October 27, 2016

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

A HIDDEN HISTORY MORE THAN 70 MINING TOWNS FLOURISHED IN SOUTHEAST OHIO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY P16

UNDERSTANDING BISEXUALITY P12 A NEW WRESTLING LEGACY AHEAD P18 MODERN PAGAN PRACTICES P20

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emma Ockerman MANAGING EDITOR Elizabeth Backo DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Seth Archer ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Hayley Harding

EDITORIAL

NEWS EDITORS Kaitlin Coward, William T. Perkins SPORTS EDITOR Charlie Hatch CULTURE EDITORS Alex Darus, Sean Wolfe OPINION EDITOR Kaitlyn McGarvey COPY CHIEF Rachel Danner

ART

ART DIRECTOR Abby Day DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Driehaus GRAPHICS DIRECTOR Chance Brinkman-Sull SPECIAL PROJECTS DESIGNER Matt Ryan

DIGITAL

DIGITAL PRODUCTION EDITOR Hannah Debenham SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Hannah Wintucky BLOGS EDITOR Jeremy Hill SENIOR MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER Patrick Connolly BUSINESS MANAGER Matthew Barnett

Send us your letters

THE

POST

ISSUE 10 VOLUME 107 1 PARK PLACE, ROOM 325 EDITOR@THEPOSTATHENS.COM PHONE | 740.593.4010 FAX | 740.593.0561

ONLINE

Do you ever find something in The Post thoughtprovoking, questionable or even infuriating? Let us know!

We are always interested in hearing about the way our readers respond to our content every day.

POST BLOGS thepostathens.com/blogs

IN PERSON Baker Center, Room 325

FACEBOOK thepostathens

ONLINE thepostathens.com/letters

TWITTER @ThePost

BY EMAIL letters@thepostathens.com

Front Desk Hours

Your opinion is welcome. Letters should be fewer than 500 words.

Longer submissions will be considered as guest commentaries, but space is limited. All letters must be signed by at least one individual; anonymous letters will not be accepted. The Post does not accept letters soliciting donations or news releases. Please include your year and major if you are a student. Letters can be submitted online at www.thepostathens.com, by email at editor@ thepostathens.com or at The Post’s front desk in the media wing on the third floor of Baker University Center. We reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, vulgarity and Associated Press Style.

Cost: 10 words: $3 students, $3.75 businesses, $.10 each additional word. Free lost and found daily, space permitting

The Post is an independent newspaper run by Ohio University students. We distribute the paper free of charge in Athens, Ohio, when classes are in session. Editorial page material represents the opinions of the editors, columnists and letter writers. Opinions expressed are independent of Ohio University and our printer

9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

Closed Saturday and Sunday.

1 Park Place Baker University Center, Room 325 Athens, OH 45701 (740) 593-4010

Advertising Policies The Post will not print advertisements that violate local, state or federal laws.

All advertisements must display good taste. The Post reserves the right to refuse any advertisement.

If questions arise, the editor will make the final decision.

The Post will not run real estate or employment advertisements that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, sexual orientation or national origin. All advertisements are

subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act. Phone numbers will not be printed in the Personals section.

If errors are found in a classified ad, please notify The Post by 4 p.m. the day the ad runs. Though The Post cannot be responsible for errors, a corrected ad will run free of charge on the next publication date.

Cash refunds will not be given.

Notify The Post by 4 p.m. of cancellations for the following day.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

‘Post’ promotes acting on civic duties, voting Let me start with this: The Post’s endorsement of any candidate does not reflect the opinions of the newsroom atlarge or those of The Post’s business staff, which operates independently from The Post’s editorial operations.

Any endorsement is a product of our executive editors and opinion editor, Kaitlyn McGarvey, who reached out to candidates and did necessary research to gather their stances on higher education and other issues pertinent to college students. Our endorsements, like much of the work our staff members do at The Post, aim to inform readers and incite healthy conversation. Of course, such endorsements are also a tradition. They can be found in our print edition on pages 4 and 5 as well as online at thepostathens.com/section/ EMMA OCKERMAN / opinion.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF I begin with a disclaimer because newspaper endorsements have been so fraught with controversy this election cycle, and an unavoidable dilemma in many newsrooms. For example, The Dallas Morning News hampered its 75-year streak of not endorsing Democrats when it opted for Hillary Clinton, and the paper lost subscriptions as a result. The paper’s editor, Mike Wilson, faced protesters directly. Closer to home, The Columbus Dispatch also broke century-old tradition when it endorsed Clinton a few weeks ago. Its editor and an alumnus of The Post, Alan Miller, wrote a message similar to the one I’m authoring here: newspapers are meant to promote one’s civic duties, period. Endorsements have long been a part of that.

In an Oct. 8, 1932 edition of The Green and White (The Post’s publishing title up until fall of 1939), when the stakes for the presidency were shared between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, the paper provided front-page information for Ohio University students on casting absentee ballots, with its editors writing in an editorial that a student’s education had practically been wasted if he or she neglected to become informed and participate in the election. That much is still true — the risk of political discourse is no excuse for accepting apathy, or subjecting to the fear of criticism. The Post’s endorsements do not come with demands, but informed suggestions. The rest of The Post’s political coverage, usually coming from our news staff, has remained unbiased and has strived to educate and inform student readers by interviewing prominent political voices on campus and Uptown.

Our executive editors would still like to hear your thoughts ahead of this election. If you have your own informed beliefs or a message for student voters, please email letters@thepostathens.com with suggestions of your own.

Emma Ockerman is a senior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Tweet her at @eockerman or email her at eo300813@ohio.edu

Cover photo by Alex Driehaus

BOBCATS BY THE NUMBERS

Academic centers for athletes are not uncommon at MAC universities in Ohio OU plans to build the Sook Center for student-athletes MEGAN HENRY ASST. NEWS EDITOR This is the tenth in a weekly series comparing Ohio University to the other five Mid-American Conference universities in Ohio.

O

f the six Mid-American Conference Universities in Ohio, Ohio University is one of four schools with academic centers for student-athletes.

The six MAC universities in Ohio include OU, Miami University, Bowling Green State University, the University of Toledo, Kent State University and the University of Akron.

The student-athletes at OU now use the Joan and Wallace Phillips Center, a 10,000 square-foot academic facility which accommodates about 440 students a year in its 10 tutoring rooms and one 42-seat classroom and is located in Peden Stadium’s tower.

However, design plans are in the works for the Perry and Sandy Sook Academic Center, a study facility for student-athletes.

About $5.74 million had been raised for the Sook Center as of Aug. 3, which will be at the north end zone of Peden Stadium, OU Spokesman Dan Pittman said. As of June, the university had received a little more than $2 million for the project.

The Sooks, who are both OU alumni, donated $2.25 million to the Ohio University Foundation in June 2014 to kickstart the project.

In June, the Board of Trustees approved the $620,000 design of the center, which is set to occur within the next year. Construction is expected to be about $5.5 million.

Ohio football redshirt sophomore Kylan Nelson likes the idea of

the Sook Center.

“I think having a building dedicated solely to that purpose outside of where we go for meetings, I think that’s a pretty cool idea,” Nelson said.

He said he will use the center if it opens before he graduates.

“I know a lot of people would come in and use it,” Nelson said.

Casey Starcher said the Sook Center is a good idea because student-athletes are busy, but doesn’t think it should be limited to them.

“I think it definitely will raise a feeling of superiority among (the student-athletes),” Starcher, a freshman studying pre-med, said.

Tyler Hordinski said having a separate facility like the Sook Center could help benefit student-athletes.

“It’s a lot of work being a student-athlete, I’m sure,” Hordinski, an undecided freshman, said. "It could be a place for them to go to. I won’t have a problem with it."

At Miami, the Gross Family Student-Athlete Development Center was built with donated money and cost $4.7 million to construct.

Opened in 2001, the center is available only to student-athletes, Miami Spokeswoman Ritter Hoy said.

Student-athletes at Kent State use the George R. Jenkins Athletic Academic Resource Center, Eugene Canal, director of Athletics Communications at Kent State, said. The facility is only for student-athletes.

Toledo has the Larimer Athletic Complex for its student-athletes.

Located at the north end of its football stadium, the Glass Bowl, the complex originally opened in 1990.

It reopened in 2014 after undergoing $5.5 million renovations.

Bowling Green and Akron do not have academic facilities for their student-athletes.

OHIO UNIVERSITY

Perry and Sandy Sook Academic Center COST: $5.74 MILLION LOCATION: NORTH END ZONE OF PEDEN STADIUM The center will double the size of the facility in Peden and provide studentathletes with a classroom, computer lab, tutoring rooms, study rooms and staff offices. Design plans are still in the works. Student-athletes now use the Joan and Wallace Phillips Center in Peden Stadium’s tower.

MIAMI UNIVERSITY

Gross Family Student-Athlete Development Center COST: $4.7 MILLION LOCATION: BETWEEN MILLETT HALL AND YAGER STADIUM Opened in 2001, the Gross Center is available exclusively to student-athletes.

The facility includes a 10,000 square foot fitness center, with the other portion devoted to academic tutoring. The academic center has two large study areas, a study lounge, private tutoring offices and a computer lab.

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

George R. Jenkins Athletic Academic Resource Center COST: NOT AVAILABLE LOCATION: IN THE MEMORIAL ATHLETIC CONVOCATION CENTER George R. Jenkins Athletic Academic Resource Center serves more than 450 student-athletes and provides a quiet study space, tutoring center, Mac lab and mentoring area. Student-Athlete Academic Services offers academic services that include tutoring, mentoring and academic counseling.

UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO

Larimer Athletic Complex COST: $5.5 MILLION IN RENOVATIONS LOCATION: END ZONE OF GLASS BOWL Larimer Athletic Complex re-opened Aug. 21, 2014 after undergoing many renovations including a new entryway in to the building, a new field entrance allowing athletes to enter the field beneath the scoreboard and a remodeled weight room that is triple its previous size.

CHANCE BRINKMAN-SULL / GRAPHICS DIRECTOR Information provided via each university’s athletic page

@MEGANKHENRY MH573113@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 3

ENDORSEMENTS

‘Post’ endorses Clinton for president, Strickland for Senate THE POST EDITORIAL BOARD PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT: HILLARY CLINTON AND TIM KAINE Come May, thousands of Ohio University seniors will walk across The Convo’s stage, accept their diplomas and exit the idyllic college student lifestyle to enter the “real world.” The Post’s editorial board believes that achieving the American Dream — which no longer comes in the form of a white picket fence, but rather a living wage and a fulfilling career free of college debt — is more attainable under a Hillary Clinton presidency.

The Post’s editorial board is not without reason. For one, Clinton has actually outlined a policy plan for higher education that addresses ever-increasing student loan debts while Donald Trump has not. Our future is more promising when we support inclusivity and diversity. Trump will not promote such messages, as he has demonstrated time and time again. We cannot have a president who so adamantly discriminates against women and minorities, as Trump has openly done since the very inception of his campaign. We need a president we can be proud of, one who promotes better lives for all Americans. Trump will never be that president.

This presidential race is a particularly unusual one, but The Post’s endorsement may feel somewhat predictable. College students in a traditionally “blue” town support and endorse yet another Democratic ticket, and the beat goes on. But predictability cannot give way to complacency in an election cycle as insane and crude as the one we have been subjected to.

At this point, it may be difficult to sway an OU student to change his or her mind, but we hope to convince our readers of this: vote with the intensity and dedication students may give to anything else their livelihoods depend on, such as a college degree. Remember the future ahead and vote. Neglecting to do so on Nov. 8 (or earlier, if you wish — just go to the Board of Elections on Court Street and ask to vote early) would be downright reckless. The future of the OU alumni to come — and America at large — will not be something we can be proud of without the work and determination necessary to shape it into something promising.

The best way to do that is to cast one’s ballot for Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine.

U.S. SENATOR FOR OHIO: TED STRICKLAND In interviewing Ted Strickland, it became 4 / OCT. 27, 2016

evident that he would be the most qualified candidate to tackle those issues that affect many college students: assistance for Ohio students who cannot afford the rising cost of tuition and aiding those graduates already facing student debt. His description of the economic turmoil many students face after college matched ours: the rising cost of higher education has become a crisis. We believe Strickland can help address that crisis statewide.

Additionally, Strickland addressed combating and preventing sexual assaults on college campuses in an endorsement interview with The Post, which is another issue both relevant and important to students at OU. His plans for higher education policy align with Clinton’s as well, and we believe he would continue to represent students’ best interests. The notion that sitting Sen. Rob Portman has worked with politicians from across the aisle — including Tim Kaine — to address the rising costs of higher education is worth addressing, however, as it is truly admirable and hopefully something Strickland would continue as senator.

We would also hope to see Strickland implement some of Portman’s more dedicated policies that have worked to combat human trafficking and the opioid epidemic

in Ohio. Though not always necessarily at the forefront of students’ minds, such issues are undeniably important and should not go ignored in D.C. STATE SENATOR FOR OHIO’S 30TH DISTRICT: LOU GENTILE Athens and Ohio University voters should elect to keep Lou Gentile in his state Senate seat. He emphasized workforce education and job creation in his endorsement interview with The Post, expressing his desire to create and maintain programs that incentivize Ohio-based students in finding jobs within the state after graduation.

A vote for Gentile also keeps Appalachia’s more pressing needs in mind. Gentile has fought for the rights of coal workers through endorsing the passage of the federal Miners Protection Act, in addition to testifying in support of refundable income tax credits to small businesses that hire veterans. He has also backed an increased level of funding for local school districts in Appalachian counties, and voiced concern over issues OU students are privileged to not have to think about often: better infrastructure in southeast Ohio, and increased broadband access, as some villages lack it entirely.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR OHIO’S 15TH DISTRICT: SCOTT WHARTON Extreme college loans often serve to cripple a graduate’s options before they even walk across the stage. It is necessary to have politicians willing to fight to reform those loans to put students more in control and to give them better options.

For this reason, The Post feels, without a doubt, Scott Wharton should be the next representative for the 15th district.

Wharton aims not only to keep colleges and universities accountable for unacceptably high costs for current students, but to also bring down the costs for future generations as well.

It is necessary to focus on student loans because, as Wharton said in his endorsement interview with The Post, student loans are the next great financial crisis.

The way society handles student loans will, in turn, affect the housing market, the auto industry and many other sectors of the economy.

If we want a solid economy moving forward, we need to support a candidate who supports the needs of the grads entering the job market. Scott Wharton has the best plans to support people affected by student loans, and he will best serve Ohio’s 15th district in

Corrections: In an article under the headline “Perfect pairing” in Oct. 20’s issue of The Post, it incorrectly stated what Becky Clark is able to sell at the Athens Farmer’s Market.

She is able to sell pork, pickles and sausage at the markets.

In an article under the headline “Narcan helps decrease overdose rates” in Oct. 20’s issue of The Post, the graphic and headline incorrectly stated overdose rates were decreasing rather than death rates from overdoses.

The Ohio University College Democrats register people to vote outside of the Alumni Gateway.

(LIAM DAVIS | FILE)

ENDORSEMENTS Washington, D.C. STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR OHIO’S 94TH DISTRICT: SARAH GRACE From supporting local governments to protecting the environment, Sarah Grace is the person best equipped to serve as a state representative. She cares about Appalachia, college students and all people across Ohio.

Grace’s efforts to support those at Ohio University and other colleges across the state set her high above not only her opponent, but also many other politicians. Her platform includes providing better support to high school students looking to go to college and making college more affordable for anyone interested in attending.

She also wants to make well-being a priority. In an endorsement interview with The Post, Grace specially emphasized good health care options for students and a college campus free from sexual harassment.

People deserve a chance to have a good education, both in quality of education and in safety of environment. Sarah Grace will fight for that on the behalf of votes. She will represent the area well.

The Ohio University College Democrats campaign for Hillary Clinton by the Alumni Gateway on Sept. 23. (LIAM DAVIS / FILE)

STREETVIEW

“What has been your favorite Halloween costume?”

“That is so hard, we were just talking about this. My favorite Halloween costume, I don’t know, I have been Holy Guacamole before.”

Mackenzie Pippin, sophomore studying interactive media design

“I’ve rocked the chicken costume a few times. I like it because its nice and warm and it’s fluffy, and it is kind of fun to be a chicken.”

Stephanie Cartee, junior studying education

“A couple of years ago I went as Shaggy from ‘Scooby Doo,’ so probably that.”

“That’s hard. I was GLaDOS from ‘Portal 2’ a couple years ago; that was really cool.”

Andrew McCown, freshman studying MIS, accounting and pre-law

Linnea Preston, freshman studying integrated language arts

“Probably the year I dressed up as Brutus the Buckeye.”

Alex Fote, freshman studying information and telecommunication systems

- photographs by Laila Riaz THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 5

Nick Lantz, a fifth-year senior studying journalism and a professional paranormal researcher, poses for a portrait in the State Street Cemetery.

Lantz self-published a book two years ago about the local legends in Athens, which receives a lot of attention each year around Halloween.

(HANNAH SCHROEDER / FOR THE POST)

GHOST STORIES

Taking after his mother’s passion for the paranormal, student investigates and writes about Athens’ haunts GRACE HILL FOR THE POST

W

ith a psychic medium for a mother, Nick Lantz grew up in an environment that attracted spirits.

“When I was really little, I’d kind of see things in my room that I couldn’t explain that really freaked me out as a little kid,” Lantz, a fifth-year senior studying journalism, said. “As I got older, it wasn’t as scary, but when I was little, it was terrifying.”

His interest and background in the paranormal led him to Ohio University, and eventually to write his first book: Ghosts and Legends of Athens, Ohio.

Nick’s peers were quick to recognize his fascination. When moving into his freshman dorm, O’Bleness House, Nick soon found it was haunted. Deborah Lantz, his mother, was the first to notice.

It was then that Nick’s floormates came to know him as the “ghost guy.”

According to Deborah, Nick was aware of ghosts even as a child.

“It’s a normal day in our house to hear a door slam and footsteps upstairs,” Deborah said.

6 / OCT. 27, 2016

After burying her gift for “years and years,” it was the experience of living in a haunted house that brought Deborah’s gift back to the forefront.

“As a child I thought I would be taken away in a padded van by two men in white,” Deborah said. “I used to think I was crazy.”

Deborah started to work as a professional psychic medium, and at 15 years old, Nick began accompanying her on ghost hunts.

Nick acted primarily as a researcher, while Deborah would communicate with spirits, find out why they were there and help them “move on.”

Nick has also given lectures at conferences across the country and done consulting work for TV shows on SyFy and Lifetime.

In his sophomore year, a publishing company, aware of his reputation in the paranormal field, reached out to him, Lantz said. It wanted to publish a book about the legends of Athens. When it eventually dropped the book because the university would not allow the use of pictures, Nick decided to self-publish.

