellite of the project locally and, with members of the Ensee Homemakers, friends from church and members of other Lawrence County Homemakers groups, formed a team to sew, cut and decorate the headwear.

She said a yard of fabric can be used to sew four caps for adults.

18 PROFILE 2021

“Or five or six for children,” McComas said.

Once finished, they are then decorated with “bling,” she said.

The group has also produced fleece winter beanies for patients and, though the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed homemakers’ events, they have also been sewing masks for doctors’ offices, businesses and hospitals throughout the country. Altogether, they have produced 3,500 masks.

For the Turban Project, McComas said they have received grants, as well as monetary donations and material from the community.

One person she heard from was Kathy Chezik, the former chair of Marshall University’s Department of Communication Disorders, for whom Kristen worked as a graduate assistant.

Chezik remembered McComas’ daughter as one of the brightest students she ever encountered and she made a $5,000 contribution to the project.

A scholarship in Kristin’s name has also been set up at the university.

To date, McComas and her team have created more 9,000 caps, which have been delivered through area hospitals.

McComas said that anyone who would like to get involved in the project or make a donation can leave her a message by calling 304-633-4416.

PROFILE 2021

19

Before they are delivered, they are prayed over by children at Mount Hope Missionary Church, where the pastor Mark Roach, who is heavily involved in the project, puts them on the altar.

McComas said this has continued during the pandemic, with Roach praying over the phone when doing so in-person is not possible.

“They’re always blessed,” she said McComas said she has heard from many cancer patients who have received the caps and she hopes the efforts gives them hope and allows them to see the goodwill from the community.

“That’s why we do this,” she said. 

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20 PROFILE 2021

History Preserved Brandon Bowling, of South Point, is originally from Kitts Hill and is a Symmes Valley High graduate. Now employed at St. Mary’s hospital in Huntington, he has been collecting antique items made in Lawrence County for about 10 years.

This milk bottle from Kitts Hill Dairy was the first piece of his collection.

Stoneware from Aaron Winters Drug. Co., Ironton, estimated from 1860s.

PROFILE 2021

21

Col. H.A. Marting cigar box from Byers and Wileman, Ironton.

Soda bottle from Cold Wave in Ironton, 1940s.

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22 PROFILE 2021

Stoneware from W.P. Martin, Proctorville, 1860s.

(Note the village was listed as Proctorsville at that date)

Restored crate, for shipping seltzer bottles, from Champion Mineral Water Co., Ironton.

Stoves from Ironton’s Foster Stove Co.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Hindsight is 20/20?” It means that it is easy to know the right thing to do after something has happened. This is a phrase we may have often heard as we leave the year 2020 and go into this new year of 2021. So, literally now ¬-- hindsight is 2020.

Here is a small glance at where we have been and what to look for in the coming year at Hecla Water. Our crews have been replacing water service lines that have been an inconvenience to us and our customers. We will continue doing so into the new year. Teams have been and will continue to look for leaks and replace inefficient meters throughout the system. This is having an impact on water loss, which also reflects how much our pumps and treatment plant have to run each day.

In this upcoming year, we will be replacing an outdated, older pumping station with a new, aboveground pumping station on State Route 93 in Decatur Township. We will continue with main line replacements and relocating in areas as they are needed. We are always working hard to make service better with the least number of outages as possible. The Nine Million Dollar water treatment plant renovations are now underway. This is the largest and most costly project to date that Hecla Water has ever undergone. It takes all 38 of our hardworking men and women to make our company successful.

Hecla Water operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We work in all weather conditions to provide a service that is second to none.

Bottle from Aaron Winters Drug Co., Ironton

Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, once said, “The easy way is effectual and speedy, the hard way, arduous and long. But as the clock ticks, the easy way becomes harder and the hard way becomes easier. And as the calendar records the years, it becomes increasingly evident that the easy way rests hazardously upon shifting sands, whereas the hard way builds solidly a foundation of confidence that cannot be swept away.” This quote describes how the foundation of Hecla Water was built 51 years ago. Hard work established our company back then and has carried us through the years, and makes our company what it is today.

We are made in Lawrence County and we service Lawrence Countians. Our founder’s dream years ago was to provide good, safe, quality drinking water to rural Lawrence County, and we now service over HECLA WATER ASSOCIATION, INC. 13,000 homes and businesses in the county.

We pledge to work hard on always improving our foundation of confidence and to withstand the shifting sands141, of time.

3190 State Route Ironton, OH 45638 Hecla Water will strive to be our best now -- and far into the future.

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3190 SR 141 • Ironton, Ohio 45638 • (740) 533-0528

This is your Drinking Water Quality Report

Definitions for Test Results Tables

With all of these practices in place, Hecla staff are less likely to come in contact or be diagnosed with COVID-19. Had we known what was coming in 2020, we could have been better prepared and we would have been ready. However, that’s what has made us better. And just like that, with hard work and working as a team with the same goals, we have come out of the year better and stronger.

Parts per million (ppm) or Milligrams per liter –one part per million corresponds to a single penny in $10,000.

Our board of directors remained on top of things by doing teleconference, and later moving meetings to our local fire department in order to social distance and still take care of business as usual. Second, our office employees are divided into two separate offices to maintain great customer service and still be safe.

Third, our treatment plant has been placed off-limits to all non-plant employees and customers. Lastly, the distribution employees have been relocated into separate locations with social distancing, wearing masks and temperature checks in all locations.

Parts per billion (ppb) or Micrograms per liter - one part per billion corresponds to a single penny in $10,000,000.

Less Than = < ] [More Than = >] [ N/A or NA = not applicable ] [ nonreg = non regulated

by EPA] [TT = treatment technique] [NTU = nephelometric turbidity units]

Variances & Exemptions (V & E) - State of EPA permission not to meet an MCL or a treatment technique under certain conditions. NOT GIVEN IN OHIO

Action Level (AL)– the concentration of a contaminant which , if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements which a water system must follow.

Maximum contaminant Level (MCL) - the ―Maximum Allowed‖ (MCL) is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCL’s are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) - The ―Goal MCLG‖ is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLG allow for a margin of safety.

All drinking water contains a small amount of some contaminants.

As we look back on this past year, it was a year like none of us could have prepared for. The COVID-19 pandemic has not been kind to anyone, but as a company with great management and outstanding employees, we learned to cope. Many changes occurred inside our company to deal with the pandemic.

24 PROFILE 2021

Counter clock from Ironton’s A.J. Brumberg clothing company.

Soda bottle from Cold Wave in Ironton, 1940s.

Milk bottle from Chestnut Hill Dairy in Ironton.

Hand painted sign for the Ro-Na Theater in Ironton, for the release of the 1950 film, “Tripoli.”

Writing advertising previous films can be seen through the white paint.

