profile 2012

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4 Profile 2012

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Profile 2012 5

Table of Contents

Citizen of the Year ......................................................6

Unsung heroes .............................................................8

Living history ............................................................18

Picking up the pieces .................................................22

Cents and sensibility ..................................................24

Music magic ..............................................................26

Becoming an American .............................................28

What is geocaching? ..................................................30

Long days of solitude ................................................34

Seeking the crown .....................................................37

Support system ..........................................................40

Tomorrow’s scientists ................................................42

Where does your trash go? ........................................46

Gone to the Dogs ......................................................50

Grange is... ................................................................54

The cutting edge .......................................................56

Rich Tradition ...........................................................64

9 decades ...................................................................70

180 degrees ...............................................................72

Saving grace ..............................................................76

Notorious ..................................................................78

Stories from Porter Gap ............................................80

Riding the wave.........................................................84

Teaching the teachers................................................86

�� ...........................................................90

Revved up for racing .................................................94

Belle in the Well ......................................................102

A mother’s advice ....................................................104

Who am I?...............................................................108

Taking it all off ........................................................112

Project: Destination .................................................114

Rescue mission ........................................................117

34

4018 72

86

9026

As Dr. Wayne Young watches workmen pour the concrete foundation for the expansion of

the Downtown Churches Food Pantry on a Fifth Street lot down the street from the church he pastors, he talks about being open to possibilities.

What he is referring to is the future of the pantry that has been housed at First United Methodist for two decades. But to hear him talk about his faith, his words have a deeper mean-ing, describing just as much how this Methodist pastor has faced life.

At a quick glance his career choices seem too disparate and wide-ranging to be imagined: Family doctor for 20 years and clergyman for almost the same number. But whether he was caring for the physical body of his fel-low man or now counseling their spirit,

the guiding force of his life has come from one simple action: Being open to the will of God.

And it is God’s will that drives him to serve, whether it is his parishioners or his community. That is why The Tribune has selected Young to be this year’s Citizen of the Year.

“If you look at the way Jesus would want us to conduct ourselves, Wayne would be the poster child,” Robert Slagel, a parishioner, said. “Talk about giving to the community and the world. To be a physician and give up his career to donate his life to theology is pretty impressive.”

Peter Dodgion has been a member of Young’s church for the past 12 years and calls the minister someone with a strong spiritual presence who is able to com-municate with others on multiple levels.

“I am amazed at his ability to do that,” Dodgion said. “He is very good at speaking to everyone, wherever they

are in life with different levels of under-standing in a really powerful way. He is a soft, subtle, powerful man. He is able to move people to action.”

The title is deceiving. The “Doctor” in front of Young’s name has nothing to do with a PhD in theology. But rather for 20 years, Young was a pulse-checking, pill-prescribing MD running a family practice in Wheelersburg. But it could have been the other way. Young, originally from Vinton County, studied at a Columbus semi-nary with the intention of spending his career as only a clergyman.

As he went toward that goal, work-ing for his PhD at Duke University, he found he was being sent in another direction.

“It wasn’t a great crisis of faith or doubt,” Young said. “Just that the Lord was taking me another way.”

That way was medical school at the University of North Carolina, then

back to Ohio where he opened up his practice. Fast-forward two decades and Young was drawn back to the ministry.

“Again it wasn’t a crisis of faith or a dissatisfaction, but I was led by Spirit to come back to the church,” he said.

Now among the top goals on his church’s agenda is creating a com-munity pantry where those hungry for �� a meal or two. What those involved in the pantry envision is a place for spiri-tual counseling, nutritional help and a place where prayer reigns.

“There is bread and there is the bread of life,” Young said. “As a church it is our responsibility to offer both. In the history of the Methodist church there is a great tradition of social work and witnessing and evan-gelism. It isn’t enough to say God loves you, unless you show evidence that he does.”

of theC I T I Z E N

Y E A RDr. Wayne Young

By Benita Heath | The Tribune

Profile 2012 7

Luanne is a second-grade teacher at Dawson-Bryant Elementary School. She can be found many evenings staying late, preparing her lessons for class the next day.

She also makes sure every child gets his or her lesson as they should be learned. Luanne loves all children as if they were her own. At Christmastime she makes sure everyone has a gift and all are treated the same. She helps collect items for the needy as well.

�� and help locate them a home.

She is always there to help her family and friends when they are in need and expects nothing in return.

She always has a smile for everyone she meets.— Anonymous

U N S U N Gheroes

8 Profile 2012

Luanne Bullion

We, the veterans of AMVETS Post 5293, would like to nominate our post com-

mander, Miles Lewis, as an Unsung Hero of Lawrence County.

Miles is not only a hero to us because of his service in uniform. Miles is not only a hero to us because he is our post commander. Miles is a hero for many more reasons than these, but especially because of his cheer and dedication to service of veterans. It is his giving that makes us want to be better in our lives and work to serve veterans of the Tri-State.

No other member of AMVETS Post 5293 gives as much as he gives to our post. Thanks to Miles’ leadership we have six consecutive years of Quality Post awards. Miles’ dedication to vet-erans knows no difference between a

vet who served in the Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guard or Air Force. No matter what uniform you wore, Miles will salute you with the same vigor.

Miles is the one who pushes us to work tirelessly on our Memorial Day � � ��

His leadership in this work is the credit we owe for our seven awards for ��

It is also his energy we credit for our fundraisers, the clover drives we have twice a year and our lunches at the post. His drive is what keeps the doors open and the lights on at our post and we appreciate every minute he is our leader.

— The Members of AMVETS Post 5293

Miles Lewis

Profile 2012 9

Judy Sanders is an Unsung Hero. Judy is a compassionate, talented and dedicated lady who serves as

a role model for all. Judy exudes God’s love. She shares the gift of her voice by singing in her church and the community gospel sings.

As a wife, mother, grandmother, and sister in the Wood and Sanders clan, Judy exudes and proclaims Christ’s ��

She gives her time, talents and guid-ance to each and allows others to care for her when the need arises. She understands that love is both giving and receiving.

In her lifelong career path as an edu-cator and mentor to those following in her wake, she leads by example. Judy’s �� each person is unique and valued cre-ates the milieu that allows students to learn to read and write beyond their greatest expectations. After retir-ing from the classroom and the Ohio University teacher educator program

and learning center, Judy continues to tutor in the Ironton school system as an aide.

Judy is one of the driving forces in the Ironton In Bloom organization. In fact, she is one of the primary reasons �� behind-the-scenes person who knows how to make things happen!

She writes educational articles for The Tribune, serves as residential and public-ity co-chair, developed the yard of the month program and works tirelessly on every project. Judy is our biggest cheer-leader and never allows discouragement or negativity in any setting.

You may not have had the privilege of knowing and working with Judy Sanders because she does her best work in small groups and individual encounters; but I assure you, she is working her magic everyday and cre-ating a heaven on earth wherever she is at that moment in time.

She is our Unsung Hero!— Anonymous

10 Profile 2012

U N S U N Gheroes

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Profile 2012 11

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12 Profile 2012

I would like to nominate Madolin Blackwell. Madolin’s name would be the answer to the following questions:

Has someone I know gone above and beyond the call of duty? — Madolin.

Do you know someone whose love and support have helped their families and communities? — Madolin.

Does a friend stand out from others, while never seeking attention? — Madolin.

A friend said that she wouldn’t hesitate to ask Madolin for anything because she knew Mad would want to help. So, no matter whether it is fam-ily, friends or any of the clubs of which Madolin is a member, she is always there helping in many forms and ways.

So yes, Madolin is an Unsung Hero but not to those who know her.

— Cecelia Woods

Connie Pemberton started the Lawrence County Hospice Quilters in 2008.

The Hospice Quilters made lap quilts for patients in Community Hospice Care Center in Ashland, Ky.

"�� lead the group and to seek funding to provide quilting supplies. She is an outstanding leader of our group.

— Susan Brown

U N S U N GheroesMadolin Blackwell

Connie Pemberton

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Allyn’s Your hometown jeweler since 1930.��

Founded in 1930 by HT “Ted” Allyn and Martha Allyn, Allyn’s opened their doors at 309 Center St. in the middle of the Great Depression. As if conditions were not bad enough, the store was flooded almost every year with the 1937 Flood reaching the ceiling. Despite the floods and four major wars,

the loyalty of Allyn’s customers has permitted us to not only survive, but to grow throughout 82 years. Allyn’s location at Second and Adams put everything on one floor, with a parking lot for our customers.

As we head into another year, our pledge to you remains –beautiful jewelry, great service and fair prices.

If you are not now an Allyn’s customer, give us a chance.We will do our best to make you a happy customer.

HT “Ted” Allynand Tom Allyn

Named Ohio’s Best Community Newspaper.

Profile 2012 13

I would like to nominate Dave Frazer as an Unsung Hero. Dave is currently on Ironton City

Council and substitute teaching in the Ironton City Schools. He is a retired teacher and administrator. He really loves to be involved with the students.

Dave also referees basketball games for youth and middle school. What makes Dave such a special per-son is he has been in very poor health for about the last three years. He is

diabetic and has been in the ICU several times over the last few years, but he just keeps trucking along.

Anyone who knows him knows how much he loves what he does. I can’t write enough things about him. Dave and I dated for 14 years and he raised my son and treated him as his own.

Dave is just such a wonderful per-son and I think he needs to be recog-nized for what he does. He likes to make a difference.

— Sandy Morrison

U N S U N Gheroes

HECLA WATER ASSOCIATION

Hecla Water Association began operations with a board of trustees, four employees and 700 customers in the townships of Upper, Hamilton, Lawrence, Aid and Perry. A few years later, Ray Howard was chosen as the General Manager, a title later changed to Chief Operating Offi cer (CEO).