For more than a year, Nick researched, pouring over the “spook files” in Alden Library and records at the Athens County Historical Society and Museum. He posted

fliers across campus and interviewed residents about their experiences. The book was a “grassroots effort,” he said.

The longest chapter of the book was about The Ridges. Nick said he didn’t want to just talk about it. He wanted to experience it.

For an entire night, Nick, Deborah, a team of urban explorers and a paranormal research group led an investigation in The Ridges. They brought Mel Meters and K2 meters to measure electronic magnetic fields, thermal cameras, night vision equipment and audio devices, Nick said.

Right after setting up the homebase, Deborah said they heard the scream of a woman.

Nick said they also made contact with a ghost named Margaret during an electronic voice phenomenon session. When playing back recordings, he said they heard a faint female voice say ”It’s cold in here.” The connection made sense in context of the history of The Ridges, Nick said. Margaret Schilling, a patient, allegedly went missing and died there during the winter, leaving a body stain that is said to be haunted.

While in the basement, Nick said they found a room containing the diary of a former patient written across all four walls.

Again, they did an EVP session. They asked two questions. The first was “Are you afraid?” The answer was “no.” The second was “Should we be afraid?” The answer was “yes.”

“I’ll never go back,” Deborah said. “I don’t like going into prisons or places where people suffered great pain.”

When connecting to spirits, Deborah said she is very vulnerable, and Nick’s energy is grounding.

“There is a very protective energy around him,” she said.

Nick said the experience at The Ridges was unusual because he wasn’t expecting anything to happen.

“I was definitely pretty skeptical at first,” he said.

He said that skepticism was important when approaching the research for his book.

“People probably assume that I’m a lot more a believer because my mom’s psychic and stuff,” he said. “Because I’m sort of raised into that, I’m ultra skeptical. I just know what to look for.”

@GRACEOLIVIAHILL GH663014@OHIO.EDU

NEWS BRIEFS

CLASSIFIEDS

Halloween patrol increases JOHNNY PALERMO FOR THE POST The Athens Police Department has made some important decisions regarding the Halloween Block Party, and a U.S. senator campaigned in Athens. Here is some more information on those stories, along with other top news from the past week.

ROB PORTMAN

Sen. Rob Portman, R-OH, was in Athens on Tuesday as a part of his “Countdown to Victory” RV tour.

While in town, Portman spoke to Athens County Republican Party Chair Pete Couladis, Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson, and Ohio House of Representatives Candidate Jay Edwards.

The Affordable Care Act served as the one topic of the speech, and Portman said he would fight to repeal the act and “replace it with something better.”

HALLOWEEN COPS

Those attending the Athens Halloween Block Party on Saturday night should expect to see more law enforcement officers on patrol than in year’s past due to the increased threat of

Ohio University Parking Restrictions for Halloween Weekend

potential terrorist attacks.

“We have a heightened awareness of security given national events regarding terrorist acts,” Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said. “We will have more police officers in what we call overwatch positions just to monitor suspicious activity.”

To construct the stages for the events, parking on streets will close around 6 a.m. Saturday, and the streets will close a few hours later, Deputy Safety Director Ron Lucas said.

SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORT

For the second time in one week, the Athens Police Department received a rape report.

On Monday, a 20-year-old woman reported that she was sexually assaulted early Thursday morning. The alleged incident occurred around 4 a.m. on the west end of Athens, and is classified as rape, according to the APD report.

Since the start of the Ohio University’s Fall Semester, six alleged sex-related crimes have been reported to local law enforcement. Two have been reported to APD and four to the Ohio University Police Department.

JP351014@OHIO.EDU @HEEEEERES_JONNY

PRIME LOCATIONS

Restrictions begin Saturday, October 29, 2016 @ 7 p.m. through Sunday, October 30, 2016 @ 7 a.m.

Parking Restrictions on Ohio University Property for Halloween weekend will be as follows: Any vehicle parked on Ohio University property must clearly display a current, valid Ohio University parking permit. Vehicles displaying permits that cannot be read or have been reported as lost or stolen will not be honored. In addition, all vehicles must be parked in a legal, valid space.

No Parking permits will be issued for guests or visitors by Parking Services. Baker University Center Garage will NOT be open for pay-by-the-hour parking after 3 a.m. on Saturday, October 29, 2016. The garage will re-open on Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 11 a.m. Hourly parking will be available at all meters on campus—All fees must be paid.

Vehicles not clearly displaying a current, valid permit or parked illegally will be issued a $150 fine at the owner/driver’s expense. Please visit the Parking Services Website located at www.ohio.edu/parking (review the Important Notices section) for more in-depth parkingrelated information. Parking Services may also be reached at 740-593-1917.

NOW LEASING 1-6 Bedrooms

86 North Court Street 740-594-4441 www.BobcatRentals.net THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 7

SPORTS

A COACH’S IMPACT Ryan Adams is known in the Athens City School District for his roles as a teacher, coach and booster

Athens Senior Nick Engelmann talks to coach Ryan Adams at the Bulldogs’ Sept. 9 game against Watkins Memorial High School. (BLAKE NISSEN / FILE)

JIMMY WATKINS FOR THE POST It’s not uncommon for away fans to hear Athens High School football coach Ryan Adams air his grievances with referees from the opposite side of R. Basil Rutter Field. He’s an intense man.

Adams’ locked-in nature is so apparent, in fact, many would never know at first glance how far beyond that stadium his influence extends.

FINDING A NICHE

A much-younger Adams once sat in what he thought would be one of his final undergraduate courses. In 1994, during Spring Semester of his senior year at Ohio University, a professor gave him the mantra for his career.

8 / OCT. 27, 2016

“When it comes down to what you want to do with your life, you better one: make sure you’re good at it and two: you love what you do,” Adams’ professor said during a lecture.

Adams had already changed career plans. He had gone from an aspiring physical therapist to wanting to be a special events coordinator. But as he reflected on his professor’s comments, he “discovered his niche” and made another change.

“There is nothing that I enjoy or am more knowledgeable about than sport. ... Once I got into the world of physical education, it became a no-brainer that eventually I was going to go into this side of football and get into coaching,” Adams said.

Before earning the head coaching posi-

tion, Adams logged countless hours as an assistant coach. He was initially hired in 1995 by former Athens Coach Matt McPhail to coach running backs, the secondary and special teams. He served as the defensive coordinator for two more coaches before taking a few years off in the mid-2000s to spend more time with his young children.

In 2006, Adams was hired as a physical education teacher at Athens Middle School. One year later, he accepted the job as head coach of the Athens High School football team. “(The school officials that hired Adams) went away from a guy who wasn’t as invested in the community ... to take a guy who was from here and was invested in the community,” Athens Athletic Director John Rogers said.

“That was Ryan.”

THE TEACHER AND COACH

At his core, Adams is passionate about all physical activity, not just football. He has one goal for the students that enter his gym, and he doesn’t care how it is accomplished.

“My day at AMS is 100 percent set towards making sure that kids leave my facility red-faced with sweat on their brow more than anything else,” Adams said. “I encourage as many kids to play soccer as I do football.”

Although he works two full-time jobs, Adams said he enjoys the variety. There is no overlap between his separate responsibilities, Athens Middle School Principal Kara Bolin said.

“I never see (his other job) come here,” Bolin said. “I never think, ‘Oh no, the football team lost. He’s gonna be in a bad mood.’ He never shows that kind of thing.”

Adams carries a consistently enthusiastic yet firm energy with him wherever he goes. It’s what Rogers said would be the biggest challenge in replacing Adams if he were ever to leave the program.

His players are so used to their coach’s intense nature, they find it odd when he takes the edge off.

“He’ll try to crack a joke here and there and you gotta laugh just to make him feel good,” quarterback Brendan Sano said.

Adams said his intense nature remains the same, regardless of whether he is teaching middle schoolers or coaching his players. Sano confirmed Adams’ sentiments, but with one small caveat.

“He was pretty much the same guy, just a little less vulgar,” Sano said of his time as a student in Adams’ class.

His students feed off of his energy. Adams is a favorite among the students and their parents, to which Bolin can attest.

“He talks to the kids as if they are young adults,” Bolin said. “They respond well and they want to please him. They want to make him proud. I have parents that want their kid to spend time with him and I think that’s the most important compliment.”

Similarly, Rogers said Adams’ players rarely leave his program without seeing him as a father figure.

“I love the confidence he gives me,” cornerback Nate Gribble said. “He’s definitely shaped us into men. I’ll keep in touch with him, definitely.”

GOING BEYOND FOOTBALL TO BRING BACK THE FIELD

The Bulldogs were a 1-9 team when Adams took over. Since then, Adams has gone 78-32 overall as head coach, including a four-year stretch from 2011-14 where the team went 47-5 with a state finals appearance in 2014. Athens won its first league title since 1990 under Adams in 2009, but it was the following couple of years when Adams showed he wasn’t an ordinary coach.

In 2010, a tornado ripped through Athens and destroyed the football stadium.

The concession stand’s range hood was found about 300 yards away from the field.

The practice field, once hidden behind lavish trees, was plainly visible amongst the destruction. All four steel girders that propped up the scoreboard had folded to the ground.

“You talk about devastation,” Adams said. “It was surreal. I’ve never witnessed anything like it as far as a natural disaster goes, and the field took the brunt of it.”

In 2008, Adams helped form the Bulldog Blitz, an additional booster group to be recognized by the school. Through the Blitz, Adams had tried to raise enough money for a turf field a year before the tornado hit, but he was unable to persuade big-money donors in the

community to help out.

When the tornado hit, Adams saw an opportunity to rally the community together around a cause for his players.