Ice picks from Crystal Ice Company, Ironton.

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26 PROFILE 2021

Beer bottles from an Ironton brewery.

Catcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mitt, owned

by Brian Bowling, of South Point, made

by Wilson Sporting Goods factory in Ironton.

Bottles from E.J. Merrill Drug Co., Ironton.

28 PROFILE 2021

RECIPE

Success

STORY BY HEATH HARRISON PHOTOS SUBMITTED

I

t was two years ago that Proctorville’s Abbey Kimball took her love of baking and began a business that she says has since developed a “mini cult following” in the region with Abbey Shae Bakes.

Kimball had graduated Belmont University with a music degree and said she was unsure of her next move.

“I didn’t know what to do when I graduated,” she said.

She said baking had always been a hobby of hers and she decided to try her hand at French macarons, which many of her friends wanted, but were unable to find locally.

The chewy sandwich cookies consist of two shells, made from pastry mix, confectioners’ sugar and almond flour, with butter cream or jam used inside for flavor.

“They’re very difficult to make,” she said of her early attempts.

“There were so many times I wanted to quit.”

After some trial and error, Kimball was able to get them right.

She initially would take them to friends at parties, then started doing pop-up sales.

“I would always sell out every time,” she said.

Eventually, she decided to acquire a food truck for the business.

“They were becoming a big deal,” she said. “And there was low overhead, if I wanted to continue to do this.”

She said she has been able to continue to build the business since she got it up and running, traveling around to places such as Pullman Square in Huntington,

Musician turns love of baking into a business

PROFILE 2021

29

where she regularly sets up at the Pottery Place, and selling at events such as Chesapeake’s Octoberfest and the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce’s Festival of Trees and Christmas Market. She has also catered events, and, during the COVID-19 pandemic while events were curtailed, she sat up at one of South Point’s socially-distanced food truck rallies.

Kimball said she is the only baker for the business, though she has two employees who help her with the retail side. She said she has added other items to her offering, such as brownie sandwiches and cookie sandwiches, but it is the macarons that are the big draw.

“The always sell out, and we’re always adding new flavors to those,” she said. “Like birthday cake and lemon.”

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Franklin Furnace 4301 Gallia Pike 740

354-9335

Rick Slack

Owner/Funeral Director

Aid

Beth Wallace McNearney Owner/Funeral Director

St. Rt. 141

Amie Wallace Crockett

Funeral Director Apprentice

Family owned and operated with over 50 years combined experience.

740

Like us on Facebook.

643-2765

Deering

St. Rt. 243 N. 740

532-9061

Chesapeake 993 3rd Ave.

740

867-3366

Proctorville 8065 St. Rt. 7

740

886-6595

PROFILE 2021

31

As for the future, she said she is looking to expand and get a second truck to enable her to sell at multiple events, while she is hoping to eventually open a brick and mortar business.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” she said.

Kimball said the reception to her treats has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It been really great,” she said. “I had no idea what to expect. It was started as something fun in the moment and it’s been really well received. Our social media outreach has really gotten us to where we are and I’m excited to see where it goes.” 

For more information, visit Abbey Shae Bakes on Facebook and Instagram and online at www.abbeyshaebakes.com.

VOTED Best Funeral Home IN LAWRENCE COUNTY

Family-Operated and Quality Service for

more than 110 years

With a history that spans more than a century, the fact that Phillips Funeral Home provides quality service isn’t exactly news—but the fact that we’ve been doing it for so long is. We take pride in providing our surrounding communities with funeral and cremation services that can encompass any faith, tradition or budget.

Outstanding service has always been our number one priority…and it always will be. For more information on our services, please call or stop by.

©adfinity®

1004 S. 7th St.

n

Ironton, OH 45638

(740) 532-2144

www.phillipsfuneralhome.net

Vesuvius USA: At A Glance T

ucked away in the Wurtland Riverport resides a company with more than 11,000 employees and 49 plants worldwide. Vesuvius USA was founded in 1987 and has been manufacturing refractory products in the tri-state area since 2002. Vesuvius is headquartered in the United Kingdom but has several locations in the United States.

As an industry leader in molten metal flow technology, Vesuvius manufactures cutting edge products for the steel and foundry industries.

Hundreds of thousands of monolithic refractory products pass through the facility annually, with its top customers including Arcelor Mittal, Cleveland Cliffs, and Nucor. The Wurtland location employs 40 people from the tri-state area.

Vesuvius utilizes a raw material called Magnesium Oxide to create refractory products used throughout the steelmaking process. Refractory products are designed to withstand extreme temperatures, making them well-suited to be used with molten metal.

Each day, hundreds of tons of product flow in and out of the facility and play a large role in supply chains across the country. Logistics play a large role in the company’s production timeline and overall efficiency.

Due to COVID-19, the company suffered a downturn in production rates for most of 2020. Many industry suppliers were forced to shut down for months on end. However, their numbers bounced back when suppliers and customers were able to resume production.

Environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility are also important to the company.

Vesuvius is dedicated to energy conservation efforts and strives to achieve efficiency while also reducing their carbon footprint. Every year Vesuvius aims to consume less energy resources, reduce waste, and take environmental concerns into consideration at every step of their supply chain.

Positions at Vesuvius include production operators, maintenance

operators, shipping and receiving, quality managers, and other administrative staff. Each employee has a crucial role in ensuring the production and logistical processes are fulfilled. All staff works together to foster a positive work environment while exceeding production and shipping quotas.

The company also partners with Ashland Community and Technical College’s Advanced Integration Technology program. The partnership allows Vesuvius to offer internships and other training opportunities, providing handson experience with automated technology systems. They have hired graduates of the program, allowing young professionals to remain in the area upon graduation.

Not only does Vesuvius support a global economy, they also give back to the local community. Community outreach falls within the company’s CORE values (Courage, Ownership, Respect, Energy). The CORE values provide a framework for company culture and identity, striving to create a positive and productive work culture. Plant Manager Josh Blanton said that setting an example for others through actions motivates and inspires others to do the same.

Vesuvius supports several nonprofit organizations through donations, sponsorships, and volunteering time. MyTownTV, Hope’s Place Child Advocacy Center, HillcrestBruce Mission, River Cities Harvest, Helping Hands of Greenup County, and The Neighborhood are a few examples. In addition, the company manufactured plexiglass boxes and donated PPE that allowed health workers to treat COVID-19 patients safely at the height of the pandemic.

Although Vesuvius may be hidden away in the Wurtland Riverport, they are very active in the community and provide career opportunities for local residents.

If you are interested in a career with Vesuvius, email a resume to josh.blanton@vesuvius.com or call (606) 833-9936.