It all began when John Howard and his brother Tom formed Howard Brothers Grocery Store at Hecla then bought the property of the old Hecla Furnace to build a larger store. John and Elbert Addis then decided to open a coin operated Laundromat behind the store on Hog Run Road. Problems with a reliable water supply lead to the idea of “piped water” from the city to rural areas of the county. The fi rst Hecla Water offi ce was established in the original old Howard Brothers Grocery Store on Hecla Road. Thus the name – Hecla Water.

By 1975, Hecla Water was billing 1,300 meters. A treatment plant was constructed on the eastern end of the county near Athalia in 1981. The customer base was 3,000 meters and Hecla Water employed 18 local residents.

The treatment plant was expanded in 1996 as the customer number rose to 6,000 meters. 2005 began the year with 36 employees and over 9,000 meters.

Hecla Water fi rst mailed out bills printed by an outside billing company. The bill amount was a fl at rate of $6.90. The water bills are now printed in the offi ce and mailed by the last day of each month. The minimum amount is $17.15 and may be paid by credit card over the phone or online at www.heclawater.com.

As part of the Board of Director’s Long Range Planning, an additional well fi eld was ac-quired for future expansion needs. The property search has been ongoing for several years due to the treatment plant in Athalia reaching its design capacity. The CEO and Board of Directors have always given priority to upgrading infrastructure and keeping up with tech-nology to help Hecla Water stay on top of changes in the water industry.

Today, Hecla Water Association has over 500 miles of water lines, 9,773 billed accounts, 39 employees and three facilities – the water treatment plant, a maintenance building and the offi ce headquarters.

Go to www.heclawater.com to sign up and pay your Hecla Water bill online.

Dave Frazer

In my 85 years I have never witnessed a better-organized event as the one that I witnessed recently at a South Point basketball game.

The event was to honor a young man with a life-threatening illness. Everything went as planned. Both South Point and Rock Hill fans, students and ball players carried out their part like a professional show.

I found out later this young student, with the help of other students, controlled the complete program. This is a great example of the future leadership we can get from our future adults.

— Donald Sands

U N S U N Gheroes

14 Profile 2012

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This is about my uncle who was born Nov. 11, 1911. He is now deceased, but he is my Unsung Hero. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was wounded twice, but never complained.

He always bought necessities for me when I was a small child (shoes, school clothes). He was a great man. When he was about 84, I put him in an assisted home care, then took him to the veterans hospital in Huntington, W.Va., where he passed away in May 1997. I loved him more than words can say.

— Norma Moore Roberts

U N S U N Gheroes

Profile 2012 15

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16 Profile 2012

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18 Profile 2012

SOUTH POINT — South Point resident Goble Caudill will be 90 this year. A mem-ber of what Tom Brokaw

called “the Greatest Generation,” the soft-spoken World War II vet-eran and retired industrial engineer has been married to his wife Mary Alice, 86, for 66 years.

His life, he says, has been “long and very blessed.”

" �� + ��County, Ky. near the community of Falcon in 1922, the son of a blacksmith. After graduating from Salyersville High School, in the spring of 1940, he decided to make his way to the big city of Ashland, Ky. to look for work.

/�� Capital Theatre, taking tickets at the door for $1 a day. After 11 days, �� =��at their covered works facility along Greenup Avenue. It paid consid-erably more, Caudill recalled. It was during his tenure there that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II.

Like most young men at the time, Caudill wanted to enlist immedi-ately but his parents strongly dis-couraged him, saying he was too �� /��continued working, waiting for his time to serve. Eventually he took a �� &��the Allied Chemical Plant in South Point.

A few months later, he was draft-ed to serve in the U.S. Army.

Before departing, Caudill went

Vet fought at Battle of the Bulge, captured last bridge over the Rhine

LivinghistoryBy Carrie StambaughThe Tribune

THE TRIBUNE/JESSICA ST. JAMES

South Point resident Goble Caudill rests at his home as he tells about his life, from working as a teenager to serving WWII, to being married for 66 years.

home to visit his parents where he learned his neigh-bor Ralph Preston, was also drafted. The pair grew up together and knew each other well.

Preston “lived across the hill” from the Caudills’ home and the next morning Caudill’s father, Paul Tom Caudill, drove the pair into Salyersville where they caught Luther Conley’s bus to Paintsville. From there they took the train to Covington, Ky., enlisting at the Army post there.

“We went in together. They took us in together and put us in the same Army division,” recalled Caudill. That division was the 9th Armored Division, whose insignia Caudill ensures he pins onto his sport coats whenever he wears them.

Caudill eventually became a radio operator and Preston an infantryman.

After leaving Covington, the division went to a base “in the middle of the United States,” whose name Caudill has lost to time.

From there, his unit went to Camp Needles in California, which Caudill said was “as hot a dessert as I’ve been to and since then I’ve seen three” before being sent to Camp Polk near New Orleans for inva-sion training. Eventually, his unit was sent to New York City to await deployment to Europe.

In the fall of 1944, Caudill and his unit made the voyage across the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary, then one of the largest ocean ships in the world. Before being used to transport troops to Great #�� $%�� -est luxury liners in the world.

“They had 20-some thousand people on the boat. It was the fastest boat on the water,” Caudill recalled. “We left New York and went to England �� &�� because no boats the Germans had could keep up with us.

“We went all the way to England and there was nowhere large enough to dock that boat. So they stopped it out in the water and started unloading us.”

Several weeks later, the 9th Armored Division crossed the English Channel, landing in Normandy, months after the surge of Allied troops had stormed its beaches on D-Day.

“We come straight on into Paris, France,” Caudill said. “The city was full of women. Just full of women. (Just outside Paris,) we took a left turn and went on ��# ��%�#�� been going on for some time. They had one division there. This was near Christmas, that year.”

�� '��*� � �� # ��of Bulge, the largest and bloodiest battle fought by American troops in Europe during World War II.

“We were there two days, and (the Germans) they had the town totally surrounded,” recalled Caudill. “They had the road blocked there and we were spe-cialists in that. So we went out to open the road back up and chase the Germans a few miles, they were leaving north of town.”

By this time, Caudill had been assigned to C Company in the 9th Armored Division’s Engineer Battalion. He, along with four other men, set out on their half-track carrying the company’s only radio equipment, which on a clear day could communi-cate for up to 100 miles, he said.

“By the time we got there, they told us to stop and come back to Bastogne,” Caudill recalls, this

memory still vivid after 67 years. “We started back from the road block and we got back three or four miles and the Germans had gotten behind us and we couldn’t go any further. There was a whole bunch of ��*�

His commander ordered the half-track off the �� %��$�� overnight and head back to town in the morning.

“The next morning at daylight the Americans were still there, coming back down the line. They came back pretty fast. About daylight a tank came down on the right side and came real close to us and hit our right wheel. It caught the hub cap — it was real heavy and it lifted that vehicle up real high — about as high as your head. And it (the hub cap) come off,” he said, raising his hand in the air to demonstrate then pausing before bringing back down to his side.

“We got out of the road then. There were too many of them getting killed and we went up this little hollow. There were a lot of Germans coming by and things going on…”

�� intensify around them. At daylight the next morning,

�� =�� -ment.

“He said, ‘Fellas we’re surrounded down here. We need some help. We need your help. We need every-body’s help, so come on down and help us get out of this mess. We’re in a bad mess. It’s mixed up. There is no kind of organization,’” Caudill remembers the �� $� ��

“I stayed there for a little while with these other �� %� �� $�� =�� thought, ‘We’re in bad shape,” Caudill recalled. “I waited and none of the other guys spoke to me, or ��$��=�� %�>@��&��&�� around and said, ‘What are you going to do? This guy asked us to help. Are we going to help or what are we going to do?’

“They looked at each other and never spoke. I sat there for three or four minutes and they never did �� $�� >@��%� �&�� &� �� up and took off in the same direction the guy had asked us to go. The other guys, they stayed where they were hiding.”

Not far down the road, Caudill found a large group of soldiers organizing themselves into groups of about 50.

He was assigned to one such group, recalling he was the only member of C Company around. The

�� road of Germans.

“We got down to where there were only 12 of us left,” Caudill recalled. “At the very end of the ��X��Z�� [� ��Americans were in behind them. We got up on top of the hill and we could see the Americans down on the other side. They were the 101st Airborne,” he � ��%� ��%�'�� %*� �� -ing across his face at the memory.

#�� %�� three days without food or sleep, could reach their fellow soldiers, they spotted three Germans climbing the hill toward them.

“They had the parts to a machine gun. One of them had the barrel and the other had what we called the works, and the other had ammunition and they go marching up the hill, real slow. They come up to the edge of the woods we was in. They were within 10 feet. They turned there and came walking straight into the woods at us,” Caudill recalled, his face suddenly drawing tight.

'@�� them fell. The one that had the barrel, he threw it

off and went straight over the hill. I laid there, and I had a funny feeling of being an old time guy – You never shoot a guy in the back. I was a soldier, I was trained to kill ‘em and take care of ‘em and do what-��%�� @�� trigger I wouldn’t do it.”

Eventually, after this last skirmish, his group �� \]\�%�� with skepticism and forced them to come into the line one at a time, hands above their head. After questioning, to ensure they truly were Americans, the group was sent for a meal at a captured German home.

There the men witnessed a German doctor operat-�� Z�� %� ��the home’s wooden kitchen table as the operating table. From there they were put in a hospital jeep and transported along with the captured German �� =�� # ��

After falling asleep atop a pile of potatoes in the hospital’s basement, Caudill awoke to the sounds of a familiar voice — a soldier nicknamed Poker Jack from C Company.

“The rest of my company was parked up the street just a bit from me. I got up the street and there was my half-track. I walked up the road just a little bit more and ran into the rest of my platoon. They said, ‘Where have you been?’ Everybody asked the same

Profile 2012 19

He said, ‘Fellas, we’re surrounded down here. We need some help. We need your help. We need everybody’s help, so come on down and help us get out of this mess. We’re in a bad mess. It’s mixed up. There is no kind of organization.

