RIDIN’ & ROCKIN’
Ohio Bike Week kicks off June 4 NORTHCOAST LIVE INSIDE On sale this week: Our Family
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Volume 28 Number 16
www.thebeacon.net
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Standard Mail U.S. Postage Paid Port Clinton, Ohio Permit #80
Back to the beach
WALLEYE FESTIVAL
Memories of 50s and 60s come alive CATAWBA ISLAND — From the late 1940s through 1968, there was only one place to go in the summertime if you were a teenager in Northern Ohio … Gem Beach. Actually, in the early days of its run, it was Gem Terrace Beach. It became an icon for the baby boomer generation. This summer, revelers will gather again for a reunion: Gem Beach Rocks! The event — which serves as a fundraiser for the United Way — will feature live music, raffles, memories and more from noon to 8 p.m. Sept. 18. From now until then, The Beacon is looking for photos and stories to share from Gem Beach. John Schaffner, creator of the event, has agreed to participate in a little Q&A to get the memories flowing.
PHOTO BY KATHY JO SCHWEITZER
Many children participated in the annual Kids’ Fishing Derby Sunday as part of the Walleye Festival fun. Among them was George Wilber’s grandson, Duncan, age 9, who won a third place ribbon for his 5 1/2 inch blue gill.
QUESTION: Why was Gem Beach such a popular hangout? ANSWER: It was a simpler time as I recall. It was the age of “Muscle Cars”
PHOTO BY LORI HICKS
The weather was great Saturday for annual Walleye Festival parade.
See BEACH 8A
Share your memories E-mail your memories of Gem Beach — favorite music of the day, funny stories, pictures — to angie@thebeacon.net. COMING SOON: Visit www.north coastlive.net to read the stories, see the pictures and share more of your own.
More photos of the fest n INSIDE
Crystal still an idol to family back home BY ROBERTA REDFERN It was a “Crystal moment” — or really a “Crystal night” — Tuesday when Ottawa County’s own American Idol took the stage for the season finale of Fox’s most popular reality television show. Elliston native Crystal Bowersox should have won. But in the end, the Idol crown went BOWERSOX to competitor Lee DeWyze, a paint shop employee from Chicago whose humble incredulity at his good fortune seemingly took over the contest at times. That doesn’t mean Crystal isn’t the “real” idol winner to us. I haven’t met an Ottawa County
resident yet who wasn’t at least rooting for the 24-year-old with the magnetic smile and candid personality; if not fully supporting her with weekly votes by phone or joining in on get-togethers at her hometown church, the Trinity United Church of Christ. She will always be a winner to her grandfather, Keith Bowersox, who has watched his granddaughter’s rise the last few months with a sense of pride, joy and a lot of love. “It’s been a real hoot — I’ve enjoyed it very much. I love her just as much as I love all my grandchildren … and I’m proud of her. She just has a natural talent for it,” he said. Lee garnered the title. But it appears the raspy-
See CRYSTAL 8A
Tell Tales
Rain up over average
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If you would like to save some
money (and who wouldn’t), check out our monthly coupon book inserted in this week’s Beacon. Lots of savings! nnn
We had 81 correct entries in our Find Wylie contest last week. Our winner is Louise Zgela, of Catawba, who found Wylie in the Kenney House ad on page
INSIDE RECORDS 2A
Experience
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BEACON BITS 4A
2A last week. Louise wins a $20 gift card from Friendship Convenient Stores. We’ll hide Wylie again this week. If you find him, drop us a note at our office … or click on the Find Wylie icon online at www.thebeacon.net. nnn
Friday night June 4 is the First
See TELL TALES 2A n
PHOTO BY MARY ALICE SCHAFFNER
Vets salute the wreath laid in the Portage River in honor of the soldiers and sailors who died at sea.
More photos from Memorial Day n PAGE 8A
Traffic light changes to four-way stop
By JOHN SCHAFFNER
We almost made it through the entire holiday weekend with no rain, but it flat-out poured late Monday afternoon. Port Clinton got more than 1.5 inches of rain on Monday bringing the total to more than 5 inches of rain for the month of May, well over normal.
MEMORIAL DAY
SCHOOLS 7A
Living
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The intersection of Madison and Second streets in downtown Port Clinton is becoming a fourway stop this week. According to interim safety service director Tracy Colston, the current light will be replaced, in part because of its weight. “We had to do something, the traffic light is sinking too low,” he said. Toledo Edison has been out
CALENDAR 9A
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BUSINESS 1B
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to check the sagging polls and Colston says this move should buy the city some time. The other problem hopefully solved by the switch will be the flow of traffic. PC Police Chief Tom Blohm suggested the fourway stop to keep vehicles moving through downtown. “Downtown Sandusky has those lights everywhere and it works,” Colston said.
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REAL ESTATE 6B
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