1080 PORT ROAD, WURTLAND, KY

606-833-9936

area7WIB-n/a-letterhead-12/1

Imprint area/Size:

Lawrence County Imprint Color: One-Stop

Item Color:

Lawrence County

120 N. Third St. • Ironton, Ohio

740-532-3140 A proud partner of the American Job Center network Our One-Stop is a service to our community.

The free services are here for anyone.

Lawrence Services Available • Resume writing County• Academic and computer • Interviewing • Application preparation • Labor Market information • Work Keys • GED test preparations/testing site • On-the-job training • Individual assessment • Career exploration • Suboxone program

workshops • Employability skill training • Workforce database for employers • Ohio Benefits Bank • Marketplace Healthcare • Workshops and seminars geared toward Healthcare/Medicaid • Mental health, alcohol and drug programs

• Behavioral Health Program • Collins Career Center • Healthcare for the Homeless Program • Home Energy Assistance Program • Homeless Assistance Programs • Housing Assistance Program • Ironton-Lawrence County Area Community Action Organization • Ironton Metropolitan Housing Program

• Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services • ODJFS Veteran Services • Ohio University Southern Campus • Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities • Southeastern Ohio Legal Serices • VANTAGE Aging • Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC)

Lawrence Agencies located within the One-Stop County • ASPIRE

d-12/19/13

a/Size: n/a

m Color: n/a

• • • • ONE STUDY FOUND THAT • • • •

EYE DOCTORS

t Color: n/a

WERE THE FIRST TO IDENTIFY THE

SIGNS OF DIABETES 34% OF THE TIME, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE 39% OF THE TIME, AND HIGH

CHOLESTEROL 62% OF THE TIME.

EYE CARE 2119 CARTER AVE., ASHLAND, KY

606-329-2243

Rick Lee 606-584-5114 leer@lindsey.edu

Stay Warm This Winter With Help From HEAP

WINTER CRISIS PROGRAM November 2, 2020 through March 31, 2021

The Ironton & Lawrence County Area CAO will begin the Winter Crisis Program on November 2, 2020. The program will run thru March 31, 2021. The agency can assist with your main heating source cost through a one-time payment to your utility company, wood, coal, bottled gas, or pay for heating repairs. In order to process your application quickly and efficiently please be prepared to provide all needed documents.

Keep in mind that other requirements may be asked of you. The necessary documents are as follows: • Proof of gross income for all household members 18 or older for the last 30 days or 12 months • Most recent utility bills (gas and/or electric) regardless of account status • Proof of Citizenship or legal residency • Proof of Disability, if applicable • Birth Date and Social Security Cards for all household members The HEAP Department is located in the Ohio Means Jobs building at 120 North 3rd Street Ironton, Ohio. This year appointments will be held over the phone. To schedule an appointment please call (740) 237-3262. Please have all utility/vendor account numbers ready to include in your message.

For questions or to schedule an emergency phone interview appointment call: (740) 532-3140 extension 12219. Emergency phone interview appointments begin at 7:30 a.m. and are limited with strict requirements. A household may only have one appointment hold throughout the Winter Crisis Program for metered utilities and that cannot be extended. A no-show appointment may result in utilities being shut off.

Toll Free Number: 1-833-359-2801 120 N. Third St. • Ironton, Ohio 45638

Heavy Metal

36 PROFILE 2021

Ironton shop turns steel into many things STORY, PHOTOS BY MARK SHAFFER

T

here is heavy metal and then there is inch thick steel that requires precision cutting so the end product can be used in anything from making robot carts to ship parts for the U.S. Navy.

In Ironton, Swift Manufacturing gets jobs for a lot of things, whether it is the aforementioned parts or using a 2-D scanner to make replacement parts for machines that were built decades ago.

Zack Moore, the owner of Swift Manufacturing, started the company in 2011.

He had graduated from The Ohio State University with a welding engineering degree.

He originally was in mechanical engineering, but one day the students got to see what other engineering programs the school offered. From there, he became interested in the welding program for a number of reasons.

“The graduating class size was smaller, in the thirties, there was 100 percent job placement and the starting salary was the second highest in the engineering fields,” Moore said. “And I grew up around welding, with my dad being a millwright and working in the shop. The only thing I need to pick up was on the chemical and metallurgical sides of it.”

After graduation, he began working at a pressure vessel manufacturing company in Cincinnati that made parts for oil refinery reactors and petrochemical tanks for companies such as Marathon, BP and Exxon.

“I had interned at Marathon for three years and had worked with that

PROFILE 2021

37

company while at Marathon, so I had an in there,” Moore said. “I would go to clientele inspections for our suppliers, which were a couple of shops similar to this,” Moore explained.

He left that company after it began to lose money and, while hunting for another job, he decided to buy Swift Manufacturing from his father, Mike Moore, and “just run with it and see what we could do with it.”

He started with one building in Ironton.

He would do the metal work and his wife, Stacy, ran the office.

“Had one machine and a small fabrication shop,” Moore said. “We originally didn’t fabricate much at all, just steel supply. I still did weld inspection and consultation on the side. It was just the two of us for a year.”

Over the past decade, the company has grown to three buildings with two high pressure water cutting machines and a laser cutting machine and a large area for fabricating both parts and finished products.

“Recently, we started fabricating a lot more things,” Moore said. “The demand is out there and we all had backgrounds for it.”

Some of the things they recently fabricated were robot load/unload carts that carry things like differential gears to the heat treatment furnaces in the Toyota manufacturing plan in Buffalo, West Virginia.

“It is an actuator cart, it will pull up, sense its position. A man behind a heat shield will hit the load button and the heat treatment furnace will open up, it will load up a pallet of gears and then come back a couple hours later and unload the pallet,” Moore explained. “We do a lot of carts, a lot of robotic carts, a lot of galvanized steel pallets for those carts to load and unload.”

Moore said they also do larger fabrication projects, like hand rails for residential and commercial properties.

“We have a pretty large clientele base, pretty much every major company in the area,” Moore said. “Our range ventures from Mineral Wells, West Virginia to Corbin, Kentucky to Columbus. We try to stay within that area. We would rather remain local and to help companies to take care of any problems they have.”

Swift Manufacturing also makes signs and other products that people can see around the area, including the sign at the Gateway project in Ironton, and security doors for schools like Dawson-Bryant, Rock Hill and Sugar Creek Christian Academy.

“Those doors are all 3/16th inch solid steel,” Moore said. “A lot of the schools

38 PROFILE 2021

got grant money for school security and instead of ripping out every door and installing security doors with the wire mesh windows or flat out putting bars over the doors, they wanted a way to increase security while not looking like a prison.”

Moore said that the students of those schools helped with the designs.

“They did the design work themselves. We start from hand sketches or something supplied by an art teacher,” Moore said. “They are fun little projects to do and to play around with the art work.”