— Goble Caudill

“”

20 Profile 2012

question. I told them I’ve been up the road and I’m the only one left,” Caudill said.

He was indeed the only radio operator from C company left. The four soldiers he had started out with and had left behind in the hollow to join the �� %��

^�� _� `{� � ��%� �� # �� -tinued. Caudill and his unit played a prominent role �� =�� awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their efforts.

@�� # �� #�� %� "�"�� $�� to catch up to the rest of the 9th Armored Division.

=�� %� �� into another battle that would write them onto the � ��$��

@�� #��%� ��|��=��}�� ~�� ~�� #�� ~��

“We were the closest to it,” Caudill recalled, '��X"�"�� [�� #��%�#�"�� %�� Z�� @�� %*�� %��#�"��

“They sent our company, C Company, onto the ��@�� %*�" �� %� �� #�"�� #��

'#��%�� #��*�� `]��

��#��@�� &� �� ~�� Z�� @�� Z�� %*� " �� %�� $��

With the war in Europe over, Caudill’s unit �� $� �� %� �� -��%� �� $� �� time they boarded a much smaller ship for the ride �� # �$� �� %� �� |�� =�� =��&�� }�� of leave.

Caudill returned home, where he promptly '��$�� *� + �� =��%� �� + �� "�� %� ��%� �� $� �� factory there. The couple met in Owensboro, Ky., �� \|%�\|��

�� %� " �� " �� %�� %��

His last memory of the war is perhaps the sweetest. =�� =��%� " ��

�� "�� back of the rail car.

“It was old Ralph Preston,” Caudill recalled, a ��

'@�� X�� [%� �� $�� "��/�� $�� @�� headed for my house.”

When they arrived in front of Caudill’s house, Conley rolled down the window and hollered across �� " ��&��'/�� %��%*�" ��

'�� $�� /�� other side of the bus and walked around the back �� $�� %� �� $�� &�$��

�� $�� $�� $ �� &� $�� and held her,” Caudill recalled.

“Finally, she come to her senses but Ralph had �� %� �� feet beside me before she ever saw him. Then she � �� =�� %�� Z� �� }�� /� �� _� �� *�

�� %� "�� $�� home.

“We left the same day and came back on the same � �%� �� %*�� " ��%�� $��

Caudill went back to work for Allied Chemical in ��%�� &��-�� /�� {�� with the company.

" �� %� ��=��/ �� %�� -�� •


Speaking in a soft and calm voice, Goble Caudill talks of his service during World War II.

Profile 2012 21

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You never know what

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Collins Career Center

www.collins-cc.edull dWhere it’s about getting a job.

22 Profile 2012

IRONTON — It was more than six years ago that Dianne Thompson boarded a northbound bus in

Baton Rouge, La., with her daughter, Johndra Patterson, and granddaughter �� the devastation of New Orleans fol-lowing Hurricane Katrina and was desperate to escape the atrocities they had witnessed in the aftermath of the storm.

“My daughter said ‘Let’s get on the bus and go Mom,’” recalled Thompson, this past December. “She convinced me to sign the papers and get on the bus. And that’s how we got out here. I had never been up north in my life. I really was in shock of the hurricane itself and the devastation.”

“I still had sanity to what I knew what I was doing, but I was in shock. So much had happened. I don’t think I had taken it all in when I got on the bus. We didn’t have nothing, just the clothes on our back. So why not try it? I asked them, could we come back if we didn’t like it out there? They told us yes, they would pay for us to come back.”

The trio believed they were headed to Kentucky.

“But this is where the bus dropped us off, right here and I’ve stayed right here,” said Thompson from the couch of her 10th Street apartment in Ironton, where the family has lived since arriving in September 2005.

“When I got here, I liked it. I didn’t want to go back,” Thompson explained. “It was quiet. It was a lot of quietness. We didn’t hear any gun-shots. We didn’t hear any police sirens every hour or so running. (There was) =��%� ��was just a lot of stuff that was going on in New Orleans that was much differ-ent than here.”

“I liked the serenity. Now my kids tell me its because I’m older. I like the serenity of Ironton because it is quiet

and peaceful. There is nothing for the young people to do, but for me, I love it.”

Before the storm, Thompson and her family lived about 45 minutes east of the heart of downtown New Orleans, between the lower 9th Ward and the I-10 “high rise” bridge over Lake Pontchartrain to Slidell, La. The area took a direct hit from the

Category 5 storm as it moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 29, 2005.

In the days before the storm inten-��%� �� to ride it out in their home as the family had always done before. But when the storm was forecasted to strike Slidell directly, Thompson said the family decided to evacuate their home.

They stayed at the hotel her husband, Michael Thompson, was working in at the time.

“When the levee broke we had to the leave the city,” said Dianne, noting it was not before they witnessed the chaos that erupted in the city.

Emotions still run high when the family discusses what they saw. They describe looters ransacking stores,

Picking up the PiecesKatrina victims call Tri-State home more than six years later

SUBMITTED

Dianne and Michael Thompson inside their church.

By Carrie StambaughThe Tribune

Profile 2012 23

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24 Profile 2012

Normally when shoppers line up at the check-out counter, they open their wallets and take

money out to give the cashier. But, occasionally, Emily Scott, of Pedro, waits with a smile as the cashier gives her money.

And no, it’s not the change back from her purchase, exactly. It’s the results of her hard-earned work cutting coupons and comparing prices, work that helps keep food on the table and money in her pocket.

Scott is one of a growing number of power shoppers who use coupons to stretch their dollars and purchase what they might not if they were only using cash.

Carla Salyer is a retired home eco-nomics teacher. She said coupons are one of many ways shoppers can save money at a time when no one seems to have enough to make ends meet.

Both Salyer and Scott have creative

ways to take the pinch out of penny pinching.

Clippin’Scott began couponing in earnest

in the summer of 2011 when she lost her job and decided to try the idea to save money. The coupons come from newspapers, the Internet and any-where else that will give her a break on the price.

Kroger once offered an item two for $4. Scott took the deal but had coupons that not only allowed her to get the items for free. She actually made $2.

“I’m always looking,” Scott said.Scott said her husband, Michael and

stepdaughter, Brianna Conley, think her cents-off success is “pretty cool.”

Salyer said some forms of couponing make good economic sense.

'�� that you normally buy and it saves you money, then you should,” Salyer said.

She cautioned that buying an item

you don’t normally use but is on sale is counterproductive. You end up spend-ing money for something you can’t use, so you actually spend money for no good reason.

She said shoppers shouldn’t scoff at saving 20 cents here and 20 cents there on what they buy. Over the years, 20 cents here and there adds up and keeps money in your pocket for something else.

Salyer said she wishes there were coupons for fresh meats and vegetables — items that can be more expensive to buy but are healthier.

Name that priceScott said she has found another way

to save money. Some stores such as Walmart offer price matching. They offer to match any competitor’s price for the exact same product.

Scott actually made money on Aveeno body wash once. The ad allowed her to buy lotion and get a lip-stick free. But she had a $2 off coupon

Cents and sensibility

By Teresa Moore | The Tribune

At the store…

-

-

-

At home…

-

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JESSICA ST. JAMES

Profile 2012 25

for the lipstick and a $3 coupon for the lotion plus the coupons had no size exclusion. She purchased the smallest size bottle of lotion and used the cou-pons to do it. In the end she got $10.94 off the total cost of the two products which only cost $3. So by the time she subtracted coupons, she actu-ally made $7.

“One time I did really, really, really well,” Scott recalled. I went to Walmart and price matched. I think I spent $8 and the total was (supposed to have been) $400. I was there several hours.”

Go with a planSalyer said planning is the single best thing a per-

son can do when shopping for food. She said often we get in a hurry, don’t plan meals, don’t plan what we need to buy to make those meals and wind up buying things we don’t need or use and not buying things we could have used. Her advice: Make out a menu and purchase what you need to make the items on your menu.

“Stores give this a lot of thought,” Salyer said. “You come and they are prepared for you. Sometimes they know you better than you know yourself. They pay �� shoppers are thinking.”

Her advice: Go to the grocery store armed with a list when you are neither tired nor hungry.

“You used to hear people say, ‘Don’t take the kids.’ But anymore I don’t think that’s true. When you take them, you teach them what to buy, how to

buy,” Salyer said. In other words, this can be a learning experience.

Watch the numbersSalyer said the wise shopper will read the unit

price, usually on the front of the shelf with the price tag. The unit price tells how many cents or dollars that item costs per serving or per use. Shoppers then can compare one item against another to determine which is the better buy.

Salyer said, when shopping, look for items you normally use that are on sale and buy them in bulk, if you have the room to store them. Meats are an example, she said. Large packages of chicken breasts on sale can be divided into smaller packages and frozen for use later.

The same thing applies to vegetables in season. Purchasing, say, green peppers in the summer when the prices are low and peppers are plentiful makes

sense because peppers can be frozen and used in the winter when the price of fresh veggies is naturally �� are good choices to purchase in bulk if you have the room to store them.

Really cookin’One of the biggest complaints of working moms

is that they are often so tired at the end of a work day it’s hard to come home and get dinner on the table.

Salyer said the slow cooker is a friend to the busy family, allowing meal preparation ahead of time. Cheaper cuts of meat usually tenderize nicely when slow cooked, making them a better choice to pur-chase.

While some shoppers may reach for prepackaged food to save time, Salyer said making food from scratch usually saves money. •

One time I did really, really, really well. I went to Walmart and price matched. I think I spent $8 and the total was (supposed to have been) $400. I was there several hours.

— Emily Scott

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Dr. Joseph R. LeithBoard Certified Orthopedic Surgeon

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A laundry drop off service cuts the laundry down to about fi ve minutes. All the customer has to do is drop off their wash and pick it up.

