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First win of season See Second Section
Get tough on mosquitoes says Oregon
RESS August 17, 2015
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Standoff
A standoff at 1137 Earl Street, East Toledo, brought the Toledo Police SWAT Team to the scene Thursday morning. One suspect was arrested after fleeing from police where a chase began at Varland near Woodville Rd. The other suspect was found dead in the house but police say it is not clear at this time if he was killed by an officer or if it was selfinflicted. One of the suspects shot and killed a K-9. (Photo courtesy of Hazel BonnoughBonnough Photography)
By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
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Q
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of The Week
They want their picture in the paper, the trophy on the mantle or their name on the record board.
John Szozda See page 11
900 hours worked
Forty volunteers clean 14 properties By J. Patrick Eaken Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com Volunteers witnessed arrests, found tires, picked up garbage, mowed, weeded, raked and did whatever was necessary to clean up an East Toledo neighborhood during T-Town Action Week. For six days, 40 volunteers spent 900 volunteer hours cleaning up the area between Starr to Navarre and Oak to White, focusing on East Broadway over to Main to Oak. Ages of volunteers ranged from 11 to 72, and they focused on “the worst of the worst” — 14 properties, and mowed over 30 properties during the course of the week. The basic premise is — if they don’t do it, then who will? Among the volunteers were youth employees from Pathway and the City of Toledo’s Neighborhood Department. Police set up a temporary substation on East Broadway and remained in full force the entire week. The city provided lawnmowers, rakes, brooms, garbage bags, and gloves. Jodi Gross, East Toledo Family Center community builder and One Voice leader, says many volunteers worked three, even four days — she had one who worked every day. Some did not even live in East Toledo. “We’re very fortunate. It’s a lot of people, especially during the week because
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— if you have that property that is the worst of the worst, clean it up.
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Oregon residents may get some relief from overpopulated mosquitoes after City Administrator Mike Beazley met with officials from the Toledo Area Sanitary District Mosquito Control last week. “I did meet with the folks with the Toledo Area Sanitary District on Friday morning about mosquito control,” said Beazley at a council meeting Aug. 10. “One of the things they’re dealing with, with the volume of rain we’ve had, there’s really almost no system that keeps everyone happy. But we did advocate for a more aggressive response in Oregon.” At the July 27 council meeting, Councilman James Seaman said he was getting calls from the public complaining about the need to increase spraying in their neighborhoods because of the increase in mosquito bites during the day and night time hours. “It’s horrible,” he said. “Kids don’t play outside...They’re getting eaten alive.” He also said that many residents reported problems in contacting the District by phone. Seaman had asked Beazley to contact the District to find out about the spraying schedule. Phillip Cervantes, S. Stadium Road, asked city officials at last week’s council meeting to cut tall weeds in a ditch on S. Stadium Rd between Pickle and Brown. The stagnant water in the ditch is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. “Right now, the ditch is so clogged with weeds,” said Cervantes. “The weeds are almost the same height as the road. That’s anywhere from three to four feet high. Right beneath those weeds is solid water. It looks like a swamp. I go out to my mailbox and I get swamped with mosquitoes. That’s how bad it is. The water just stagnates by staying there,” he said. Cervantes urged council to drive out to the ditch to see the problem for themselves. “If you have a few minutes, perhaps drive down there and take a look. But take a lot of Off with you. The mosquitoes are
American Pickers are coming See page 12
people work,” Gross said. One of them, Mason Street resident David Segura, heard about the clean-up in his community and worked almost every day. When he saw that weeds were becoming trees, he found his niche. He ran home, got clippers, and clipped small trees while volunteers followed behind and picked up the branches. “There was another gentlemen who lived in the neighborhood as a child. He saw the information and came out to help. He doesn’t live here any longer, but still lives in Toledo, and he came out about every day, also,” Gross said. In homes, they found tires, couches, and garbage left by other residents. Gross suspects even businesses are leaving their garbage inside these abandoned homes.
“They are basically just dumping. If it looks like an eyesore, they are dumping their stuff there,” Gross said. “I think sometimes it is probably small businesses or folks see an empty lot. That’s one of the important things — if we clean up those empty lots, then they can’t become a dumping ground. That’s the importance of focusing on the worst of the worst on a block — cleaning it up and then saying, ‘OK, this is what we are going to do — clean this block and keep it clean.’” Gross says while working, volunteers witnessed criminal activity and an arrest. “In the targeted area, the Toledo police were in the neighborhood. They were on foot and they were on bike,” Gross said. “It was a combination of ‘Let’s take back the neighborhood.’ It was not easy, though. Activity, and some of the crime we saw, runs rampant. We saw people arrested and all that good stuff. We saw a couple guys, I don’t know what the scenario was, but they were arrested while we were out there.” Once a property was cleaned, the city boarded the home. Now, Gross says it’s time for certain people to take responsibility. “I think that’s important because the properties we did get, we need people to be held accountable for that property,” Gross said. “The city and the people who enforce those code enforcement laws need to folContinued on page 2
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