Being a job shop, they never know what they are going to make at any given time period.

One week, it may be robot unloaders. Then the next project could be recreating a gear for a machine that was built in the 1940s and its blue prints were lost decades ago. Then it could be a plate for the U.S. Navy’s nuclear program.

“It’s always fun to know where something like that is going to end up,” Moore said. “Our products go everywhere.”

Besides metal, the company also does some work with other materials, from wood to making rubber gaskets.

“So, it is all over the place,” Moore said. “We don’t really have one product line, so it is different every single day.” 

There are memories to be made in Lawrence County

216 Collins Ave., South Point 740-377-4550

Lawrence County

C

hamber of ommerce

40

From Farm to Fibers Backporch Fibers produces items from Chesapeake couple’s llama herd STORY BY HEATH HARRISON

I

n 1996, Chesapeake residents Tom and Judy Ross purchased their first two llamas from a breeder in Johnstown, Ohio. In the 25 years since, they have raised a herd of 11 of the animals and built two businesses from them.

The couple, who operate a hillside farm on County Road 104, founded Good News Llamas in 2013. They can be seen regularly at events throughout the county, where the public are given a chance to meet the animals.

They built a specially-designed barn with a high roof to house the animals. Tom notes the added

height creates more shade. The llamas, native to South America, are not fond of hot temperatures.

He said on hot summer days, they prefer to stay indoors where there are fans, but when subzero temperatures occur in winter, they are completely comfortable outside. The animals have a goodsized run of the land and hill on the property.

Having multiple stomachs, they subsist on the large amount of hay in the barn, as well as grass.

However, due to lack of nutrients in the region’s soil, Tom said they also give them a supplement of feed.

The Rosses routinely visit schools, churches, scouting groups, camps and nursing homes, bringing joy to those they meet. Tom describes the business as a ministry and they also welcome visitors and educate them about the llamas and their care.

In addition to Good News Llamas, the

couple also owns Backporch Fibers, which produces products made from the hair, which is dyed and spun into wool by Judy, then dyed various colors.

Back Porch Fibers produces yarns in a large variety of colors, while they also sell things such as scarves, hand-woven rugs, clothes and handbags.

They offer various types of spinning fibers that include llama, alpaca and sheep fleeces and design fiber and wool art for felting and spinning. Yarns can be customized and made to order.

Some of their newest items are framed pieces of artwork, started on a felt background, in which layers of their fabric are arranged to form a picture.

“We give lessons on making them,” Judy said, stating they are popular with schools and events.

“I bring a calendar and sample pictures. They look at those and design a picture.”

Some are purely abstract, while others are representational.

“This one’s a solar system,” she said of a work in progress, depicting the planets and sun.

Another new addition are ornaments, made from transparent plastic balls. She says this is one she regularly teaches children in schools to make.

“You get a handful of the yarn and you push the fiber into the ball,” she said.

Judy says the yarn is extremely popular and she sells as much as she makes. They distribute it to local craft shops and they usually set up at fairs and festivals, though this has been curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the last year has been a quiet one for them.

Typically, they host visitors at the studio, where they can get a hands-on experience in fiber making and learn how to use dyes and other processes.

Before COVID-19, the Rosses, members of the Lawrence County Farm Bureau, organized the

Bringing the Farm to You event at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds, where they invited farmers from throughout the region to display their wares.

Displays covered everything from livestock, to beekeeping, to maple syrup making, as well as nutritional education by the local 4-H extension office.

“We wanted to highlight where things come from and how they are made,” Judy said.

For their display, t hey not only brought a pair of their llamas, but had a spinning wheel and drum

set up, showing everything that goes into making their products.

“Every aspect needed to produce, we showed how,” she said.

She said it quickly grew and attendance really took off in the event’s second year in 2019.

“We had hundreds there,” she said.

While the pandemic forced a cancellation in 2020, she said they hope to bring it back in the fall this year, if conditions allow.

Judy says they have a mission to help artisans

Doing business since 1969 • Color Matching • Insurance Work Specialists • Painting • Towing

INTERNET

TELEVISION

TELEPHONE

1812 St. Rt. 93 • Ironton, Ohio

(740) 533-1396

ArmstrongOneWire.com • 1.877.277.5711

(740) 533-0053 (fax)

PROUD TO SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1946

Share wFaith

Zoar Baptist Church

1009 Marion Pike • Coal Grove, Ohio • 532-4028 Sunday School.................................................9:30 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship..............................10:45 a.m.

Sunday Evening Worship.................................6:00 p.m.

Wednesday Night Service..............................7:00 p.m.

Awanas (Wednesday)......................................6:30 p.m.

Teen Bible Study (Wednesday)........................7:00 p.m.

Pastor - Jim Beals Youth Pastor - Jeremy Dillon

901 Solida Rd. • South Point, Ohio 740-523-0231 www.tswc.org Sunday School...................................................9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship.............................................10:30 a.m.

Sunday Evening Service.....................................6:00 p.m.

Journey Youth.......................................... Wed. 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday Service...........................................7:00 p.m.

Royal Rangers K-12th grade (boys).........Thurs. 6:00 p.m.

American Heritage (girls) 5-18 yrs. old...Thurs. 6:00 p.m.

Encourage The SAINT...Help The HURTING...

Embrace ALL People!

We also have Addiction Recovery Program, Grief Counseling and many other ministries

First Baptist Church

304 S. Fifth St. • Ironton, Ohio 532-1240 Sunday Morning Worship.......................9:45 a.m.

Sunday School......................................11:00 a.m.

Small Group............................................7:00 p.m.

Family Night........................Wednesday 7:00 p.m.

Eric Barnes - Pastor David Lambert - Asst. Pastor

Watch live on Facebook!

Calvary Baptist Church 824 S. Fifth St. •Ironton, Ohio • 740-442-7098 Sunday School...................................................9:30 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship................................10:30 a.m.

Sunday Evening Service.....................................6:00 p.m.

Wednesday Bible Study.....................................7:00 p.m.

Matt O’Bryant - Pastor LIVE ON FACEBOOK • www.cbcironton.org

St. Joseph Church 501 Chestnut St., Ironton

St. Lawrence O’Toole Church 611 Center St., Ironton

City Mission Church

710 N. Fifth St. • Ironton, Ohio • 532-5041

Sunday School.................................................2:00 p.m.

Sunday Evening Service...................................7:00 p.m.

Tuesday Evening Service..................................7:00 p.m.

Wednesday Youth Service...............................7:00 p.m.

Radio - WEMM Gospel 107.9 FM.......Sunday 5:00 p.m.

TV - WQCW.........................................Sunday 9:00 a.m.