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26 Profile 2012

They stand on risers, delivering such classics as “In My Room” and gospel favorites such as “Dig A Little Deeper” with smooth, silky

harmony. The smiles are real — these ladies are hav-ing fun. And the a capella voices are pitch perfect.

The ladies in River Magic, the Tri-State chapter of the Sweet Adelines, love what they do and it is as obvious to the listener as their talent. Right now the group is having a membership drive to encour-age more women who love to sing to join them in spreading that magic.

Sweet who?The Sweet Adelines is a female chorus that sings

barbershop-style music. An international organi-zation that was started in 1945, there are some

600 choruses worldwide, according to River Magic member Carol Berry, of Chesapeake.

“Most of us have no formal music background,” Berry said. “So we learn by tapes, CDs or other learning tools.”

A sisterhoodRight now there are 35 members in the local

chapter.Janice Palmer is in the process of joining. She likes

to sing and sang in her church choir and decided this might be fun, too. She is joining because, in addition to her love for music, she also likes the camaraderie of the women.

“It’s more of a sisterhood than church choir,” Palmer said.

Publicity chairman Marcia Daoust agreed.“Besides getting married and having children,

this is the nicest thing that’s ever happened to me,”

Daoust said, “They’ve helped me get through the stress of caring for elderly parents; they’ve been a support group and they’ve helped me really enjoy life. I don’t know what I’d do without the Sweet Adelines.”

Members come from all over the Tri-State, includ-ing more than a few from Lawrence County.

" ��/ ��%��%�� years ago.

“My daughter called and told me they were hav-ing this thing at OU and I went with a friend and I listened and said to myself ‘Oh, I’d love to do that,” Harmon said. “It’s just one of those things you can’t put into words. I just knew I’d like it.”

Harmon said, when her husband became ill, her Adeline friends were a collective bulwark of support, something for which she is thankful.

“It’s an awesome group of ladies,” Harmon said.Ruth Prater is from South Point.

Music magicSweet Adelines sing sweet tunes throughout Tri-State


Profile 2012 27

“I became hooked quickly when I heard their pure tones and harmony. Everything I’ve learned has helped improve my voice,” Prater said.

Janet Jarrell is from Chesapeake. She sus-pended her membership to raise two sons and rejoined recently.

“I knew I’d be returning one day,” she said. “I missed it very much. Everyone is fun-loving and that makes rehearsal night so enjoyable.”

Beverly Miller has been director since 1996 and a member for much longer. In her day job, Miller is an accountant. But she’s always had a love of music and she has a musical background.

“I joined the choir in 1988,” Miller said. “I joined because it was fun and I needed a place to sing. It’s like a family. It’s like having your mother, your sister, your grandma and your aunt because of all the ages.”

A family? Miller may have a point: Carrie Baisden, one of the youngest members of the group met her husband, Jay, through the Sweet Adelines. Her aunt, Loretta Steele, who is also a group member, convinced her to come along to a rehearsal one evening. While she was there with Aunt Loretta, fellow Adeline Peggy Napier’s husband, Richard, told Carrie he wanted to introduce her to his nephew, Jay.

The young people met. They clicked. They married. That was a year and a half ago. The baby is due in August.

Music to the earsAnd the thing about the Sweet Adelines is,

there is no limit on membership; a group can be as big as the members want it to be.

“If you like to sing and want to have fun, this is for you,” Miller said.

The Sweet Adelines have a yearly concert; the date for the 2012 concert has not yet been scheduled. They also compete in a national contest in April. They also sing the National Anthem at ball games, sing at Christmas parties, dinners, weddings and occasional-ly with the men’s barbershop group, The Thundertones.

River Magic rehearses at 7 p.m. every Tuesday evening at the Huntington Renaissance Center (the former Huntington High School Building) at the corner of Ninth Avenue and Eighth Street in Huntington, W.Va. •

(OPPOSITE PAGE) Director Beverly Miller leads members of the Sweet Adelines in songs such as “Dig A Little Deeper” and “In My Room” dur-ing a practice session. The Sweet Adelines are a female chorus that sings barbershop-style music. (ABOVE) Beverly Miller, far left, is seen directs the Sweet Adelines during practice. (LEFT) Members of the Sweet Adelines sing out with smiles on their faces during a practice session.


28 Profile 2012

The topic of immigration in America has been hotly debated again and again, among politi-cians and among friends. But, regardless of

the side a person takes, it’s important to have the facts.

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration data, in 2010, there were 140,000 legal permanent residents in the state of Ohio. Of those, 80,000 are eligible for naturaliza-tion.

There are a handful of ways a person can become a United States citizen. Being born in the United States or having parents who were citizens at the time of birth allows a person to become a citizen at birth. A person can apply for citizenship through parents, or apply for naturalization.

Naturalization is a process that typically doesn’t come quickly and isn’t available to everyone. Maria Upson, spokesperson for the U. S. Citizenship and

�� %� � �� for a green card before moving to the United States.

“You apply before you get here,” Upson said. That can be a lengthy process. Upson said that

for a person living in Mexico today, it could take 15 years to apply for a green card and receive clearance to move into the country.

After coming to the United States, Upson said the �� %� ��three years if a person is married to a United States citizen, before applying to become a citizen.

During that time, a person is considered a perma-nent resident, and a person has all of the rights of a citizen, except for the right to vote.

A student can apply for a visa if they wish to attend school in the United States. Upson said schools are registered with the USCIS and the student com-pletes a form indicating the name of the student and also who will be paying.

“You can remain until the duration of the studies,” she added. “You can come over and work if you are of a specialized school. You can work temporarily or

the employer can petition you to become a perma-��%�� *

After a permanent resident has remained in the �� %�� for citizenship can begin.

'=��&�� %��application, and it gives you the requirements you are going to need, the address of where you need to mail it to, and then they will mail you an appoint-ment to go get your biometrics checks and photos. Then you are called for an interview,” Upson said.

At the interview, a person is asked questions about the application and background, but is also required to take a naturalization test on English and civics.

The test has been revamped recently to make it consistent, regardless of where a person takes the test.

The naturalization test consists of three parts —reading, writing and speaking — and includes 10 civics questions that come from a bank of 100 ques-tions. A minimum of six correct answers is required to pass. If a portion of the test is failed, there is a

Becoming an AmericanNot all U.S. citizens are born that way

By Jennifer Chapman | The Tribune

y

Profile 2012 29

second opportunity to take the failed portion, as long as it is retaken within 90 days.

Upson said the time from getting an interview until the actual swearing in used to take 13 to 14 months, but now can be accomplished within four to ��

“We are very proud of that.”�� %��

�� |�%�� %�� and photos.

�� "�� now downloadable and appointments can be made.

“You don’t have to stand in line anymore,” she added. “In the privacy of your own home, you can schedule an appointment.”

�� $�� United States, the employer can petition for them. Political asylum is another way. For everyone else, an immediate relative in the United States must peti-tion for the person.

If a person doesn’t qualify under those three categories, Upson said it isn’t ��

�� %� �� -�� %�� $�� don’t meet physical requirements, Upson said.

“They have to be of a good moral character,” Upson said. While it isn’t an easy process, the country continues to accept people who

�� “The United States has a long history of welcoming immigrants from all

parts of the world,” the USCIS website said. “America values the contribu-tions of immigrants who continue to enrich this country and preserve its legacy as a land of freedom and opportunity.” •

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30 Profile 2012

What is geocaching?Game with the funny name provides education, quality family time

SOUTH POINT — For the Saxton family, geo-caching has become an addiction. It’s all about the thrill of the hunt, the celebrations of victory,

and most of all, the time together as a family. But what exactly is geocaching?'��

Tupperware in the woods,” is how Joey Saxton, 47, �� %� �� /�� "��%�46, and their children Hannah, 17, Abigail, 14, and " ��%�\`%�� '� ��*��`]\]��

Finding coordinates on the geocaching website or using an app on a smart-phone, a person attempts to locate a cache, a container holding a log to be �� -ers range in size from as large as ammo boxes to as small as pencil erasers, and all sizes in-between, with �� the hunt.

Some of the caches will contain SWAG, mean-ing “stuff we all get,” from the person there last. It can be a small token to identify the geocacher, such as a marble, a pin or a coin. Others may contain trackables, which Joey said would have a number on it that can be registered online. The person who started that trackable will have a goal of where it will end up, and the cachers try to help it on its journey.

" �� _��

caches are simply locating the container and open-�� %��cache will have coordinates to the next cache, each leading to the next. Mystery or puzzle caches will �� get the coordinates. Earth caches are another type altogether.

“There are earth caches, where you don’t really go �� %*�� '�� $�� learn about geology and answer questions and take a picture of yourself, usually in front of the formation, then answer questions, and send all that to the cache owner and then you get credit for that.”

While the earth caches can sound a lot like school to some people, Joey said they can be fun.

“There are some that take you to really cool plac-��%*�� '��$�� " ��" ��%� ��$�� %�� %� ��]�� " �� &�� beautiful.”

Joey said he has seen places and learned many things about the Tri-State area through geocaching that he didn’t know, even though he has lived in this area his entire life.

'^�� %�� -�� &��"��$�� The Underground Railroad was very prominent in �� "��@ ��=� ��

"��@ �%��~ �� here. I never knew that thing existed.”

=�� %� �� &�usually left hanging.

“In the description of the caches, they will usually give you a history so you’ll know why they put it there.”

�� ~�� @ �� in Guyandotte, W.Va., was another learning experi-ence for his family.

'�� %��%��$�a compass, how to work a GPS, but you learn things about history and your area that you had no idea was here. We go so fast sometimes from point A to point B and never stop to look at stuff. We have learned a lot of fascinating stuff about this area.”