“After (the tornado) went down, the Blitz guys certainly were ready to step up and try to do a major fundraising thing to be able to fix some things up,” Adams said. “It was a situation where we knew there was gonna be some insurance money involved and we thought we could get this turf field done.”

Adams was relentless in his effort to raise money for a new stadium. Through Bulldog Blitz, he built relationships with countless donors and sponsors. Being from the area helped Adams build relationships, but what stuck out to Rogers was Adams’ overwhelming commitment to the cause.

“There were years where — especially when they were raising all the money for the field — he wouldn’t even be at practice sometimes because he was out making relationships with people in the community, taking care of paperwork and raising money,” Rogers said.

The new turf field was built in less than a year, and the Bulldogs christened it with one of the best seasons in the team’s history. Athens finished undefeated in the 2011 regular season for the first time ever, made the playoffs for the first time since 1990 and beat archrival Nelsonville-York for the first time since 2003.

Athens High School football head coach Ryan Adams poses for a portrait with the Bulldog Blitz statue at Athens High School. (METIN OZISIK / FOR THE POST)

“It’s almost like a storybook ending to everything that you wanted to see happen this year,” Adams said at the time, according to a previous Post report. “We’ve come an awful long way in the five years we’ve been at this.”

Adams had built the football program he desired, but his impact on the community went far beyond the field he helped build.

Despite being in his mid-40s, Adams still considers himself a young man, so no

one expects him to hang up the whistle any time soon. But when he does, his desired legacy is simple, and it speaks to his people-first, football-second approach.

“Nothing more than that I treated the kids here right and gave them an opportunity to be successful every Friday,” Adams said. @JAJIMBOJR JW331813@OHIO.EDU

Come and Discover What New Experiences are waiting at the

Athens Holistic Health and Psychic Fair.

Gain new insights with a Professional Psychic Reading or explore your unique Astrology Chart Tune into your center with Alternative Body Therapies and deepen your learning with Lectures throughout the day.

Saturday, Oct. 29th 11-5 $5 door fee or $3 with a current student ID Athens Community Center 701 East State St. Check us out under “Events” at carolborkoski.com For vending info contact Robin Coiner at 304-531-0698 or robjoynichols@people.com

THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 9

The Ridges’ four cottages offer temporary housing for university affiliates ABBEY MARSHALL FOR THE POST Despite its history, some Ohio University students and staff have no problem calling The Ridges home.

The abandoned psychiatric hospital, formerly known as the Athens Mental Health Center, is just yards away from four cottages. Those residential areas used to be housing for staff members of the mental institution, but they now serve as homes for visiting students, faculty and newly hired staff members. Rent for the cottages runs $1,100 per month, including utilities.

One of those residents is Lari-Valtteri Suhonen, a visiting doctoral student from Sweden studying psycholinguistics.

When he moved into his apartment two weeks ago, he was unaware of the history surrounding the home he will live in for the next two months.

“I quite quickly noticed what’s going on here,” Suhonen said. “I’ve done some research and found it was a mental asylum before.”

Jneanne Hacker, the director for Business Operations and Conference Services, said the university owns the property and only leases it out to university affiliates.

“If people aren’t familiar with the real estate and the market in Athens, they’re able to secure housing as they’re transitioning,” Hacker said.

The houses are leased for one year with the possibility of a one-year extension in consideration of other staff members, Hacker said.

Bernhard Debatin, a journalism professor, took advantage of the twoyear maximum and lived in a cottage from 2000 to 2002. He was a visiting professor from Germany at the time before accepting a permanent position at OU. Debatin did not experience anything supernatural, but he said other people considered his living arrangement spooky.

“We had a babysitter from Ohio University,” Debatin said. “When she would babysit and we weren’t there, she was a little scared. She would go all around the house and pull down the shades and make sure the house was locked. She found it weird, I assume 10 / OCT. 27, 2016

“

It would be cool to say you’d be living near a mental hospital. Maybe some students would feel uncomfortable by that because of the history, but it would definitely be cool for some people.”

- Lari-Valtteri Suhonen, visiting doctoral student from Sweden mostly because of the reputation The Ridges (has).”

The haunted reputation of the area appeals to many OU students. Debatin was aware of people entering the buildings of the mental health center to see things such as the alleged stain of a corpse.

“Around Halloween, there were always students,” Debatin said. “There are some structures on The Ridges that are really old and broken. Just because you find a way in doesn’t mean you’re competent to explore.”

That continues to be a trend even now, Suhonen said.

The buildings may not remain dilapidated forever. Shawna Bolin, a co-chair of The Ridges Master Plan Committee, said the university is working on ways to renovate the area. One of the proposals is to create an eco-village housing complex and other residential spaces.

The reputation of The Ridges will most likely continue even after the area is revamped and that may provide unconventional living opportunities.

“It would be cool to say you’d be living near a mental hospital,” Suhonen said.

“Maybe some students would feel uncomfortable by that because of the history, but it would definitely be cool for some people.”

@ABBEYMARSHALL AM877915@OHIO.EDU

THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 11

‘Don’t forget Sexuality does not always comply with standard definitions and changes with a person’s identity REBEKAH BARNES / SENIOR WRITER PHOTO BY CARL FONTICELLA / PHOTO EDITOR

M

ike Straw came out to himself as bisexual at 38.

He came out to his wife, Deanna, as they were dating.

And on Dec. 7, 2015, he uploaded a video to YouTube and Facebook and came out to the world.

“Because I had plenty of support around me, and I got real positive responses from everybody, and if anyone didn’t accept it, it wasn’t going to be a problem for me because (I had the support of) the important people around me,” Straw said.

He said he did have some expectations of hostility, but he hasn’t really seen such feelings from people.

“It’s one of those things, like, once you kind of come out to yourself, you look back over your life and realize, ‘OK, it was kind of there the whole time,’ ” Straw, a 47-year-old web application programmer at Ohio University, said. “I was in a real conservative religious group for a while, so I chocked it up to the temptations. …

And then once I opened up to, ‘This is not a bad thing … not (being) straight,’ I could think about it and look inside and see what I liked.”

In a survey conducted by YouGov, one in three Americans under 30 identified themselves as being on the bisexuality spectrum. In a survey conducted by the same organization but for teens in the United Kingdom, almost one in two 18- to

12 / OCT. 27, 2016

“

Hopefully it will matter less and less what you do with who in bed, in terms of who you are as a person.”

- Catherine Euler, a women’s, gender and sexuality studies adjunct lecturer

24-year-olds say they’re something other than “100 percent heterosexual.”

Although more people identify as bisexual than gay or lesbian according to a 2011 Williams Institute study, there can still be a sense of bisexual erasure, delfin bautista, director of OU’s LGBT Center, said.

“Most folks sort of know what to do with gay and lesbian. A lot of folks don’t understand bisexuality,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase spelling of their name, said.

In the past, bisexuality has been confined to a definition of only being attracted to men and women. However, the definition has broadened with time, which is not uncommon for sexualities, Catherine Euler, a women’s, gender and sexuality studies adjunct lecturer, said.

“What we think we can and can’t do, or who we think we should or shouldn’t desire — those things are very affected by the time and the culture (we live in),” Euler said. “(Ideas about sexuality and gender) change about every 10 years.”

A bisexual person might not be attracted to just men and women but could instead be attracted to traits such as masculinity and femininity or anything outside of the binary, bautista said.

“With time and as our understanding of sexuality and gender and sex has evolved, more and more people are understanding bisexuality to mean attracted to a person of one’s own gender and ILLUSTRATIONS

BY MARCUS PAVILONIS

another gender — or more genders,” bautista said.

Straw said for himself, he’s “sexually attracted to multiple genders” and “straight as far as romance.”

However, Sam Haug, an LGBT Center student worker, uses the label “pansexual.” Pansexuality, according to a GLAAD article, means “being attracted to all gender identities, or attracted to people regardless of gender.”

“For me, the reason I didn’t pick a pansexual label as opposed to a bisexual label (is) I’m not just attracted to two genders, but I have different attractions to the different genders and different aspects,” Straw said. “Like, I like masculine aspects in men and feminine aspects in women, for lack of a better term.”

Haug, a junior studying wildlife and conservation biology and global studies — Asia, found a video by Laci Green, YouTube’s “Sex Plus” host, that helped to explain the term.

Haug has never personally identified as bisexual and likes the clear distinction between the two sexualities, preferring the openness the term “pansexual” brings.

Straw saw his world open up to what it means to be bisexual and how that can differ from person to person. As a part of an online forum, “Husbands Out to Their Wives,” Straw has found support in a community of people that are not all just like him.

about us’ “We’re all kind of there for each other,” Straw said. “We kind of started talking about our own labels of ourselves. …

There’s no defined thing.”

Straw said he also frequently communicated with his wife about understanding his identity.

“At first, (conversations) were difficult, a lot of tears, a lot of discussion. I had a lot of times where I had said, ‘I wish I could just take it back and just be straight and kind of cover it up and stuff,’ but she really kept coming back and saying ‘If you do that, you’re not being yourself. You’re not being true to who you are,’ ” Straw said. “I got lucky. She’s always been an ally since before I knew her.”

Straw said “it’s kind of a blessing and a curse” he can “hide in plain sight” with his marriage. Straight privilege, bautista said, can be when a bisexual person is in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender, and their relationship appears to be straight.

“The other pressure that bi folk have when it comes to coming out is there’s a misconception — as well as a dynamic — that they have the potential privilege to pass as heterosexual, depending on who they’re in a relationship with,” bautista said. “People judge them not just as an individual but (by) who they happen to be in a relationship with.”