Pastor - Rev. Jeff Cremeans Transportation Available

Central Christian Church

1541 S. Seventh St. • Ironton, Ohio 532-2930 Sunday School...........................................................9:30 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship........................................10:30 a.m.

Sunday Evening Worship and Youth Program...........6:00 p.m.

Wednesday Bible Study...........................................10:00 a.m.

Willie Purdee - Senior Minister Jim Williams - Minister

South Point Church of Christ

Third and Virginia Streets • South Point, Ohio 740-377-4846 Sunday Bible Study......................................... 9:30 a.m.

Sunday Morning Service................................ 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Evening Service................................... 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday Bible Study................................... 7:00 p.m.

Mark Aites - Minister

St. Mary Church Pine Grove, Ohio

MASSES: Watch live at irontoncatholicchurches.com Saturday 5:15 p.m. (even months: Feb., April, etc. at St. Joseph Church) Saturday 5:15 p.m. (odd months: Jan., March, etc. at St. Lawrence) SUNDAY: 9 a.m. (St. Joseph Church 12 noon (St. Lawrence Church) 7 p.m. (St. Mary, Pine Grove)

SYMMES VALLEY Home of the Vikings

Students playing Christmas Bingo during the 12 days of Christmas activity sponsored by the Student Council.

ction.

BETA Club indu

Students enjoying a day at the

Viking zoo.

“I want a - Covid s season” tyle hig h school f ootball.

ed arten class solv rg e d in k ’s rn n and Mrs. Co ad man.

SRO Scott Wilso sing Gingerbre is m e th f o ry the myste

s from the Building Principal.

3rd grade students taking their fashion cue

44 PROFILE 2021

PROFILE 2021

around the county.

“We want to promote getting back to the arts and making homemade things,” she said, adding that, often, the public does not understand how much goes into a unique, handmade piece, rather than something mass-produced in a store.

She points to the scarves on a rack as an example.

“You process the fiber, then spin it into yarn,” she said of what takes place first before knitting and weaving begins. “It’s a big process and sometimes, people don’t realize the quality of a handmade item.”

She said she has been hoping to organize some sort of countywide event that they could invite

45

local artisans to set up and show their work and do demonstrations of their processes.

“Our area needs that,” she said.

She points to the Backwoods Festival, in Thornville, Ohio, that she and Tom attend, as an example of how such an event could be popular.

She said she could also envision a permanent space, set up in a building, where artisans could rotate in throughout the year, an idea she has been pitching around the county.

She said, not only could this help those who

T

produce, but it could be a major boost for tourism for the region.

“There are so many artisans here — people who do pottery, wood carving soap making.” she said.

“I think there are enough artisans in Lawrence County and people would be really interested.” 

Area Agency on Aging District 7

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46 PROFILE 2021

Horror Business STORY BY MARK SHAFFER | PHOTOS SUBMITTED

M

ichael Taylor Pritt remembers his first horror film well.

It was Wes Craven’s “Scream,” a 1999 film that both parodied and was a love letter to slasher films.

It was the movie that set him down the path to making his own movies and to eventually meeting the film’s stars.

In fact, his mother, Tracey, recalled that when he graduated from Fairview High School, he turned down an offer from his parents to buy him a car.

“We were going to get him a used car for graduation and he said he would rather have movie equipment,” she said.

“I asked if he was sure and he said yes. And he recruited friends that he had acted with in theater that wanted to build their portfolios. And that’s how he got started with no budget.”

And he also recruited his family into helping him make films.

“I am so blessed and lucky to have a family that is not only artistic, but very supportive,” Michael Taylor Pritt said. “I know people that have the same passions and ambitions that I have, but they don’t have that family support. To go on this journey and make films with family is amazing.”

His mother acts in the films, helps promote them and does

set and prop design.

His sister, Shandi Rae Pritt, is a videographer who filmed weddings and she also got recruited into shooting and making props.

His dad, Mike, is a bit of a reluctant actor. He has played the killer in a couple of the films but prefers to be masked.

As the owner of Omni Complete Auto Repair, he much preferred letting them use some space at the business as a movie set than appearing in the first film, “Fun Time.”

“He let us have it for one week, that was it,” Tracey said.

“We divided the room into sets and we made our own props.”

Making movies Michael Taylor Pritt says he just really enjoyed movies when he was a kid and wanted to be an actor more than anything.

“I just really enjoyed playing make believe when I was a kid.

I just realized at a young age that is what actors did for a living,” he said. To that end, he acted in a lot of local productions at the Paramount Arts Center and other places.

As a teen, his love of films continued, but he found himself drawn to the making of films.

“I didn’t know that much about it, but with research and the right equipment, I thought I could take a shot at it,” he said.

Local man and family make scary movies in Tri-State

PROFILE 2021

47

One thing on his side was that modern technology of digital cameras and computer editing made making a film a lot easier and better looking than in the film camera era.

“Most people these days have a smart phone in their pocket and the cameras on those are phenomenal,” he said.

One of his favorite directors is Wes Craven, who is responsible for many horror classics, including “Scream,” “The Hills Have Eyes,” the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series and “The People Under the Stairs.” He is also a fan of musician Rob Zombie, who also wrote and directed “House of 1,000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects” and two “Halloween” reboots.

“I really enjoyed films that were very raw and made you feel like you needed to take a shower,” Michael Taylor Pritt said. He enjoys the films of Zombie because, not only are they scary, they felt like they could be real.

With those directors and stories in mind, in 2015, Michael Taylor Pritt wrote, acted in, directed and filmed his first film, “Fun Time,” which was shot in Ashland at his dad’s garage and at the family home and focused on a killer clown, one of his childhood fears.

“As a kid, I was terrified of clowns

and, sadly, have never seen them in a positive light,” Michael Taylor Pritt said, with a chuckle. “I feel like clowns go well in scary things, because while they aren’t wearing a mask, you can’t tell what their intentions are because they are hiding their emotions.”

Tracey Roberts Pritt is more of a fan of the original Michael Meyers movies than the Rob Zombie versions, so she wasn’t thrilled about the gory stuff in “Fun Time.”

“I wasn’t crazy about it, with the scary clowns,” said the long-time horror fan.

“But they had a blast making it.”

Michael Taylor Pritt said he wanted “Fun Time” to be something scary and intense and something with a harsh reality.

“There was some humor and shock in it, but I think that the shocking material has to have a point,” he said. Part of the film was sort of a movie payback to the people who bullied him in high school.

“I placed what they did in the film and had the clowns do it because it seemed ironic to me in some way.”

One bit of the film came about by accident. They were shooting the film during 90-degree summer weather and forgot to put up some meat before they left for the night.

48 PROFILE 2021

“We came back and there were maggots,” Tracey Roberts Pritt said. “So, we wrote that into the script. People asked where we got those at and I just told them you leave meat out in a garage and you get them for free.”

