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RESS September 5, 2016
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Bikeway funding sought
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By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
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I have no doubt that once they get their chance in Hollywood that they’ll get a chance to make it there someday.
Katie Samson See Entertainment
German American Fest
At left, Terry Baumberger plays the stumpfe fiddle to Jay Fox’s accordian. Top right, Tyler Wittenmyer and Wes Stiner, both of Bowling Green, make a toast with the song “Ein Prosit.” Bottom right, Lieselotte Sielicki, originally from Berlin, Germany, serves up baked goods wearing an outfit that she made herself. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Gibsonburg
New York City firefighter to speak Veteran New York City Firefighter Matt Long will be one of the featured speakers at the Official Dedication of the Public Safety Service Memorial on Sept. 11 in Williams Park in the Village of Gibsonburg. Long was a firefighter with East Harlem’s Ladder Company 43 on the morning of Sept 11, 2001 when his company responded to the World Trade Center. Upon their arrival, their Lieutenant huddled the company together not far from the towers to make sure they all knew what the plan would be on that morning. Those few minutes of instruction likely saved their lives as the first tower collapsed as Matt Long and his fellow firefighters were running towards it. Long spent the months after 9/11 assisting with the clean-up efforts at Ground Zero and soon after returned to his station full time and later to the FDNY Training Center where he served as an instructor for new department recruits. On the morning of Dec. 22, 2005, Long’s life changed in an instant. He was cycling to work in the early morning due to the transit workers strike in New York City when he was struck and run over by a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him to the brink of death. He received 68 units of
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Family, the brotherhood of the fire service and athletics saved my life.
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Oregon City Council recently approved a grant application to the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) for funding from the Transportation Alternatives Program for the Oregon Bikeway Preservation Project. The project consists of rehabilitating and preserving the existing asphalt pavement of the main bikeway system in the city. Plans call for rehabilitating approximately 5.9 miles of separated bike paths. Various pavement rehabilitation techniques will be used to improve and preserve the existing asphalt surface to help prevent the need for more costly major rehabilitation in the future. “TMACOG is looking for `shovel ready’ projects,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman, “to actually fill a gap in the Fiscal Year 2018 program next year.” The city has not been very successful in the past applying for the grant, he added. “But we’re hoping to score well on it.” The project includes putting a thin layer of fine graded asphalt on top of the older bike path sections along Bay Shore Road, he said. “In some of the newer sections of the bike path, we’re having an asphalt rejuvenating agent. It just helps preserve the asphalt for a lot more years.” Cost of the entire project is $228,000. The city would pay a 20 percent local match, or $45,000, while the grant would cover 80 percent, according to Roman. The Oregon Bikeway System was constructed in phases using various grant sources, starting with the Starr Avenue Bike Lanes in 1990. The Stadium Road Bikeway Phase 2, which was completed in 2013, completed a major regional bikeway in Oregon that has been a goal of the city since 1984 when TMACOG prepared for the original bikeway plan. The Oregon Bikeway System connects Maumee Bay State Park to Pearson Metropark and provides direct pedestrian and bike access to the Oregon Municipal and Recreational Complex, the South Shore Veterans Park, the James A. Haley
blood in the first 40 hours after the accident and spent five months in the hospital. More than 40 operations later, he finally began a grueling rehabilitation regime. Long found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process as the physical severities, he said. His doctors told him that he’d be lucky to ever walk again without a cane. An athlete prior to the tragic accident, Long fought through months of fear, despair, loneliness and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. His recovery was a miraculous
one which included everything from learning to walk again and, a mere three years later, running in the 2008 New York City Marathon (he would also go on to complete an Ironman Triathlon). “Family, the brotherhood of the fire service and athletics saved my life,” Long says, and his determination and perseverance has turned into a symbol of hope for countless others. “We are honored to have Matt Long with us in Gibsonburg on Sept. 11 for the Official Dedication of the Public Safety Service Memorial. His experiences not only on the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001, but on the meaning and value of being a public safety service professional will add a very unique and personal perspective to the day. Heroes are defined as those people who run to the challenges when most of us would choose to run away from them. Matt Long certainly meets and exceeds that definition,” said Marc Glotzbecker, village administrator. The Public Safety Service Memorial will be officially dedicated on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. in Williams Park. For more info, contact Glotzbecker at 419-6372634 or m.glotzbecker@gibsonburgohio. org.
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