How often people participate in geocaching depends on the individual or family, but some have goals in mind of how much they want to get into it. The Saxtons do it more often than most.

'�� %*�"�� @�� choose to geocache on the weekends or days off, the � _�� `]]� � ��straight.

“There are different goals you can try to achieve,” Joey said. “My goal right now is to try to get as many consecutive days as possible.”

Joey said there are days when it’s a struggle to go out and look for the caches.

Profile 2012 31


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32 Profile 2012

He said his family and his cowork-ers are a big encouragement to him.

“It’s a group affair.” Another favorite goal for the

� _�� '��*�When a new cache is published, the '��*��%��%��it. By signing up for the alerts on a smartphone, the geocacher will �� with the criteria you specify is pub-lished. The Saxtons have already �� ]� ��%�and there are times they have gone during some crazy hours to get them.

Joey said he has gone as late as 11 p.m. to get one, and as early as 4 a.m. “Abigail loves to go at night,” Joey said about his daughter.

As experienced as the Saxton family is, there are still some caches that have stumped them. “Those can be very frustrating, especially if you have mul-tiple ones in a row,” Joey said. “They just suck the energy right out of you.”

Many caches have been hidden in cemeteries and whether that is OK is up for debate, depending on the state and the reviewer. While the Saxtons understand that there is concern that it could be disrespectful of the cem-eteries, Joey said they are of the opin-ion that is just the opposite.

“Geocachers go into these places and have learned so much about these people who have been forgot-ten,” he said.

“We have found caches and then stayed for another half hour or 45 minutes just reading the tombstones,” Cyndi added. “One cemetery we were in, I was just broken. There was this lady’s tombstone and there were nine little tombstones out from it. It was all nine of her babies who had never made it to a year old.”

Joey said he and Abigail went to a cemetery in Ironton from the 1700s-1800s.

“It is so beautiful and they are try-ing now to restore it. Abigail and I were the only ones who went on that one, and we kept reading the tomb-stones. Back then, they put a lot of history on those markers. We were just reading it and learning so much about this person that everybody has forgotten.”

Another way geocachers try to show respect to the area is through events like CITO — Cache In, Trash Out.

“The goal is that when you go looking for a cache, and they actu-ally have CITO events, and you take a trash bag with you, and as you’re looking for caches, you just gather up

the trash at the park,” Joey said. The Saxtons went to

an event recently at Grayson Lake, where more than 30 bags of trash were picked up and taken out of the area.

When asked if this has become an addiction, Joey admits, it probably � ��'#�� -tion, there’s an incredible rush to go and just beat everybody. It’s just like any other sport.”

For the Saxtons, the biggest reason to geocache is the family time, get-ting everyone involved. “Somebody’s �� " ��&�� GPS,” Cyndi said. “Even when we’re all in the car, we’re not in our own separate worlds. Someone’s pulling up the directions; someone else is pulling up the map.”

“It’s a good bonding, family mis-sion-oriented activity, and we’re actu-ally maybe learning something in the whole process,” Joey added.

In addition to the family time, for Caleb, “It’s the adventure.”

For Hannah, it’s just getting to do something different. “It offers a lot of different scenery.”

The Saxtons aren’t alone in their newfound obsession. According to �� %� ��are more than 5 million geocachers worldwide and more than 1.6 million geocaches across the globe.

Another perk of geocaching is that it can be a very inexpensive hobby. While some people may prefer the premium membership, at $30 yearly, and prefer to use a smartphone app and special GPS devices, it can be completely free. There are caches listed for free, and using the coordi-nates with a map will get you where you need to go.

Nearly anyone can pick up this hobby. The Saxtons have met an 18-day old baby at a geocaching event, and have also enlisted the help of Joey’s mother and his 98-year-old grandmother, who get equally excited about the sport. For anyone needing wheelchair accessible trails, that cri-teria can be entered when searching for a cache.

If you don’t know anyone who does it, Caleb recommends trying the free caches to ensure you love it before spending any money on a premium membership.

Recently, the Saxtons introduced a family from their home-school group to the sport, and they immediately fell in love with it.

“Go with a cacher and see if you like it.” •

Profile 2012 33

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34 Profile 2012

For pilots, the Ohio River provides relaxing workplace

A compacted cockpit, a single restroom and no buffet, not exactly the ideal accommoda-tions. But those are the conditions that Scott

Depriest and Jim Hayes signed up for when they began working on barges on the Ohio River.

There are two crew members per boat. Depriest pilots the Chris Arden and down the river and Jim Hayes is the ship’s deck steersman. Depriest has been with McGinnis, Inc. for 20 years, while Hayes has been with the company for eight years.

The boat typically travels down the Ohio River at seven miles per hour and three miles per hour up the

river, depending on the current. The typical day for Depriest and Hayes begins

� ��%�� the Ohio River. They work 12-hour shifts, where they never leave the boat, and they alternate days and nights. They begin work on Monday at 5 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., they work seven straight days. After a four-day break, they work seven straight nights from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“Today, we started out building a 15 barge load in the Big Sandy River,” Depriest said. “We take empty � �� ~��=��cargo is loaded, we go back and pick up the barges. We decked the barge for four hours.”

Not every day is a quiet, typical day.

“One day another boat hit us and rolled our boat over,” Depriest said. “We had to be rescued.”

McGinnis requires everyone to wear a life jacket when they board the boat and anytime they are on ��$�

The barge holds different cargo such as nitrate, coal and debris, they deliver to places like Ceredo, Mansbach Metal and AK Steel.

Each barge holds between 1,700 and 1,900 tons, which takes around 45 18-wheeler dump trucks to haul. That is the equivalent of 17 to 19 train cars to haul the material.

They will deliver 30 to 40 barges on certain days and they work the harbor in any weather conditions. McGinnis has four boats that will deliver barges.

By Chris Slone | The Tribune

Long days of solitude

Profile 2012 35

“We get our orders from dispatch,” Depriest said. “Dispatch will receive a fax and they will relay the fax to the pilot.”

The deck steersman (deckhand) will go out and face up the boat, walk along the barge, and untie the barge from the rest of the load after tying the barge to the boat.

After the boat is secured with the cargo, the pilot � �� After they reach their destination, the deckhand will use three to six ties to secure the cargo.

To become a deckhand, a person has to go to a technical school for a month. Becoming a pilot is a different story.

“He (trainee) has to drive a boat under super-vision of another pilot for 18 months,” Depriest said. “The pilot will then sign off and they send it to the coast guard for approval. You have to have three years experience before you can qualify to be a pilot.”

In a male-dominated profession, there are women pilots and deckhands.

'�� women deckhands that I know of,” Depriest said.

Working as a deckhand can require heavy labor. The wire that ties the cargo is a big cable that weighs close to 100 pounds. The ratchet that ties it off weighs close to 70 pounds.

'�&�� _�� %*�Depriest said. “Some people catch on quicker than other people and some people aren’t cut out.” •


(ABOVE) A shipment of coal heads down the Ohio River underneath Ashland’s twin bridges aboard the Chris Arden barge owned by McGinnis, Inc. (LEFT) The Chris Arden leaves dock as it goes to make deliveries of coal up and down the Ohio River. (RIGHT) Scott Depriest pilots the barge down the Ohio River.

36 Profile 2012

Workforce Development Resource Center

��

The Resource Centerprovides services and

information, as well as social support to ease the transition.

Services Availableume writing

Profile 2012 37

A grandmother paid $400,000 for hair, makeup, clothes, tanning and beauty pageant fees. One mom reported pag-

eant dresses can cost as much as $3,000. Another mom confessed to spending $30,000 in one year on pageants. These are families featured on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, a real-ity television show following children and their families in preparation for and during pageants.

But like any reality show, it can be a little more dramatic than the reality around us. Local mom Jennifer Schelling, 35, of Huntington, W.Va., said her experience with pageants has been positive.

Schelling’s daughter Madalynn, 5, is the �� %� �� %� �� and her husband Ben, 34. Raising their three sons, Benjamin, 13, Tyler, 11, and Bradley, 7, beauty pageants were something Jennifer hadn’t been involved in any more than watching Miss America on television. Then when Madalynn was around 3 years old, Jennifer received an email about a local fourth of July pageant at Camden Park.

“It just seemed like something fun to do at the time,” Jennifer said. “We went and did it for fun, and I was really surprised that she X+ � ��[�� time. From there we just did more and more and more.”

In about a year and a half, Madalynn has been in approximately 50 pageants, averaging two to four pageants a month. Jennifer said they are typically local pageants and that, on any given weekend, there can be three to four pageants to choose from locally. The farthest they have traveled for a pageant is Indiana.

“We haven’t traveled the world yet,” Jennifer laughed.

Children’s pageants are usually divided into age categories and the contestants come out on stage two times, once in the pageant dress �� theme of the pageant, like a Valentine’s Day or summer theme. In addition, Jennifer said some of the bigger, national pageants also

include an interview portion. The scores are combined and the winner

of the age group receives the queen title for that category. Beyond that, there are usually two to three supreme titles — the top overall scorers of the day.

“The biggest crown, the biggest trophy,” Jennifer said. She added that this is now a goal of Madalynn’s.

While pageant day has its own demands, the days leading up to the pageant can require a great deal of work.

Picking out the music that will surround the contes-tant as she spends those 60 to 90 seconds on stage, learning a model-ing routine, picking �� -sories are just some parts of the pageant preparation. Some contestants will spend time working with a pageant coach to help with routines and details.

“You just have to make sure every little thing is right — the accessories, the shoes,” Jennifer said. “It’s fun work — I enjoy it. It’s a lot of planning though.”

Madalynn, though, doesn’t see it as work. She said for her, it is just fun.

The costs of participating in pageant world vary, but Jennifer said it can get expensive. She said many parents use a pageant-related skill to make money to help with the costs. Some examples include making music mixes, being a pageant coach, styling hair or make-up, spray tanning and photography.

