February 2016
, Millbury, OH and The Beacon,
Port Clinton, OH
Special pecial health magazin magazine with this issue See Insert
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It’s in his genes See page 16
Serving More Than h 33 33,000 000 H Homes & B Businesses i iin 4 C Counties ti
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Is your active shooter strategy in place? By J. Patrick Eaken Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com
Sergeant Tony Castillo, City of Oregon Police Department, explains what to do when confronted with a shooter. At right, Bob Boos, and others ask questions after the presentation. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Forum to focus on heroin problem For many residents, a public forum set for March 6 in Woodville to discuss how serious heroin addiction has become in the area will be a real eye opener. Police Chief Roy Whitehead and his officers started noticing about three years ago that heroin was entering the local drug scene on the heels of cocaine and prescription pills. “Marijuana is still around but we are seeing more heroin and pills these days,” he said. From January 2013 to the end of last year, the department saw heroin or opiate-related arrests climb from zero to 51, with about a quarter of the arrests involving local residents and the rest from outside the village, often Toledo. “In late 2012, we started hearing rumors of heroin being brought into town and distributed. By 2013 we were seeing the proof. It’s destroyed some families,” the chief said. “We had three ODs two weeks ago.” Those attending the forum at the Woodmore PreK-8 School will hear firsthand accounts of how heroin is abused, in-
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And her mom and dad now realize they were enablers.
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By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com
cluding a local woman in her 20s who’s a former addict. “She’s been through rehab and has done an amazing job. She’s done a 360,” the chief said. “And her mom and dad now realize they were enablers.” Other local families have reported missing jewelry, heirlooms, televisions and other valuables as family members become users, desperate for cash, and pawn just about anything to fund their habits. In one current case, a local parent reported $23,000 missing from a bank account, the chief said. Elmore Police Chief George Hayes said
his department has also seen an increase in heroin-related arrests. Sgt. Jeffrey Harrison will present statistics the department has compiled over the past few years at the forum, the chief said. The forum is being sponsored by Two Villages, a local initiative including parents, educators, clergy, professionals and others from the Woodville and Elmore areas. “We want to let people know the problem exists here,” Chief Whitehead said. The forum is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. According to data released last year by the Ohio Department of Health, unintentional drug overdoses caused 2,110 deaths of Ohio residents in 2013; about 196 more deaths in compared to 2012. Opiates, which include heroin and prescription painkillers, were culpable in more than 70 percent of overdose deaths. Heroin-related deaths increased in 2013, surpassing prescription opiates among unintentional overdose deaths. Heroin overdose deaths rose from 697 in 2012 to 983 in 2013. Prescription opiates remained a significant contributor to drug overdose deaths, increasing from 680 in 2012 to 726 in 2013.
From 2000-13, there were 160 recorded active shooter incidents in the U.S., totaling 1,043 victims both wounded and killed, and that doesn’t include the shooters, who often commit suicide. When an active shooter killed six and critically injured others in Kalamazoo, Michigan, it hit closer to home. Some of those shot were walking out of a Cracker Barrel restaurant — but they could have been walking out of any restaurant. In 1996, four people were killed in an active shooter incident in Oregon and Northwood has seen similar incidents at a local restaurant and another at an apartment complex. Toledo made national news when a disgruntled Jeep employee showed up at the factory in West Toledo and went on a shooting spree. In 2013, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, one active shooter spent five minutes killing 26 children and adults and wounding two others — making victims out of about 50 percent of those present at the scene. In 2007 at Virginia Tech University, one shooter spent eight minutes killing 30 and wounding 17 adults — again about 50 percent of about 100 individuals present. In 1999 at the Columbine High School library in Colorado, two shooters took 8½ minutes killing 10 and wounding 12 minors — again, close to 50 percent of the 56 people present. Not all victims are in the workplace. In 15 of 160 cases nationally (9.4 percent), the shooter targeted family members. However, let’s just say that a disgruntled or even fired employee shows up one day at your job with weapons and begins firing rounds at employees and customers. If that happens, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration can issue violations and fines to your business under the General Duty Clause: Failure to provide a safe workplace. The fix: get a plan in place in case an active shooter does show up. It’s not just keeping in compliance with OSHA regulations, such workplace violence can have a long term impact on your business and employees, can cause a mental toll to family and co-workers, cause financial harm to your business and emContinued on page 2
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What would you do, or what could you do, if you had no fear? Bryan Golden See page 8
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