Kate Estrop, co-president of the Bisexual Resource Center board of directors in Boston, said there is an expectation from hetereosexual people that bisexual people will want to have sex with everyone, but that’s not true. Haug said the same untrue misconception exists for people who are pansexual.

“Bisexual women are sexualized, definitely,” Estrop said. “The (stereotypical misconceptions are the) idea of making

out with another girl in a bar with your boyfriend or ‘I’m only bisexual when I’m drunk.’ … On the other hand, bi men are (stereotypically) on the way to gay. They don’t get (to) exist. … Two men kissing is not hypersexualized but two women?

Definitely.”

The Bisexual Resource Center provides “support to the bisexual community and (raises) public awareness about bisexuality and bisexual people” according to its website. It is also the “oldest nationally-focused bisexual organization in the U.S.” and includes other non-monosexual relationships, like pansexuality.

“The BRC has helped me a lot in deciding that there’s more opportunities than meets the eye in love and in attraction and romance,” Estrop said. “It makes me feel good being a part of an organization and multiple organizations that are trying to make a difference in this subsection of LGBT people who are still pretty invisible.”

Euler said she wants to see the conversation on bisexuality shift, because “the

Mike Straw, a referee for the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, poses for a portrait at the Marietta Roller Rink.

Straw is openly bisexual.

more stereotypes about different forms of sexualities that we can get rid of, the better off we’re going to be.”

“Hopefully it will matter less and less what you do with who in bed, in terms of who you are as a person,” Euler said.

“Those identities don’t make up the whole of who we are. We don’t have to fit ourselves into every box that comes along.”

Since coming out, Straw has been working on different projects to help create more visibility for bisexuality and other sexual minorities. He started a website,

a YouTube channel and a Facebook page called “Intersections: Exploring the rich tapestry of gender, sexuality and relationships.” Straw looks to interview different people about their experiences.

Although being out as bisexual is fairly new to Straw, he’s now taking “every opportunity (he can) to share.”

“We’re there,” Straw said. “Don’t forget about us.”

@REB_BARNES RB605712@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 13

DOUBLE TAKE

Alden Library documents decades of local legends MAYGAN BEELER FOR THE POST

I

n a nondescript filing cabinet on Alden Library’s fifth floor, a manila folder containing records of Athens most infamous local legends sits wedged between other historical documents meticulously kept by Ohio University Archivist Bill Kimok.

The collection of Athens-area haunts, myths and mysteries, known as the “spook file,” has been available to visitors of The Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections for decades.

“One of the reasons we have the spook file is because we had students who were doing the collecting of materials in the first place,” Kimok said. “Someone probably thought ‘well this is pretty cool stuff,’ so they started and other students would add to it afterward.”

Kimok said interest in the file waxes and wanes, but he remembers a particu-

14 / OCT. 27, 2016

lar increase in curiosity after the release of The Blair Witch Project in 1999. Several film students intent on making similar productions exploring Athens’ own local legends spent time with the spook file that year, he said.

“People who come up to look at it don’t just spend five minutes taking a look, they spend a good part of their afternoon or morning reading about everything that’s in the spook files,” he said.

Stories exploring the hauntings of Wilson Hall, the alleged pentagram connecting local cemeteries and the practices of satanic cults in Athens can be found in the file.

A peculiar local legend of a sinister winged creature — called Mothman — also appears in the spook file in several news articles from the late ’60s and early ’70s.

The first Mothman sighting was reported in November 1966 by two married couples driving together around midnight near West Virginia’s McClintic

The “spook file,” a collection of newspaper clippings and other documents that report paranormal activity in the Athens area, is one of the most popular files in The Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections in Alden Library. (EMMA HOWELLS / PHOTO EDITOR)

Wildlife Sanctuary. In the shadow of an abandoned power plant once used to fuel World War II army munitions operations, the couples spotted a pair of glowing red eyes peering at them from a group of bushes, according to a previous Post report.

Barbara Grueser, administrative English department secretary, was 16 years old when the Mothman legend was born.

She lived in Meigs County, less than 20 miles from the area where the creature was spotted and found herself surrounded by monster mystery chatter.

“Those were scary things, and they weren’t things I wanted to pay attention to seriously,” Grueser said of the reported sightings.

Some residents tried to keep the mystery alive by hanging black trash bags on clothes hangers in trees near the site, Grueser said. She and a few of her girlfriends went out looking for the Mothman one night but didn’t see anything, she said.

The spot where sightings originated, known to locals as the “TNT area”, lends itself to the proliferation of spooky stories.

“It would be just like ‘War of the Worlds’ or ‘When the Worlds Collide,’ ” Roger Bennett, a former Athens Messenger reporter who covered the original Mothman sighting in 1966 said in a previous Post report. “It’s isolated, desolate, no lights, dark and these buildings looking like they had been destroyed by the nuclear holocaust.”

Bennett wasn’t the only one who thought the abandoned military ordi-

“

People who come up to look at it don’t just spend five minutes taking a look, they spend a good part of their afternoon or morning reading about everything that’s in the spook files.”

- Bill Kimok, Ohio University archivist

nance complex would make a great sci-fi flick.

Paranormal researcher John Keel wrote a book based on the Mothman sightings titled The Mothman Prophecies.

His book was later adapted into a film by the same name, released in January 2002.

The myth continues to flourish in Point Pleasant, though no proof of the Mothman’s existence has ever been found. Every year one weekend in September is reserved for the Mothman Festival, and a Mothman museum operates year round.

“I think they kind of hope it will bring people into help the economy,” Grueser said. “They say the Mothman has really helped the region.”

@MAYGANBEELER MB076912@OHIO.EDU

FAR LEFT: Margaret Gustafan, right, a resident artist for Honey for the Heart, works on making puppets with a group of students and professors in the Baker Center Trisolini Gallery. (PHOTOS BY OLIVER HAMLIN / FOR THE POST) LEFT (ABOVE): Rachel Clark, left, and Patty Mitchell, two of the resident artists for Honey for the Heart, laugh as they make puppets for the parade.

LEFT (BELOW): Jake Kandel, a freshman studying business entrepreneurship, wears a makeshift crown as he helps to build puppets for the parade.

Artists give puppets ‘Heart’

Fifth annual Honey for the Heart parade to feature giant bird puppets, added to ‘lift up Halloween in Athens’ GEORGIA DAVIS STAFF WRITER HANNAH WINTUCKY FOR THE POST Margaret Gustafan sat on the floor of Trisolini Gallery wearing a large paper crown,surrounded by staples, glue and glittery paper. Completing the scene, and Gustafan’s look, was a huge smile.

Trisolini Gallery turned into a large bird cage last week in preparation for the annual Halloween parade. Feathers flew around the normally pristine gallery as preparations for the parade began.

Honey for the Heart transformed the art gallery, located on the fourth floor of Baker Center, into a workshop to create puppets for the parade.

When the group marches in the Oct. 29 parade, it will be its fifth year taking part in the festivity.

Honey for the Heart is an organization that works with Athens residents and Ohio University students to make art and promote creativity. They use recycled materials donated from Ohio University Campus Recycling and other outlets to make their art. Residents of Athens volunteer to make the puppets come to life in the parade.

Patty Mitchell, the director of Honey for the Heart, said

she brought the idea of puppets to Athens after seeing something similar in Minneapolis, and she wanted the puppets to add to the Halloween celebration.

“We wanted to lift up Halloween in Athens a little bit,” Mitchell said. “I thought, ‘Our town needs these here.’ ” For most of the years, Mitchell said there has been a theme the puppets adhere to, such as the Chinese elements and magical creatures. The theme for 2016 is birds.

“This year, we are going really simple with the basic concept of birds, but of course that can go in all kinds of different directions,” she said.

Mitchell looks for “danceable” puppets with a lot of movement, she said. People have used different materials — cardboard, fabric, sequins and papier-mache — to create the birds.

“I think there is something really strong about coming up with a simple idea, bringing simple materials into the mix and then using creativity to expand on those,” Mitchell said. “It’s like we can think about birds differently. We can make a big, giant egg and have somebody’s legs sticking out of it and walking down the street.”

Margaret Gustafan, a Nelsonville resident and artist, said sometimes people come in and think they cannot make art.

“Everyone can make art,” Gustafan said.

“You can put a dot on a piece of paper, and if you put enough of them, it becomes art.

Absolutely anyone can do it. You just have to sit down and spend a little time on it."

Michele Ward, a first-year graduate student studying ecology and evolutionary biology, cut out paper feathers for different sections of the bird.

“It breaks up the monotony of graduate classes,” Ward said. “It’s a good way to get the mind off of other things and be creative. It’s relaxing.”

Mitchell said she tends to make puppets that are a little more obscure, but there will also be birds that look realistic.

“So we’ll have some birds that are completely, totally funked out, and you’ve never seen anything like it before, to others where it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s an indigo bunting,’ ” she said.

Mitchell said she looks forward to marching in the parade and watching the people react to the puppets. She described the experience as a “high.”

“It’s evidence of our culture,” she said.

“It’s visual evidence of who we are in Athens, and it’s being celebrated.” @GEORGIADEE35 GD497415@OHIO.EDU @WINTUCK HW333514@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 15

PRESERVING SOUTHEAST OHIO’S COAL TOWNS The towns have since been abandoned, but some buildings have withstood the test of time

16 / OCTOBER 27, 2016

ALEX MEYER SENIOR WRITER Opening up a printed 19th century atlas of Athens County, Tom O’Grady points to dozens of towns that no longer exist — Floodwood, Federal and Salina, for example — or at the once-bustling coal towns that became jagged abandoned buildings and piles of bricks.