“A lot of times the moms or dads will �� $�� support the habit,” she added.

Jennifer added that while the glitz pag-eants can be pricey, the more natural pageants, like fair and festival pageants, are


Seeking the crownBeauty pageants different than on TV

Madalynn Schelling during a pageant in 2011.

SUBMITTED

the low-cost options. “If you choose to do those and wear

the more natural dresses they require, it can be inexpensive,” she said. “But once you step into the glitz world, you have to step into the glitz dresses, the fake hair.”

One way Jennifer has found to cut costs is by buying Madalynn’s dresses pre-owned, though she adds that even those can be expensive.

^��%�� outweighed the costs.

“I like how she has just really become even more social,” Jennifer said about Madalynn. “She just loves making new friends. She is really outgoing, and I think it would be naïve for me to think pageants didn’t have something to do with that.

“The best friends we have right now are people we’ve met through pag-eants,” Jennifer said.

She added that with a houseful of boys, the mother and daughter time the pageants provide is a perk.

While she sees beauty pageants as � �� + � ��%� �� she understands that pageants can be controversial.

“There’s a lot of people who take it too far. A lot of us normal pageant

families, we like (Toddlers & Tiaras). It’s very entertaining, but it can give a bad name for those of us who just want to have fun and enjoy it.

“For Madalynn, it teaches her �� %*� ��said, though she added she teaches Madalynn to be humble as well. “For us, the good far outweighs the bad.”

Jennifer sees the competitiveness and the pride that comes from win-ning a pageant isn’t all that different from soccer or football for boys.

Why does Madalynn like the pag-eants? “Because you get to win,” she said.

“I’m not going to lie, I love every-�� love the makeup and the cute dresses. I love the crowns,” Jennifer said. She added that it is a lot of hard work.

Most of all, Jennifer said she hopes Madalynn is learning a good work ethic, even at her young age.

“I hope she learns you get out of it what you put into it,” Jennifer said. “She is learning to apply herself.”

In addition to pageants, Madalynn is in kindergarten and she loves learn-ing and participating in gymnastics. She said she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. •

38 Profile 2012

SUBMITTED

Madalynn Schelling during a pageant in 2011.

Profile 2012 39

South Point Local SchoolsSouth PointHigh School

377-4323

South PointMiddle School

377-4343

BurlingtonElementary894-4230

South PointElementary

377-2756

Building the foundation for tomorrow’s leaders

(ABOVE) Spelling Bee winners: Marshall Gibbs, 6th grader and Emily Morrison, 8th grader were the middle school winners . Both students competed in the County Spelling Bee. Emily continues her quest as she awaits the outcome of the district Bee. (BELOW) Our students are studying the local water quality.

Burlington Elementary presents Disney’s “Aladdin Jr.”

Our students organized a Veteran’s day assembly and provided a meal to the veterans.

Ms. Pitsen-berger’s Kinder-garten Class after enjoying a lesson on Abraham Lincoln from the 4th Grade TAG students.

40 Profile 2012

Support systemIRONTON — Volunteers are at the heart of what

Community Hospice is and does for patients and their families.

Hospice was founded by a group of volunteers who wanted to serve their community by coming together to provide end-of-life comfort to their neighbors.

Today, Community Hospice’s staff and volunteers serve nine counties in Kentucky and Ohio including Lawrence and Scioto counties in Ohio. In mid-Janu-ary, Hospice was serving more than 150 patients and had more than 180 active volunteers.

More than 50 volunteers are based exclusively in Ohio. They range in age from teenagers to those in their 70s who help out in a variety of ways from doing clerical work to playing music for patients to providing respite care to caregivers.

“Today we rely on them to bring those extra special touches that our employees just do not have time for,” said Susan Hunt, executive director of Community Hospice. “The companionship and the support that our volunteers are able to provide our patients and their families is priceless,” she added.

Ironton resident Aaron Bollinger’s 74-year-old father suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is con-��$��paid and volunteer hospice staff, Bollinger said, are “a Godsend.”

“It is a lot more people that he interacts with in the home. They are able to come and go often so they have really been a huge help,” he said.

“My dad is a big talker and he has a lot of history and a lot of things to talk about,” Bollinger said, explaining because his father can no longer get out it brings him great joy to be able to share his stories with visitors, including his hospice volunteer, Rick.

“It would be very boring, especially when you are bedfast, to sit there all day and stare at a TV or stare at the walls without someone to talk to,” Bollinger said.

“Being able to help the families during their time of grieving and make the last days of someone better, just by being a friend, just by being there,” is what being a hospice volunteer is all about, said Kathy Elam. “You might not be able to communicate with them but just them knowing that you are there, I think, helps.”

Elam knows; she has been on both sides of hos-pice’s services. Her mother-in-law was helped by

hospice and the comfort it gave Elam’s family left such an impression that she began volunteering in May 2009 after her retirement.

She now spends several days a week visit-ing patients in South Point at River’s Bend and Heartland of Riverview nursing homes as well as at the Community Hospice Care Center in Ashland, Ky. She also answers phones, works the hospitality cart, which serves refreshments to visitors at hospice, and spends time at health fairs and other public events to promote awareness about hospice.

“It is just so rewarding and you can give as much or as little time as you can,” Elam said. “It is just an � �� days wanting to be anywhere else.”

Leon Dalton, of Pedro, is one of hospice’s most tenured volunteers, having spent more than 14 years as a spiritual counselor.

Dalton, like many of the volunteers, began his service by sitting with patients and providing respite care to their caregivers. Respite care allows a per-manent caregiver to know their loved one is well taken care of and not alone so that they may leave their side to get their own errands done or take some personal time away.

By Carrie Stambaugh | The Tribune


Kathy Elam, Leon Dalton and Glenda Marting, pictured left to right, have been long-time volunteers with Community Hospice.

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Profile 2012 41

Dalton, who began volunteering after he retired from the steel mill, said he chose hospice on the referral of a friend.

The man said he felt in retirement that he “should do some returns for the community and mankind.”

Over time his duties as a volunteer have evolved and he now spends much of his time providing spiritual services including holding church services at ��

Dalton said volunteering for hospice is just “like working for the Lord.” He explained, “He does not call the equipped. He equips the called. So

when you see something needs to be done you step up and do something for a family.”

Glenda Marting, of Ironton, has also been volunteering with hospice since May 2009. During that time she has done a little bit of everything, from shred-�� %�� a summer bereavement camp for children. She spends several hours one day a week at Jo-Lin Health Center, to lend emotional support to patients there, and also does respite care.

A retired mental health counselor, Marting was also looking for a way to give back after she retired when she began working at Hospice.

“I didn’t go in to this to make me feel good as much as I wanted to make other people feel good,” she said. “It goes right along with my counseling background. I was in the helping profession and I wanted to stay in the helping profession. I feel sorry for people who don’t have this.”

Marting said she is often asked about her 11th hour volunteer duties, which involve sitting with someone as they die who has no other family members or friends.

“They say, ‘How can you do that? How can you stand it?’ I say, ‘How can I not stand it, because this is a part of life. This is a life cycle,’” she said. “Everyone wants comfort care at the end of their life and I suppose it is some-thing that I would like at the end of mine.” •

Want to lend a hand?All hospice volunteers are required to undergo a three day train-ing course, which is offered every 10 weeks at Community Hospice Center in Ironton. Individuals interested in volunteering should contact Luann Vance, director of volunteers at (606) 329-1890 or by email at [email protected]. Volunteers of all ages, backgrounds and talents are welcome. A background check is required for all volunteers following volunteer training and minors must receive permission from their parents.

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42 Profile 2012

SOUTH POINT — A special collaborative proj-ect between Ohio University and South Point High School has given some local students more

than just a greater knowledge of how math and sci-ence work together.

“I have just seen them blossom through this program,” said Regina Kuhn, the science STEM teacher at South Point. “The kids have been able to do a lot. They have learned content knowledge but I’ve really been able to see them grow and develop their leadership skills, communication and presenta-��$�� &��really seen them develop into young adults.”

Kuhn and South Point mathematics teacher Alex Hunt are among teachers from four regional high schools who were chosen to partner with Ohio University, the Ohio Board of Regents and the South East Ohio Center for Excellence in Math and Science in a year-long grant-funded project aimed at promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also known as the STEM disciplines for short.

The project also sought to enhance graduate stu-dent skills in communication and research as well as give a boost to primary educators by providing them with intensive professional development, equipment and other resources for their classes.

Morgan County, Valley Local and Vinton County high schools also participated in the program in


South Point class brings science, math to life

Tomorrow’sscientists


Señor Squishy, a tadpole, inside its aquarium.

which two teachers from each school were paired up with an OU graduate student. The teachers and OU students worked together to develop lesson plans that incorporated science and math skills into hands-on learning activities — all of which have been posted online for use by educators anywhere.

At SPHS, Kuhn and Hunt partnered to create a pair of STEM classes. Students were required to take both a statistics course with Hunt and a science course with Kuhn to participate and the school received

some additional funding as a result, said Al Cote, the BooKS-2 grant and SEOCEMS coordinator.

The classes were back-to-back and often the teach-ers would do lessons together or incorporate a lesson from one class into a lesson from the other, which helped to better illustrate the connectedness of the disciplines.

A highlight of the grant program is a trip on the Ohio River where the primary students are invited aboard OU’s research boat and use sophisticated

Profile 2012 43


Mario Palladino sets an aquarium for tadpole Señor Squishy in the STEM class at South Point High School.

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44 Profile 2012

Springing Forward to Expand BRIGHTER OUTCOMES.

HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Huntington will begin

construction on ten new private rooms and other common

areas this spring, offering expanded opportunities for patient

success. It’s all to help patients rehabilitate after an injury

or illness with achieving greater outcomes and getting back

home sooner.