“Fun Time” sold out during it’s premiere at the KYOVA Mall and has fans across the states.

“I’m making my fifth film now, but when I go to horror conventions, ‘Fun Time’ is the one that people bring up to me,” Pritt said.

“They ask if I am going to do a sequel, so I guess it did relatively well.”

His next films are “Miles Before Sleep” (2016), a hillbilly horror film shot in Coal Grove; “Night Howl,” a werewolf film; and their slasher film homage to “Scream,” “We Are We Are The Waiting,” (both 2017).

Most of the films are available on DVD and online streaming.

The Pritts were happy and a bit confused to find out that “Night Howl” was being sold on DVD at Walmart rather than his films’ usual video on demand streaming.

“It was so weird to me,” Michael Taylor Pritt said. “I always thought it would be cool to even have a bargain bin movie.”

He found out from a fan in Arizona that he had bought the DVD and Pritt was rather confused by that since he thought it was just going to be online at Target or Walmart.

“I told him that he may have seen someone else’s film or something and I was almost fighting the guy about it,” Michael Taylor Pritt said.

But he went to the Walmart in Ashland and there was his film on the shelf.

“To be able to walk into a Walmart and buy my film isn’t something I have wrapped my mind around yet. It is a bit crazy,” he said. “It’s very odd.”

Turns out that the film’s distributor was talking to Walmart about a DVD four pack of horror movies and the Walmart executives weren’t thrilled about the werewolf movie, so the distributor suggested “Night Howl” and it was accepted instead.

Meeting Billy Loomis It was at a horror convention that Michael Taylor Pritt ran into two of his idols, Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich, who played Stu Macher and Billy Loomis in “Scream.”

He said it was weird to hang out with them and talk to the guys. He knew that when they started do the horror conventions to promote their movies that film stars would be there, but he thought he would just go up to them and meet them and have a little fan interaction.

Instead, they set up their table and Lillard and Ulrich were set up across from them.

Lawrence County’s 1st choice for skilled nursing care.

Call for a tour of our newly remodeled facility!

(formerly Jo-Lin Health Center)

Please call Lori Weber at 740-532-6096 for more information.

1050 CLINTON STREET, IRONTON OHIO

Open the doors to Knowledge, Information and Entertainment at

Briggs Lawrence County Public Library Check out best sellers, eBooks, DVDs, audiobooks and more at the Library!

High Quality

Child Care & Pre-School Teachers with Early Childhood Degrees Kindergarten Readiness Curriculum

740-533-9077 • 740-377-0082 740-532-0178 • 740-886-0504 www.childhoodacademy.org

Ironton, 321 S. Fourth St., Ironton, 532-1124 • South Point, 317 Solida Rd., South Point, 377-2288 Symmes Valley, 14860 St. Rt. 141, Willow Wood, 643-2086 • Chesapeake, 11054 County Rd. 1, Chesapeake, 867-3390 • Proctorville, 410 Elizabeth St., Proctorville, 886-6697

50 PROFILE 2021

The movie star made it a point to walk around and talk to everyone about their projects.

“I was excited because they were the stars of the first horror film I saw,” Michael Taylor Pritt said, adding that Lillard introduced himself as Matt. “To me, I thought that would be it, a quick handshake and then he’d move on.”

Instead, they had a couple conversations.

His interaction with Ulrich was a little different, since he had been terrified of his “Scream” character for years.

“He was really kind,” Michael Taylor Pritt said.

One night they went get on an elevator at the hotel and tried to tell them that they would just catch the next elevator since it was packed with the convention’s celebrity guests, but were told it was fine and to hop on.

As the doors closed, Michael Taylor Pritt mentioned that it was probably a bad time to mention that crowded elevators made him claustrophobic.

“Skeet just leaned and hugged him, gave him that Billy Loomis look and said ‘Really?’

He kept up that evil smile until we all got off the elevator,” Tracey Roberts Pritt recalled.

“And everyone laughed, but Skeet gave me that Billy Loomis’ smile and it was so cool,” Michael Taylor Pritt said.

A couple years later at a different convention, Michael Taylor Pritt walked past Ulrich’s table and he remembered him.

“He went “Oh, you’re that ‘Fun Time’ guy,” Michael Taylor Pritt recalled. “So, that was neat since ‘Scream’ is one of the reasons I got into filmmaking. And it was weird since I grew up with him as Billy Loomis and he was being a really nice guy to me.”

Future With the pandemic making it hard to have a cast and crew together to film sometimes, they are continuing to work on his latest film, “Bloody Holiday,” a bit of a love letter to the horror films of the 70’s and 80’s, many of which had themes so they could be timed to coordinate with various holidays.

Tracey Pritt is playing a “Karen,” a reference to memes depicting certain white women with poor behavior stemming from privilege, in the film, which she enjoys since she didn’t like some of her other roles.

“I have played a mean, evil mom in the other films. I have been type casted,” she lamented. “I don’t know if my kids are trying to tell me something.”

Besides his movie, Michael Taylor Pritt is also focusing on a musical project called Two Dollar $am, with the name coming via a

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VHS copy of “Space Camp” that was in a box of films a friend bought him at a yard sale.

The sales sticker on the box said “$2 Sam,” which Michael Taylor Pritt thought sounded like an odd insult.

“Music is my main focus now,” he said. “I always wanted to be in a band and it never panned out. I knew I would probably have to be a solo artist to start out to prove I have some skills.”

He would rap at parties to amuse his friends.

“They would think it was hilarious and I had a bit of a dream to be a comedic rapper,” Pritt said. “I never had a name until I found the name on the box of ‘Space Camp.’

I thought it was a funny name.”

He used the name for his EP “Financial Problems.”

“After I did that, although the name sounded terrible, I started relating to it. It sounds like a nickname, like ‘Look at that guy, he looks like a regular two dollar Sam, he looks like he’s down on his luck.’”

After Two Dollar $am took off, Michael Taylor Pritt realized “this is the name I am going to have to live under now,” he said, with a laugh.

He released an album in September and has set up an Indie-Go-Go fundraiser to produce another EP, this one in more of a pop punk style.

“We are almost at our goal. Once we hit that, we will start recording,” Michael Taylor Pritt said. “It’s the dream music project I am working on now.” 

From Ironton to the World

52 PROFILE 2021

McElroy switched from radio to podcasting with sons after retirement STORY BY HEATH HARRISON | PHOTOS SUBMITTED

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lint McElroy has been a well-recognized name to the Tri-State for some time.

He was a fixture on local radio for decades, and was inducted into the Greater Huntington Wall of Fame in 2009.

But, in recent years, McElroy and his sons have exploded in popularity, building an international audience with their podcasts and topping the New York Times bestseller lists.