Mostly hidden by autumn leaves, an Ohio University student cruising the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway might miss the crumbling stone walls, bricks and metal rods that evidence the abandoned mining town Floodwood, which once boomed during the coal industry’s heyday.

“Smaller towns, they kind of got left behind,” O’Grady, executive director of the Southeast Ohio Historical Society, said. “So all you’re going to find now is remnants of old buildings.”

Located in York Township, about 14 miles northwest of the City of Athens, Floodwood was home to coal mines, rows of houses and a company store in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Now the old town is gone, though New Floodwood lies on the other side of the Hocking River.

Sometimes unofficially labeled “ghost towns,” many abandoned mining communities like Floodwood dot Appalachian counties. More than 70 such mining towns flourished in southeast Ohio at the beginning of the 20th century, according to the book Little Cities of Black Diamonds, written by Jeffrey Darbee and Nancy Recchie. “(Towns) saw themselves as growing toward becoming cities,” Cheryl Blosser, historian for the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council, said. “They thought, ‘if we’re growing this fast in a few years, someday we’re really going to have a future here.’ ” While some towns survived the decline of Ohio’s coal industry, others did not and were abandoned as workers and their families left the areas.

But those ghost towns serve as reminders of the region’s rich history, and some former mining towns have seen efforts to restore and preserve their historical structures.

“We don’t want to let these towns totally disappear,” Blosser said. “Having a building standing up is important. If all of that’s gone, all we have to show is a picture of the building.”

BEFORE THEY WERE ‘GHOSTS’ Most of today’s ghost towns began as areas established by mining companies to accommodate workers, O’Grady said.

“Often these towns would start up around some sort of a natural resource, a mineral or something like that,” he said.

“So if it was a coal mining operation, then a village would spring up around that.”

Coal companies set up towns primarily in Athens, Hocking, Perry and Morgan counties, according to Little Cities of Black Diamonds. By 1870, the counties were at the center of Ohio’s coal mining industry.

The industry boomed: from 1850 to the 1920s, coal production in Ohio increased from about 1 million tons produced per year to about 30 to 40 million, according to the

away a long time ago,” Buckley said. “Towns really started to wither on the vine.”

Blosser said many who left the region during World War II did not return because there were jobs and opportunities in larger towns and cities.

“Once you start getting those jobs in other places … you’re not going to come back,” she said. “Many of these towns diminished and continue to diminish.”

The abandoned towns, or what is left of them, are presently scattered across southeast Ohio. O’Grady said many are in the Wayne National Forest.

Some of the more accessible spots include San Toy, East Clayton and Oreton.

Some unofficial websites offer lists and locations of the so-called ghost towns, such as Ohio Ghost Town Exploration Co.

LEFT: The streets of Shawnee have a mix of shops, homes, and abandoned storefronts.

(ALEX DRIEHAUS / DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY) ABOVE: The remnants of the Canaanville Coal Co. mine in Canaanville can be found about ten minutes east of Athens.

(PATRICK CONNOLLY / FOR THE POST)

Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

“If there’s nothing there but a field, and you want to open a mine, then you have to provide,” Blosser said. “The company has to come up with a way to house (miners), and if you want to keep them, then you have to provide basic services.”

Those services, provided by companies, included housing, stores, schools and medical care for miners and their families, Blosser said.

However, many of the towns’ buildings were not built to last, Geoffrey Buckley, professor of geography at OU, said.

“If (towns) are going to be there for 10 years, you’re putting up pretty cookie-cutter housing that maybe is substandard,” Buckley, who has researched social and environmental impacts of coal mining in Appalachia, said. “That stuff disappears pretty quickly.”

Some buildings in coal company towns did last, though, such as the company store in Canaanville, about nine miles east of Athens. Now, the old brick building is known as the Athens Do It Yourself Shop, 16060 Canaanville Rd., and sells beer and wine-making supplies.

The store, previously owned by the Canaan Coal Company, closed in 1930 and had a variety of uses before current owner Eric Hedin opened up shop. In previous decades, the building was used as a dance hall, an antique shop and a yarn shop, he said.

“We should embrace the past,” Hedin said.

“We should try to preserve the past more.”

Parts of the coal company’s abandoned mining buildings and smokestacks can be seen a few hundred yards from the store on Mine Road.

Robert Christy, a Canaanville resident for more than 70 years, lives on Mine Road.

“The mine closed in the 1920s,” he said.

“Pictures of that time are hard to come by.”

For those who lived in the towns, it was often difficult to make a living. Miners were usually paid by the ton of mined coal and had to work six days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, Blosser said.

“They used to say that Sunday was the one day you actually saw the sun, because you went in the mines in the dark, and you came out in the dark,” she said.

But during the 20th century, some smaller towns began to decline, becoming the “ghosts” they are today.

‘THEY FADED INTO THE DISTANCE’ Once coal was mostly extracted from a particular area, people abandoned smaller towns and left their buildings behind, O’Grady said.

“Most of the ghost towns I know were never large,” O’Grady said. “They existed because there was a lot of industry here.

As that part of the economy declined, they faded into the distance.”

Beginning around 1920, the “coal boom” of the region collapsed as businesses closed and residents moved away, according to Little Cities of Black Diamonds.

During and after the ’60s, coal production began to shift toward the western U.S., and oil and natural gas became more popular energy sources, Buckley said.

In addition, as cars became more popularly used, miners no longer had to live in company towns directly next to the mines, he said.

“The utility of these mine towns went

HOPE FOR WHAT REMAINS Many of southeast Ohio’s small towns were once mining communities, and their residents remain in the region simply because they love it there, Blosser said.

“The people that stay, many of them are very loyal to the area and they don’t want to live in the cities,” Blosser said. “It seems to foreign to them. I find a hard time looking at flat land, it just sort of bothers me, there’s something wrong with it.”

Blosser, who lives near Shawnee in the former mining town New Straitsville, said her husband’s family has lived in the region since the early 19th century.

Blosser also works as a tour guide for the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council, which is based in Shawnee. The council aims to educate people in the area about the history of mining towns. “(People) don’t realize the accomplishments and life that the people here had and the difference it made,” Blosser said. “They should be really proud of that history.”

Over the years, groups in the area have made efforts to reclaim and preserve buildings in former mining communities such as Shawnee, Blosser said.

One example of that is the Tecumseh Theater in Shawnee, which was built in 1907 and provided entertainment to those in the mining community for decades. The theater has since been restored and preserved by a group of local residents after nearly being demolished in the ’70s, Blosser said.

Today, grassroots groups such as the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council and the Ohio Hill Country Heritage Area, work to preserve and celebrate the mining towns in the region, Blosser said.

“For the first time I’m starting to see a little bit of hope. I really am,” she said. “I’m seeing some things change.”

@ALXMEYER AM095013@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 17

WRESTLING

CREATING A NEW LEGACY

Ohio’s transition period this year could mean a future championship

TONY WOLFE SENIOR WRITER Ohio wrestling’s recent history has been filled with major success. The more the past is brought up around this year’s wrestlers, however, the more they want to talk about the future.

Though many teams can only hope for one star — maybe two — Ohio has trotted them out in bunches.

It has maintained its status as a top tier Mid-American Conference team by assembling a wrecking crew made up of guys including Harrison Hightower, Phil Wellington, Spartak Chino and two-time All-American Cody Walters, all of who entered the 2012-13 season as freshmen or sophomores.

Over the course of four years, the Bobcats sent a total of 24 wrestlers to the national tournament, posted three All-American seasons and won four individual MAC tournament titles, with top three team finishes in the MAC Tournament in each of the last two seasons.

After years of the same group of guys running roughshod through duals and cruising into season-ending tournaments with sky-high goals and expectations, a mass graduation of sorts took place at the end of last season.

Those who entered the program as a group suddenly 18 / OCT. 27, 2016

Shakur Laney celebrates winning a match against Old Dominion’s Brandon Jeske on Feb. 7. (LIZ MOUGHON / FILE)

LEFT: Sophomore Cameron Kelly stretches during wrestling practice at The Convo on Oct. 25. (METIN OZISIK / FOR THE POST)

The Ohio University wrestling team practices at The Convo on Oct. 25. (METIN OZISIK / FOR THE POST)

“

At the end of the day, I don’t think this team is any worse than (past) teams. I think we have the potential to do some things that have never been done here before.”

- Noah Forrider redshirt junior

Redshirt junior Noah Forrider poses for a portrait in The Convo. (METIN OZISIK / FOR THE POST)

left as a group, too.

They left behind a team full of youth and inexperience that hopes to carve its own path to supremacy. After being picked to finish eighth in the MAC preseason poll, the team must figure out how to learn quickly.

“I’ve been here all summer and I know a lot of the people who have put in work into the finite details,” redshirt junior Noah Forrider said. “I think I’ve made huge gains and I think a lot of other guys could have huge gains. At the end of the day, I don’t think this team is any worse than (past) teams. I think we have the potential to do some things that have never been done here before.”

The man in charge of leading that young group is Joel Greenlee, who will enter his 20th season as the program’s head coach.

Greenlee was just a few years removed from an All-American wrestling career at Northern Iowa when he first joined Ohio for the 1997-98 season, a year in which the Bobcats placed ninth in the NCAA Tournament.

He has led several teams like this to success, most recently in 2012-13, when six freshmen helped lead Ohio to a fifth-place finish in the MAC Tournament, with one of them finishing the year as an All-American.

This year’s team has only one senior, as well as one freshman.

“I think you just have to take a couple steps backward in the way you do things,” Greenlee said. “(The wrestlers who graduated) really knew what to expect in what they were facing. These guys don’t really know.”