Learn more about the HealthSouth difference and how our

expansion can benefit you or a loved one. Call 304 733-1060.

A Higher Level of Care

©2012:HealthSouth Corporation:516346

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304 733-1060

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Springing Forward to Expand BRIGHTER OUTCOMES.

Profile 2012 45

City Mission Church

................................................. .................................. .................................

.............................. ......

........................................Pastor - Rev. Jeff Cremeans

Transportation Available

SUGAR CREEKMissionary Baptist Church

SUGAR CREEK CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

LANDMARK BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE“Ye Shall Know the Truth”

St. Paul Lutheran Church

....................................

Pastor - David Ritchie

Tri-State Baptist Temple

........................................ ......................

........................ ......

.................. ..................

Pastor - Tim Jenkins

................................................. .................................

........................ ................................

“Teaching the Jewish roots of Christianity”People with a passion for Jesus and a love for you!

Pastor - Butch Deer

Church of the King

Central Christian Church

............................................... ...........................

.. ..................

Jim Williams - Minister

Ironton First Nazarene

................................................... ...............................

.................................... ...........

Pastor - Robert HaleAssistant Pastor - Brian TaylorYouth Pastor - Paul Ferguson

South PointChurch of Christ

........................................ ...............................

.................................. ..................................

Mark Aites - Minister

First United Methodist ...............................................

......................................... ...............................

Pastor - Wayne YoungChad Leach - Senior High Minister

Jason and Emily Sharp - Junior Highand Elementary Ministers

Food and Pantry Kitchen 532-1199

Calvary Baptist Church

................................................... ...............................

.................................... ....................................

Matt O’Bryant - Pastor

GREASY RIDGECHURCH OF CHRIST

“Experiencing and Sharing the Transforming Power of Jesus”

Tom Miller, Minister

NEW VALLEY MISSIONARY

BAPTISTCHURCH

........................... ...........................

....Bro. Larry Comer - Pastor

Everybody Welcome!

46 Profile 2012

Where does your trash go?Rumpke has grown to loading waste, recycling companies

COLUMBUS — Trash is one business’s trea-sure.

Its beginnings in the 1930s were humble: Founder William F. Rumpke collected his Carthage, Ohio, neighbors’ trash and separated it either for his scrap yard or to feed his hogs. Today, Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc. has grown into one of the nation’s largest privately owned waste and recy-cling companies, serving communities in four states.

The recyclables the company collects and sorts eventually makes their way to a variety of regional and national companies who put them back into the hands of consumers as new products that range from �� to paper towels.

Rumpke is headquartered in Cincinnati. The com-pany has facilities across Ohio, including a regional processing facility in Hanging Rock.

During 2011, the Hanging Rock facility processed more than 14 million pounds of recyclable waste from Lawrence and Scioto counties as well as its sur-rounding Kentucky and West Virginia communities. The recyclables are collected in drop boxes including 14 locations in Lawrence County and 20 in Scioto County.

=�� computer paper, paperboard, cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles and jugs No. 1-7, cartons, and newspapers.



(ABOVE) Employees sort through trash at the Rumpke Recycling in Columbus. (RIGHT) Tons of trash is loaded onto conveyor belts to be sorted.

Profile 2012 47

After being pre-sorted, compacted and baled in Hanging Rock, the recyclables are sent to Rumpke’s recently upgraded state-of-the-art material recovery facility in Columbus.

“Columbus serves as a central hub for recycling for Rumpke. It is a vital resource to hundreds of communities throughout Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia,” said Rumpke spokesman Jonathan Kissell, who explained the facility also processes materials from its four other regional centers in "��%�"��%�+ �� +��

The Columbus facility reopened in August after undergoing a $15 million upgrade, during which ~��$�� its sorting capacity from 15 tons an hour to 30 tons per hour. The facility can sort and bale 500 tons of recyclables every day, according to Kissell, who noted in December it was operating at half its capacity.

Rumpke hopes more materials will come to the plant as recycling programs expand across the region.

“We see a lot of potential and growth opportu-nities in communities like Ironton, in Lawrence County, Scioto County, Cabell County and the West Virginia area, that are actively growing their recy-cling programs,” said Kissell. “That potential exists and we need that volume to make this a successful location,” he said, “We want more material in here. We need more material in here.”

The 28,000-square-foot plant is a modern marvel ��`%��]��%�� -ners, network of overhead vacuums and a variety of moving, shaking, rotating screens, magnets and drums. The facility employs approximately 260 indi-viduals, which will increase with capacity, according to Rumpke.

Materials are brought in daily by 150 trucks � � �� %� ��which it is then fed, using heavy machinery, onto a drum feeder. The rotating drum feeder loosens up the previously compacted materials so it can be

more easily sorted. Next, material passes through a manual sorting station where quality control work-ers on the lookout for the 5 to 7 percent of materials in the stream that are non-recyclable and must be removed.

Any plastic bags containing materials are dropped into a “bag breaker” so their contents can begin to be separated. Before Rumpke’s latest upgrade, these bags had to be pulled apart by hand.

The remains of those plastic bags and any others in the recycling stream are removed by workers and sent through an above-head vacuum system. Plastic bags are one of the plants largest nuisances along with cassette tapes, Kissell said. They can easily get wrapped around all the moving parts in the plant.

Next, a series of rubber spinning discs separate the lighter cardboard and paper from the heavier bot-tles, cans and glass. The spinning discs cause paper


A conveyor belt full of recycling products races by Rumpke Recycling employees as they work to separate items.

If it’s been a while since your last physical,or you are experiencing a specifi c healthcomplaint, we encourage you to call usnow for a prompt appointment.

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48 Profile 2012


(ABOVE) A employee loads large bundles of recyclable material at Rumpke Recycling. (BELOW) Employees sort out recyclable material from non-recyclable material during their shift at Rumpke Recycling. (OPPOSITE PAGE) Bundles of recyclable material wait to be loaded into a truck at Rumpke Recycling.

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Profile 2012 49

“This optical scanning was largely perfected in the food service industry in food processing. A lot of times you’ll see it where the potato chips are going along at so many per second and it �� @��use the same thing,” explained Randy #�� %�~��$�&�� $��

'@�� good degree of delineation where we �� $�� %��&�� $� �� or this color or this characteristic,” #�� '@�&�� $�� same technology they have run food through for a long time and now using it for anything that runs through a fac�� @�� $��for a color, size, shape, whatever, that is the technology you use.”

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According to Kissell, the optical scanners are 98 to 99 percent accurate �� rials. Each machine is fully computer�� $�� on quality control tests, he said.

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recycled as part of a mixed plastics � ��

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to purchase the material. Bales of aluminum cans are shipped

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Glass goes to either Johns Manville �� %� ��

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“The company always has that stra��%�� $��%��ing the awareness of recycling. The �� %� �� $��%�� _�� do,” Kissell said.

“That was the reason for this invest��%*�� %�'@�&�� @�� *

~��$�� that are interested in reducing their waste streams and recycling. •

Doing business since 1969

(740) 533-1396

50 Profile 2012

IRONTON — He raced a couple of laps around the grassy area in front of the school for a few moments before he got hooked into his leash and

got down to business.Hemi, one of two Lawrence County Sheriff’s

��|��%�� %� �� _��sion of canine activity. But along with that boundless �� _� ��nary ability to sniff out even the smallest amount of controlled substances.

�� &�� /��%�+ _� ��=�� Lawrence County and are truly in a class by them�selves.

Gone to the dogs

��|��%�=��%��`]]��and he was assigned to Capt. Mark Wilson as his � �� &�� |� ��%� + _%� �� }��~ �� ~�� &�� %� /�� `]]�� /��&�� }��"� ��/ ��@��/ ��$� �� "��" ��"��%�/��

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Belgian malinois, which have markings that resem�� Z�� Both breeds are known for their keen sense of smell, intelligence and tenacity.

+ _� �� =�� /�� /�� }��truck engine.

Training is tough, even for a dog. Scott Wilson said the dogs are often trained on toothpicks con� �� =�� $��a whiff that light.

Hemi was a year old when he began his training � �� }�� "�� $�� become acquainted with the scent.

“They work for their toy,” Mark Wilson said. “He � ��/��$�� get his toy.”

+ _� � �� "�� + _� �� /�� trained in search, apprehension and tracking. Trying �� + _��trail, you better be fast.

=��&��

�� =�� trained to track people and ferret out hidden or miss�ing articles such as guns, keys and wallets. Criminals who toss their weapons or loot after committing a �� &��$� ��|�� #�� &��_ ��

What they do

��@��&��/�� and law enforcement and a guardian of safety and security within the county’s school districts. Once a month he conducts a drug search of one of the county’s districts. Far from being unwelcome, school �� |�� $��drugs out of schools.

“I think it shows we’re being proactive and using the resources that are available,” Symmes Valley /�� } ��/��

=�� @�� /�� lockers, the animal trots along until he gets a whiff of something that shouldn’t be there.

'/�&�� %� ��%� �� %*��@��_��

Once he gets the scent, Hemi sits, letting his han�dler know something may not be right.


Gone to the DogsK-9 units key part of law enforcement


Hemi, Lawrence County Sheriff’s office Departments K-9 Unit, waits in front of the lockers at a local public school. Hemi’s tail is lying flat. That tells the officer that Hemi has detected the odor of marijuana as opposed to the actual substance.

Profile 2012 51

“A lot of times he hits on an odor on clothes,” Scott Wilson explained. The student may not have drugs at school, but they may have been around it before school or at home.

Max has been used for school drug searches �� ~�� -ity of his partner.

“It takes him two hours to do the schools and the parking lot and do a better job than 27 people in two days,” Rogers said.

Hemi is not only the school resource K-9. He and Scott Wilson ride along with the adult �� the job, Hemi was instrumental in four arrests.