“I was born at Lawrence County General,” McElroy, who is an Ironton High School graduate and has moved back to the city, said.

He took his first job at WKEE in Huntington in 1975, where he was news director, before going to Tampa, Florida for three-year stint. Then a friend offered him a job at WTCR back home, where he spent the bulk of his career. There he went on to co-host a morning show with Judy Eaton until his retirement in 2017. Altogether, he spent 47 years on air.

His son, Justin, worked as a video game journalist for Joystiq. Along with his brothers, Travis and Griffin, he co-founded the video game website Polygon in 2012. In 2010, they launched My Brother, My Brother and Me, a comedy advice podcast which quickly received critical acclaim, ranked in the top 10 comedy podcasts on iTunes and would later be adapted into a television show on Seeso.

“They were talking video games and stuff, the three of them,” McElroy said, stating that his involvement began when Justin was planning to go

on paternity leave with the birth of his first child and they were recording and stockpiling episodes to run in his absence.

“People were asking about Dungeons & Dragons,” he said, stating the audience suggested the brothers bring him and play the roleplaying game.

“We had never played it and we thought it would be funny,” he said. “We did one and we had a blast.”

Initially done as an experimental episode of My Brother, My Brother and Me, it was expanded to become the spinoff podcast titled “Adventure Zone,” which has produced three seasons and more than 100 episodes.

As a longtime veteran of radio, McElroy said

there are some differences in podcasting, with the format allowing them to open up to more longform discussions and also tackle adult topics.

“And I don’t mean language,” he said, “But the kind of things a child couldn’t wrap their heads around.”

He said podcasting also allows the listener to stream or download shows at their choosing.

“One of the benefits is you get what you want, when you want,” he said.

McElroy also said the Internet has also allowed niche shows around genres to thrive. An example he gives is if someone wanted to do a show around the lore of “Dr. Who.”

54 PROFILE 2021

“If you said, ‘Hey I want to do that,’ it wouldn’t fly in terrestrial radio,” he said. “But, if you put it out as a podcast, it could find an audience.”

The format has been so accessible, the brothers have written a book, “Everybody has a Podcast (Except You),” a comedic guide which walks the reader through the process of recording, editing and promoting a show.

But ultimately, McElroy said the experience has much in common with radio.

“You still have to make it accessible,” he said.

“You have to get the word out and make a good product that people want to listen to. At its very basis, it’s the same connection. If you do a good job, then they will connect with you.”

Along with his sons, McElroy has written the

graphic novel series around their Adventure Zone Characters in 2018. With three volumes out so far from Macmillan Publishers, the books have been an enormous success. The first volume became the first graphic novel to reach the number one spot on The New York Times bestselling fiction list. A fourth volume is scheduled to be released in July.

It wasn’t the first foray into comics for McElroy.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, he wrote for independent comics companies NOW and Eclipse Comics.

He said this came about through his friendship with Beau Smith, a Kenova resident, and getting to know people in the industry, such as writer Chuck Dixon.

“Through those connections, I got writing jobs,” he said, stating Dixon asked him to co-write a Green Hornet series for NOW. He said the process was much more difficult in those days, before email made it much easier to work remotely.

He recalls a conversation he had with famed Marvel Comics writer and editor Archie Goodwin, who told him the way to succeed as a writer in the business was to move to New York City, where the major publishers were based, something he could not do having three children and a radio job at the time.

“So it wasn’t quite as easy then,” McElroy said.

In writing the “The Adventure Zone,” McElroy talks about the team effort, which they work on from across the country — Justin (a former reporter at The Ironton Tribune and The Herald-Dispatch) is still based locally, in Huntington, while Travis lives in Cincinnati and Griffin is in Austin, Texas.

“When we first started talking about turning ‘Adventure Zone’ into a novel, I was the one who had scripting experience and knew how to lay things out,” he said.

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56 PROFILE 2021

It’s been the most wonderful thing in my life, being able to collaborate with my kids.

It’s been so rewarding.

— Clint McElroy Working in word documents, he said they lay out the plot and break down how the panels will appear on the pages.

“We use the transcripts from the original episodes, then we refine them, throw out jokes and change things,” he said. “We play our individual character and hone in on the dialogue of a particular character and say ‘He would say this’ while Griffin hones in on the storyline.”

In addition to “Adventure Zone,” the McElroys have also written a five-issue mini-series for Marvel Comics, a revival of the “Journey Into Mystery” in 2019 as part of the publisher’s larger “War of the Realms” event storyline.

For this, they decided they wanted to avoid the company’s marquee characters, opting instead to write what McElroy describes as “third drawer” players, such as Wonder Man, Balder the Brave, the Kate Bishop version of Hawkeye and others.

“Justin really wanted to use Aunt May,” he said of Peter Parker’s elderly relative.

Though one of the lesser characters the publisher suggested, the Miles Morales version of SpiderMan, ended up being a major player in the 2018 animated film “Spider-Man: into the Spider-Verse” as they were putting the series together.

“By then, he was huge,” McElroy said.

He said the experience working on Marvel’s characters was a positive one and he later did a solo stint on “Marvel Team-Up,” featuring Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel.

“They gave us a lot of leeway and freedom,” he said, adding that he has more projects in the works with Marvel.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, McElroy started a series on Youtube, “Stories from Your Gaffer,” in which he does reading from books such as the Wizard of Oz, making use of his radio talents and character voices, doing a chapter an episode.

He said the aim is to introduce these stories to children and he is joined by his wife, Carol.

While he had decided to drop an adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” for copyright reasons, he was contacted by writer Neil Gaiman, who gave him full permission to use his works.

“He said not to worry about licensing,” McElroy said. “We’ve done Coraline. It’s been so much fun and we’ve had a great response.”

As for the future, he said the McElroy family hopes to resume doing live events when the pandemic ends and they have been working on a card-based game. And it is this work as a family that enjoys immensely.

“It’s been the most wonderful thing in my life, being able to collaborate with my kids,” he said.

“It’s been so rewarding.” 

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Ready for the Future CCTC, PLTW producing skilled students and community projects STORY BY HEATH HARRISON | PHOTOS BY HEATH HARRISON, SUBMITTED

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or decades, Collins Career Technical Center, located in Getaway, has been preparing local students for the future, working with schools throughout Lawrence County to teach the vocational skills needed for a wide field of careers.

And, in the last few years, evidence of their work can be seen in a number of projects throughout the county.

One example superintendent Steve Dodgion points to is the school’s welding program, which has about 40 students enrolled.

Not only did they make the sled and other decorations for the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce’s Festival of Trees and Christmas Market in 2019, but they recently brought something unique to downtown Ironton.