Lack of experience

is certainly a feature of this year’s Ohio team, but it is not universal to all wrestlers.

Of the seven Bobcats to reach the national tournament last year, three were freshmen.

If Ohio is set up to surprise in 2017, that trio of 125-pound Shakur Laney, 133-pound Cameron Kelly and 165-pound Austin Reese will be crucial in leading that charge.

“I think that we have a lot of young talent that guys don’t know about on our team,” Kelly said. “Maybe they haven’t peaked yet, or had their moment yet, but I think they will ... I think we’re gonna shock a lot of people this year.”

Kelly, who has a clean bill of health after wrestling half of last season with a torn hip labrum, enters the season as the highest ranked individual on the team, earning a No. 13 ranking on InterMat Wrestling’s preseason list. Reese is the only other Bobcat ranked, coming in at No. 19 in his respective weight class.

Beyond the returning core, however, is an array of weight classes that will have new Ohio wrestlers in them for the first time in nearly half a decade, and that’s where the uncertainty really takes form. After graduating mainstays at 157-pound, 174-pound, 184-pound and 197-pound positions, Ohio will look to fresh faces to advance the team’s run of prosperity.

“It’s some big shoes to fill, for sure,” sophomore Kade Kowalski, who will replace Chino in the 157-pound class, said. “(Chino) showed me the intensity you had to have to compete at this level. In high school, I sort of just beat the hell out of everybody and didn’t have anyone to wrestle with on a day-to-day basis. Facing him all last year showed me the improvements I had to make.”

While replacing the departed wrestlers’ in-match talents can be its own difficult task, replacing the influence they had in the locker room and elsewhere can be even more of a challenge. For this year’s Bobcats, the pressure to lead falls on everyone, rather than just those with the most experience.

That could be a quick shift for young wrestlers like Kelly or Reese, who are only

a couple of years removed from being vocal leaders on their respective high school teams. For Forrider, however, it has meant taking a more vocal role that he hasn’t shown during his first three years at Ohio.

“I feel like I’ve always sort of led by example as far as work ethic and things like that go,” Forrider said. “Since I’m one of the older people this year, I’ve tried to focus more on communicating more with the team in terms of what they should be doing. I’m trying to be a more vocal leader now that we might lack some of that with the seniors that graduated.”

Every program must go through those transitional times occasionally, and every program handles them differently. It is how well they handle those times that determines whether it truly is a transitional period or a rebuilding one.

“I expect the same thing every year, to be honest,” Greenlee said. “Our goal last year was to win a MAC Championship, to win the MAC regular season, to win the MAC Tournament, and that’s our goal again this year.

It’s just time for the younger guys to step up.”

That goal will be a daunting task, as it is every year. While the MAC can be thought of as a second or third tier conference in sports such as football, basketball and baseball, the conference thrives in wrestling, arguably one of the best wrestling conferences in the country outside of the dominant Big Ten. To excel in the regular season, which begins Nov. 6, as well as tournament play this year, Ohio will need to find a way to compete with top-five ranked Missouri, led by two-time national champion J’den Cox. Two other top 25 teams from the MAC, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan, will come to Athens to wrestle Ohio this season.

Greenlee’s goal of winning the conference is a lofty one, but if it is one Ohio falls short of, don’t expect the team to use youth as an excuse.

“Cody, Phil, Sparty … those guys were young at one point too,” Greenlee said. “And we were pretty good then.” @_TONYWOLFE_ AW987712@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 19

IN THEIR ELEMENT Paganism is a flexible religion that allows its followers to connect with the Earth and the spiritual realm LYNANNE VUCOVICH FOR THE POST Micaela Bartram first became interested in Paganism when she was in middle school, after her friend suggested they look up a love spell together.

Despite her friend’s eventual loss of interest, Bartram continued to look up information on the religion. After years of re-

search, Bartram, now a sophomore studying studio art, practices a combination of earth religions and witchcraft.

“I’m a weird eclectic mix of a few different things. … I’m definitely Pagan and a witch, but not Wiccan.” Bartram said. “You have a preconceived idea of something that everyone talks about, but then when you experience it for yourself, it’s disappointment and not what you thought.”

Bartram knows only two other Pagans on campus, but according to the Pagan Federation International, the religion is growing and the organization has more than 4,000 members. Among Pagans, there are multiple definitions of what the religion is.

A NATURE-BASED RELIGION Pagans are individuals who follow a polytheistic and pantheistic nature-based

religion. Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities. Pantheism is the belief that a god or gods and the universe are the same, and believes in the “rejection of any view that considers God as distinct from the universe,” according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

“Neo-Paganism is a recent development where people have began to identify themselves with reconstructed classical Europe-

Wiccan Shaman Gary Herron prays inside of his home in New Straitsville. Herron has over 30 years of Occult and Metaphysical experience and a Masters Degree in Metaphysics.

(PHOTOS BY CARL FONTICELLA / PHOTO EDITOR)

20 / OCT. 27, 2016

an religions,” Brian Collins, the Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy, said. “What’s interesting about Paganism is it’s kind of based on the hundreds of years of scholarship of religion.”

Some Pagans follow ancient traditions, like the ones that come from ancient Greek and Norse mythologies. “(Ancient religions) were dead, and that’s why we’re (trying to) revive them. It feels like, culturally, we were forced to lose them,” Bartram said.

Paganism is very connected with nature, and honoring the Earth is an easy way for Bartram to practice.

“Usually I meditate, but simple things like taking a walk through nature and recycling are other things I do,” Bartram said. “Aside from practical spellwork, we care a lot about the Earth.”

Pagans may share a religion in name, but their beliefs on deities and spiritual figures may differ.

“It’s all connected and we can agree and disagree,” Bartram said. “I personally do not (believe in a spirit head), but a lot of Pagans do. One person will believe in the Greek gods and that they have real personality, while someone else will just think of them as cosmic energy that is just given a name to use.”

Reverend Crow Swimsaway has been a practicing shaman for more than thirty years and has practiced some Paganism.

“Pagan is a huge bag that all kinds of interesting stuff gets tossed into,” Swimsaway said. “Paganism is nature; it’s not a religion of structure, and there is no book. … It’s not so much of a belief as an experience. Spirit exists. Spirit is in all things. Spirit manifests in different ways, each of which is valid,” he said.

PRACTICING PAGANISM Different Pagans have different practices. Collins said some see the religion as communing with nature, others perceive Paganism as a feminist religion and some practitioners believe it can connect them with their ancient pre-Christian roots.

Something that started Batram’s interest Bartram in Pagan beliefs is the prominence of feminist ideologies. In many cases, females hold major leadership roles in the church.

Collins said there are some Neo-Pagans who will focus only on goddesses from different religions as one “divine feminine power.” “(Paganism) is a nature religion. It has a body and structure and is about honoring the god, the goddess and the creative spirit in the world,” Herron, a self-described shaman witch who has been practicing Paganism for more than thirty years, said. “There’s

TOP LEFT: Wiccan Shaman Gary Herron shows off some items, including a wand, a scourge and a sword, that sit on the alter table in the worship room of his house in New Straitsville. The wand represents fire, the scourge is used during a ceremonial blessing and the sword is Herron’s own personal item that he uses to cast a circle and to bless someone, which is similar to knighting them.

duality in this reality. We balance ourselves to the masculine and feminine.”

When shamans are practicing, Swimsaway said their work is assisted by “allies,” which are spiritual guides seen during trances that could appear as plants or animals. A trance is a natural hallucinatory state usually induced through repetitious sounds.

“The trance state can be induced by all kinds of things, but drumming and rattling are the most (commonly used),” Swimsaway said. “Something about steady repetition helps you leave ordinary reality and go into the shamanic reality.”

Swimsaway also helped begin The Church of Earth Healing. The church offers “teaching, healing and spiritual counseling within a shamanic framework,” according to its website.

“The church is not a building. It’s a church of minds and of spirit,” Swimsaway said. “As a church, we have a weekly service called a shamanic journeying circle, and people who know how to do this get together and do the journey to help ourselves and others.”

“Journeying” is the core practice used in healing work, Swimsaway said. It’s the use of trances to make a connection with the spirit, and that’s where someone meets their ancestors and guides.

POINTS OF POWER Halloween falls on one of the eight holidays of the year for Pagans, called Samhain.

The holiday begins Oct. 31, lasts until sunset on Nov. 1 and marks the beginning of winter.

“I personally will light a candle (for Samhain), pray and meditate after that,” Bartram said. “A lot of people will get together in a coven and will have a ritual and chant and pray to the goddess.”

Herron said that the Halloween most non-Pagans celebrate is a “candy-coated

SUBSECTIONS OF PAGANISM WICCA: Based on pre-Christian beliefs, Wicca is a religion that draws power from nature and is said to be growing steadily. Festival culture is thought to have brought attention to Wicca.

SHAMANISM: An ancient tradition that comes from the power of nature and focuses on the healing of self and others.

DRUIDISM: A spirituality that focuses on nature. There are differing opinions on what “God” is, but all are accepting of

version,” because Halloween marks the new year for modern Pagans.

“We celebrate our ancestors, and the veil of the spirit world is very thin, and we can more easily contact them,” he said.

During the full moon and new moon, many will do spellwork at “points of power” in the universe, Bartram said.

“Mostly it’s just telling yourself something will happen. It’s like positive reinforcement,” Bartram said. “People do them to attract love and money and to pass a test. It makes you feel better.”

Herron said he normally performs spells of protection as well as ones focusing on money and self-esteem.

“There’s a process and a circle that I bring people in and perform a rite,” Herron said. “The circle is a barrier of protection.”

PERCEPTIONS OF PAGANISM Heather Greene, the managing editor of The Wild Hunt, a news blog on modern Paganism, said Paganism is not seen as a serious religion and is not given respect.

“The communities may look different or feel different than many mainstream

diversity. Druids also believe that there are worlds other than the one we live in.

HEATHENRY: Modern groups practice a polytheistic religion that worship the Norse gods, and celebrate rites of passage and seasonal holidays.

HELLENISM: The reconstruction of religious practices of the worship of ancient Greek gods and goddesses. Offerings and festivals are a common way to honor the gods.

religious communities, but they are just as serious and just as deserving of respect,” Greene said in an email.

Negative stereotypes of Pagans mean many practitioners don’t feel comfortable sharing their religious beliefs.

“We’re put down upon as weirdos and evil,” Herron said. “(Current beliefs often) put us in a bad light.”

Despite the negative perceptions of witches and Pagans, Herron said that they are very open and down to earth people, who want to share their abilities.

“Don’t be afraid of the shamans and witches,” Herron said. “We want to heal this planet so that we can heal others.”

@LYNANNECLAIRE LV586814@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 21

the weekender

Athens to hold 42nd annual Halloween Block Party LOKOWEEN STAGE MITCHELL LOUIS: 6:30 p.m.

SUAVE: 7:10 p.m.

BEFORE COMMON ERA: 7:45 p.m.

DJ BARTICUS: 8:20 COSTUME CONTEST: 9 p.m.

DYSFUNKTIONAL FAMILY: 10 p.m.

APE MODE: 10:40 p.m.

DJ B-FUNK: 11:30 p.m.

NORTH STAGE CONSCIOUS PILOT: 6:30 p.m.

DOXCITY: 8 p.m.

DUNE: 9:45 p.m.

MOBILE HOME: 11:15 p.m.

Participants dressed in costumes and carrying giant puppets march down Court Street in Honey for the Heart’s annual parade before the Athens Halloween Block Party on Oct. 31. (ALEX DRIEHAUS / FILE)

LINDSEY LUKACS FOR THE POST Athens held its first Halloween Block Party on Court Street in 1974, and it has been hosting it ever since.

This weekend is not just intended for Ohio University students but for Athens locals and other visiting students as well. There will be 12 different performers across two separate stages starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The musical acts range from rap music to EDM/ dance and even country.

There will be eight acts on the Lokoween Stage at the corner of Union Street and Court Street and four acts on the North Stage by Courtside Pizza.

Brandon "DJ B-Funk" Thompson said the block party will go on as per usu22 / OCT. 27, 2016

al, but the music will end a little earlier this year at about 12:30 a.m., unlike previous years when the music usually continued until after 1 a.m.

Before the block party begins, there will be the fifth Honey for the Heart parade at 6 p.m. The parade includes handmade puppets that are made out of recycled materials.

Thompson will be closing the party on the Lokoween Stage at 11:30 p.m. and plans on playing a wide range of music, from rap to EDM, he said. DJ B-Funk has been playing events since 1997 but did not begin his professional DJ career until 2001. He first began deejaying at his high school dance.

Thompson has been playing at the Athens Hal-

loween Block Party for five years and dresses up as something new each Halloween. Saturday will be his sixth year, and he plans to go as Lucas Sinclair, a character from the Netflix original Stranger Things.

“Halloween is one of the biggest parties in Athens, let alone the United States ... so I want to be a part of that,” Thompson said.

Thompson is an Athens native and said he feels a strong connection to the city. He has been coming to the block party for a while and used to dream of performing on stage and finds it “cool” that now he has been able to perform the past few years.

Along with different DJs and music groups, there will be a costume contest at 9 p.m. on the Lokoween

Stage where different attendees’ costumes will be judged, and a favorite will be chosen.

On the Lokoween Stage at 8:20 p.m. Michael “DJ Barticus” Bart will perform. Bart has been a DJ since 2000 but has never played at the Halloween Block Party before.

“In the past I've avoided DJing (the) block party because of all the vomit and piss, I'll be ready for it this year,” he said in an email.

Similar to Thompson, Bart looks forward to being able to DJ at the large block party.

“As a DJ, I'm not just playing music, I'm cultivating the whole mood of a party,” Bart said. “It's something I work really hard at and take much pride in,” Bart said in an email.

Hill Hackworth, an emcee of Dysfunktional Family, an Athens-based band that has been performing together for about 10 years, said he and his fellow emcee have performed at the Halloween Block Party before but as guest emcees for other bands and never as Dysfunktional Family.

“I’m just anticipating an absolutely wild night — one of the best shows of the year for us to put on,” Hackworth said.

The block party is one of the most packed weekends in Athens, Bart said, and it can be fun for everyone as long as people are respectful of one another, so he hopes that the crowd will help each other if needed.

Kathryn Wilson, a freshman studying chemistry, plans on attending

the block party on Saturday rain or shine, but she still does not have a costume idea yet, she said.

“I’ve seen things about how there is, like, no cell service (because it is so crowded),” Wilson said.

Despite how crowded Court Street might be on Saturday, some of the DJs are looking forward to the craziness.

“Athens is such an awesome place, and there is such a crazy crowd. ... It is awesome to really connect with them and play them music,” Thompson said.

@LINDSEYGLUKACS LL915915@OHIO.EDU

WHAT’S HAPPENING ALEX MCCANN / FOR THE POST

Although the biggest event of the weekend is the annual Halloween Block Party, there are plenty of other activities during the next few days.

Friday evening, Athens Uncorked, located at 14 Station St., will host its annual Halloween party. Guests can try a hot version of the wine bar’s popular apple spice wine. Those wearing costumes will receive 10 percent off their bill.

If beer sounds more appealing than wine, Little Fish Brewing Company is the place to spend a Saturday. Little Fish, located at 8675 Armitage Road, will

host a Halloween party where customers can enjoy craft beer and compete in a costume contest.

Little Fish will also host a family-friendly kids costume contest Sunday afternoon. The Cajun Clucker, a comfort food truck, will have food for sale.

As usual, Athens’ music scene is full of a talented and diverse selection of bands. Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St., will host two bluegrass bands — Jakobs Ferry Stragglers and Knot Brothers — Friday night. The Union Bar & Grill, 18 W. Union St., features psychedelic rock band Turtle Island, folk rock group The

Friday

 What: Screening and discussion of ‘United in Anger: A History of ACT UP’ When: 4 p.m.

Where: LGBT Center, Baker Center 354 Admission: Free

The LGBT Center will host a viewing and subsequent discussion of ‘United in Anger: A History of ACT UP.’ The 2012 documentary gives a history of the AIDS activism movement and shares the side of those affected by the disease.

 What: Halloween Climbing Competition When: 5 p.m.

Where: Ping Recreation Center Admission: Free Students are invited to put on their costumes and spend the evening at the climbing wall in Ping Recreation Center. Ohio University Outdoor Pursuits is hosting the event and promised “an evening of climbing, friendly competition, prizes and lots of Halloween fun.”

 What: Athens Uncorked Halloween Party When: 4 p.m.

Where: Athens Uncorked, 14 Station St. Admission: Free, drinks for sale

Crooked Spines and the lo-fi pop stylings of Dandelion Hunter.

Saturday night features bands that are rooted in Athens. Hellnaw, a twoman band who describe their sound as “eclectic grit-funk”, will headline the show at The Union. They will be joined

by Blue Moth, a psychedelic blues trio, and Slackluster, who play “weirdo garage-a-delia.”

Meanwhile, Casa Nueva features two bands who are local favorites. Cleveland-based Uptowne Buddha, a neosoul funk band, will return to Athens, which they describe as their “second





What: Turtle Island, The Crooked Spines and Dandelion Hunter When: 9 p.m.

Where: The Union Bar & Grill, 18 W. Union St. Admission: $5

What: Jakobs Ferry Stragglers with Knot Brothers When: 9 p.m.

Where: Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St. Admission: $5

home.” Guitar player Sam Terkel is an OU alumnus. Uptowne Buddha will be joined by Love Alive, a Columbus-based psychedelic funk rock group who have also played in Athens several times.

Finally, Putt People First Miniature Golf Course’s season will end for the winter after a “blaze of glory” at Puttzapaloosa 2016. There will be music and food to go along with free mini golf.



What: Aoife O’Donovan and Willie Watson When: 8 p.m.

Where: Stuart’s Opera House, 52 Public Square, Nelsonville Admission: Reserved seats, $22 in advance, $27 at the door; box seats, $27 in advance, $32 at the door

Aoife O’Donovan, an indie folk artist, will perform with her band. O’Donovan released her second solo album, ‘In The Magic Hour,’ earlier this year. Willie Watson will perform as a one-man band. Watson, who is best known as one of the founding members of Old Crow Medicine Show, plays guitar, banjo and mouth harp.



What: Uptowne Buddha with Love Alive When: 10 p.m.

Where: Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St. Admission: $3

Saturday



@ALEXMCCANN21 AM622914@OHIO.EDU

What: Hellnaw with Blue Moth and Slackluster When: 9 p.m.

Where: The Union Bar & Grill, 18 W. Union St. Admission: $5

Sunday

 What: Puttzapaloosa 2016 When: 12 p.m.

Where: Putt People First Miniature Golf Course, South Side Park off of Dairy Lane Admission: Free

 What: Halloween Movie Marathon When: 7 p.m.

Where: The Athena Grand, 1008 E. State St. Admission: $20

THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 23

24 / OCT. 27, 2016