Working with the nonprofit Third and Center and Abby Kuehne and Amanda Cleary, owners of The Vault Market, CCTC students designed and built artistic bike racks that were installed in spring 2020.

“I was amazed at how creative these guys are,” Dodgion said of the welding students. “We were contacted by the ladies from The Vault and they gave us themes they wanted and then the

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students came up with designs for those themes.”

The colorful pieces took the form of a treble clef, a guitar, and eighth note and the state of Ohio and were installed by city workers near the Rotary fountain.

“There was so much thought in those designs,” Dodgion said.

The school’s carpentry program has also been busy, he said.

They've been working with the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation to design and build a disability-compatible ramp for the caboose in downtown Ironton.

“They’ve also been making birdhouses, toolboxes and other things for senior citizens,” Dodgion said.

They also worked with the South Point school district, building two

gazebos for each of the elementary schools, which can be used for outdoor reading.

“It creates a nice atmosphere on their campuses,” Dodgion said.

And students from the programs have also worked with Habitat for Humanity, building homes for veterans in Huntington.

“The students get a real kick providing homes to veterans,” Dodgion said.

Dodgion is especially proud of Project Lead the Way, the STEM education program CCTC offers to most of the county’s school districts.

PLTW students have been active on several fronts, from helping to design and build new concession stands for Symmes Valley High School to offering testing for the

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water supply of the city of Ironton.

A team of PLTW biomed biomedical students from Ironton High School spent summer 2019 collecting samples from older homes, and checking for coliform, a bacteria whose presence in drinking water can indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms.

Dodgion said the water testing project was an example of the 60 hours of community work PLTW students are required to complete.

“We take pride in community service,” he said.

In its 16th year at CCTC and with 700 students enrolled, beginning in middle school, Dodgion points out that Project Lead the Way, which offers hands-on biomed and engineering courses, made Lawrence County one of the first in the state to offer STEM education.

“The original program was in Akron,” he said. “And we met with the gentleman from that program and built the program in Lawrence County.”

Dodgion spoke of new opportunities coming up for PLTW, this time in the aerospace industry.

Marshall University and the Robert C. Byrd Institute are partnering with Yeager Airport in Charleston to create a pilot school, on which the ground has already been broken, Dodgion said, while an airplane mechanics school will be located at Tri-State Airport in Huntington.

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Dodgion said he has met with officials from those programs and that PLTW students will be heavily considered for the pilot school.

He said engineering students will have an opportunity to study airplane mechanics, while aviation classes will be offered at three of PLTW’s home schools.

Dodgion said that PLTW, which focuses its curriculum on problem solving and teamwork, has been a big success for the county.

“We have 80-100 students who are practicing engineers or currently in engineering schools in the U.S.,” he said. “We have that many students who came out of Lawrence County.”

Matt Monteville, satellite director for PLTW, breaks down those numbers.

“We have 62 engineers and 41 medical students presently employed in their fields, 72 engineering students and 77 medical students working on degrees and 77 students either employed or in school in careers

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63

other than engineering or medicine,” Monteville said.

Monteville points out that it takes five years to go through the PLTW program and a minimum of either two years for an associate degree or four years for a bachelors.

“That is seven to nine years,” he said. “We have students in fields such as pharmacy, and physical and occupational therapy which are a minimum of six to seven years, plus the five they spent with us. I believe it is even more impressive when you take into account the time required to be ready for employment,” 

64 PROFILE 2021

Index of Advertisers A Touch of Grace............................................................................................4 Allyn's Jewelers...........................................................................................60 Area Agency on Aging District 7.................................................................45 Armstrong....................................................................................................41 Bartram's........................................................................................................9 BC Tool & Party Rentals.................................................................................4 Briggs Lawrence County Public Library.......................................................49 Buckeye REC................................................................................................15 Cabell County Public Library........................................................................59 Calvary Baptist Church.................................................................................42 Central Christian Church..............................................................................42 Central Hardware and Furniture..................................................................25 Century 21 Brooks Wells Enterprises............................................................9 Charlie's Tire Sales Inc.................................................................................15 Citizens Deposit Bank..................................................................................23 City Mission Church.....................................................................................42 City of Ironton................................................................................................3 Community Action Partnership/HEAP..........................................................35 Community Hospice.....................................................................................25 Custom-Built PCs...........................................................................................9 Dale's Tax Service..........................................................................................4 Dickess Auto Repair.......................................................................................4 DVR Storage...................................................................................................4 E.L. Robinson................................................................................................13 Eastham & Associates.................................................................................21 First Baptist Church......................................................................................42 Giovanni's of Coal Grove..............................................................................19 Giovanni's Wholesale..................................................................................29 Harbor Healthcare of Ironton.......................................................................49 Harmon Motor Sales....................................................................................21 Hecla Water Association.............................................................................23 Holzer...........................................................................................................65 Hospice of Huntington Inc. in Ohio..............................................................55 Impact Prevention........................................................................................35 Iron City Hardware and Furniture Co.............................................................4 Jim Howard and Son Body Shop and Towing..............................................41 Katimali's.....................................................................................................60 Kingsbrook Lifecare Center..........................................................................59 L&J Dairy Bar.................................................................................................4

Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce...................................................39 Lawrence County Early Childhood Academy...............................................49 Lindsey Wilson College...............................................................................35 Lou's Style Shop.............................................................................................4 Marathon.....................................................................................................57 McMean's Pharmacy.....................................................................................4 Morning Pointe Senior Living and Memory Care........................................49 Ohio Means Jobs.........................................................................................34 Park Avenue Apartments.............................................................................66 Patrick Insurance Agency...............................................................................4 Perry Distributors Inc...................................................................................61 Phillips Funeral Home..................................................................................31 Pickett Concrete...........................................................................................19 Quality Care Nursing Services/Ultimate Health Care.................................67 Rax Roast Beef...............................................................................................4 Riverside Recovery Services........................................................................19 Robert G. Payne, CPA.....................................................................................9 Rock Hill Local School District.....................................................................27 Sanctuary of the Ohio Valley.......................................................................55 Scherer-Mountain Insurance.......................................................................19 Slack and Wallace Funeral Home................................................................29 South Point Church of Christ........................................................................42 Southern Ohio Medical Center....................................................................68 St. Joseph Church........................................................................................42 St. Lawrence O'Toole Church.......................................................................42 St. Mary Church...........................................................................................42 Superwash...................................................................................................61 Symmes Valley Local School District...........................................................43 Time Warp....................................................................................................25 Tri-State Worship Center.............................................................................42 Unger's Shoes................................................................................................4 United Way of the River Cities......................................................................2 Vesuvius Manufacturing..............................................................................32 Weber West Eye Care..................................................................................35 Zoar Baptist Church.....................................................................................42

Profile 2021

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