� �� "�� "�� " ��#�� |��and said he is thankful Sheriff Jeff Lawless has them and is willing to share them with Bowen’s ��

“Hemi makes our job a lot easier. He can search a house in minutes where it may take X�� [�� %*�#�� '�� seen him walk by a car and pick up seeds in a console. His sense of smell is amazing.”

Bowen said the word is getting out among �� $�� checks, they are these days accompanied by a K-9 unit. No use trying to hide your stash of weed among your dirty socks or food. The dog-gie still knows. Hemi once found 327 grams of marijuana concealed in a plastic bag and hidden


Ace, the K-9 unit for the City of Ironton, takes a break from fighting crime and basks in the sun with his favorite chew toy.

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(ABOVE) Deputy Scott Wilson with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office takes Hemi on a drug run at an area school. (BELOW) Hemi finds marijuana substances located in a vehicle.


Hemi sits patiently outside a vehicle in a public school parking lot. To demon-strate the dog’s body language, actual marijuana was placed inside one of the parking lot vehicles. When Hemi actually finds a substance, as opposed to finding just the odor, the dog will slightly curves his tail just above the ground.

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in the cushions of a sofa.“Their nose can smell each individual odor,” Mark Wilson said.

'�� &��*~��_��

�� %��$��%�� else one item at a time, whereas the human nose will only smell, say, a #��+ ��

'=��&�� %�� $%*�~��

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Down time

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Profile 2012 53


Ace, the K-9 Unit for Ironton, is one of three drug dogs.

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54 Profile 2012

Grange is...Neighbors helping neighbors

(TOP) An outside view of Windsor Grange

2585, originally char-tered on July 1, 1934.

(ABOVE) Enola Cade keeps the fires burning-

ing during a Christmas dinner and program.

(RIGHT) Concealed carry classes are taught at Windsor Grange. (FAR

RIGHT) Grange members display their lap robes before delivering them

to a local nursing home.SUBMITTED

Profile 2012 55

What is the grange? It is a force for change, an organi-zation of neighbors helping

neighbors and an avenue for fun and fellowship. For more than 140 years nationally, and more than 80 years locally, the grange has been a part of the fabric of rural community life.

A little historyAccording to the National Grange

website, it is the nation’s oldest nation-al agricultural organization that pro-vides “service to agriculture and rural areas on a wide variety of issues, including economic development, education, family endeavors, and leg-islation designed to assure a strong and viable rural America.”

Established shortly after the Civil War, the aim of the grange was to unite private citizens in improving lives of farmers and their families. Over the past 144 years, the grange has evolved to include non-farm rural families and communities. Many states, including Ohio, have a state grange. State grang-es are further divided into regional granges and from there subordinate or local granges.

Luella Pinson, who is a member of the Windsor Grange, said at one time Lawrence County had six subordinate granges and more than 1,000 mem-bers. Now there are only two local granges, Deering and Windsor. Both are members of the county grange, known as the Pomona Grange.

In the past, some people joined the grange to get insurance — generations ago people living in rural areas found �� -owner’s insurance; thus began Grange Insurance. Such was the case for Helen Webb, of Leatherwood, who is one of the oldest members of the Deering Grange.

“At the time I joined, the grange had insurance for members only and I had just bought a 1941 Chevrolet and I need-ed insurance on it,” Webb explained. “Grange Insurance was less expensive.”

The Windsor Grange was chartered ��\|�� in a log cabin built by members who cut the timber from the Brook Capper farm on Greasy Ridge.

“In the 1960s termites and Father Time weakened the logs,” Pinson recalled recently in a hand-written memoir. That log cabin was replaced with a concrete block structure.

Activists for changeDeering Grangemaster Mary Rose

said people who join granges often have a common purpose and common

interests. They want to see positive change that helps ease the burdens or improve the lives of rural families. Good roads and basics such as that are essential to the grange.

Webb said the national grange pushed for and won rural mail delivery service by the U.S. Postal Service.

“It was a good way to get bills passed country people needed,” Webb said.

Pinson said many things we take for granted today were won through the labors of granges. Those yellow stripes on roadways? Thank the grange. The law that requires people to drive with their car lights on during rain and snow for better visibility and safety? Thank the granges.

“Some issues are not ‘right’ or ‘left’,” Mary Rose said.

In fact, the grange is often a place for the free but civilized exchange of ideas and a place to build consensus or, at times, disagree agreeably.

“With complex people come com-plex situations but yes, we do have one uniting thing: a belief in God and a belief in active discussion about things,” Deering Grange member Herb Rose said. He said alcohol is not allowed and members are expected to conduct themselves appropriately, so no profanity.

Herb Rose said the grange “draws heavily on patriotism and faithfulness.”

ServiceThe motto of the Ohio State Grange

is “Stepping Up To Serve.” Local grange members take it seriously.

“We do a lot of community service,” Mary Rose said. “We make Valentines for veterans. We raise money for food pantries. We collect toiletries for nurs-ing homes.”

Pinson agreed. “For community service we collect

old eyeglasses (for the needy), pop can tabs (that are sent to the state grange),” Pinson said. “We cut coupons and mail to soldier’s wives to redeem. We have made lap robes for our local nurs-

ing homes. We made 20 pillowcases for children in hospitals. We have had several clothing giveaways and donated to needy families and food pantries.”

Windsor Grange members Henry / �� / ��%� �� ~��=�� -tors, have taught concealed weapons classes for the public. Other grange members served lunch to the par-ticipants. More than 170 people have taken the classes.

The list of local, state and national community service projects is long and successful.

A place to fellowshipOver the years the local granges

have also functioned as social organi-zations. Granges allowed neighbors to get to know neighbors.

Mary Rose said those who are inter-ested in politics have a platform to express their ideas. People who enjoy cooking and woodworking and other skills can enter grange contests. Public

speaking skills can be honed as each meeting allows time for various reports and programs.

Webb said she once won $100 for a song she wrote. It was to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of The Republic” and she wrote the lyrics to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the grange. It was called “The Grange Keeps Growing.”

Slowing downHerb Rose said granges have been

adversely affected by television and other things that tend to keep people home instead of getting out and having fellowship with their neighbors.

Mary Rose said older members are dying and she fears younger people will be less likely to join granges. Pinson said many times granges suffer from people being involved in other activities, such as school and sports events.

Regardless of the reasons, grange membership has waned in recent years.

Windsor has 22 members, though not all of them are active. Webb said 8 to 10 members regularly attend the meeting in Deering; a few more pay dues but don’t attend regularly. But Lawrence County is fortunate. Scioto County no longer has any granges.

Getting to know your neighbors

The Deering Grange meets the sec-ond Thursday of each month at the grange hall on State Route 243 in Deering. The Windsor Grange meets the fourth Monday at the grange hall in Linnville. The Pomona Grange meets quarterly and alternates between the two local granges. •


SUBMITTED

Students were served lunch during a concealed carry class.

56 Profile 2012

Ironton is no stranger to the steel industry. Steel production and fabrication has long been a standard of the city’s economy. But one business on the city’s south side is taking metal fabrication to a futuristic level.

The Cutting EdgeTHE TRIBUNE/JESSICA ST. JAMES

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Profile 2012 57

A new ideaIRONTON — Swift Manufacturing,

at 700 Lorain St., uses high-pressure water jets, not drill bits, to turn an ordinary piece of metal into a useful product.

“We kind of picked the idea,” Zach Moore said. “There was a lack of it in this area and we knew of the proce-dure and the technique. There was a need for it.”

Moore owns the business with his

father, who also owns and operates Millwright Welding and Fabrication at the same location. Both businesses began operations at the same time in early 2011.

Moore said, although the water-jet technology has been around 15 years, the viability of it has been in existence ��

“Controlling the water jet was the issue,” Moore said.

The list of metals that can be cut with the water-jet process is long: stainless steel, copper, titanium, alumi-num, brass, tin, lead and bronze. The

company processes 3,500 pounds of steel in an average week.

Both machines operate at 87,000 pounds per square inch. An abrasive is often used with the water to make the necessary cuts. Swift’s machines use garnet dust.

One of the two machines can cut metal up to eight inches thick. One of Swift’s machines is able to bevel, cut countersinks and any angle up to 60 degrees.

With water, the cut is precise — just two thousandths of an inch on a nor-mal production run.

The water-jet process is so precise it often eliminates steps that would be necessary in a traditional machine drill production process.

“We can essentially skip machining parts,” Moore said.

With water jets, Swift can perform work that would destroy an ordinary drill bit.

Water-jet steel fabrication is unique to this area. The closest other facility is in Charleston, W.Va.

“And it is at the Byrd Center so it’s not even a private company,” Moore said.


One of two cutting machines owned by Swift Manufacturing. The Mach 4 allows rotation-axis cutting using high-pressure water.


Can-doMost of Swift’s clients are other Tri-State businesses. Swift

makes parts for Steel of West Virginia, Special Metals, American Electric Power, SFI in New Boston and, Uncle Sam, too.

On Dec. 11, Swift was busy turning out parts that were to be shipped to Newport News, Va., for a nuclear submarine.

" �� \]�� inches thick? No problem.

“That was a (gantry) crane that broke,” Moore recalled of �� '�� =�� @�� X��[�� *�=�� an emergency job for AEP, but Swift took just 10-15 minutes to �� =��&�� $��

'�� $�� }+�X ��machine) three hours to make,” Moore said.

Part of the community

+�� %� �� %��

'@�� %*�+�� '@�� &��*

�� }�� }�� #�� }��$�� he and Ironton Port Authority Chairman Paul Woods encour-aged the Moores to locate their businesses in Ironton and hopes to see more businesses like Swift established in Ironton.

'@�&�� up fabricating shops,” Dickens said.

�� _�� Swift Manufacturing has three full-time and two part-time employees and one salesman. •

58 Profile 2012


The Mach 2 shows straight up and down cutting using high-pressure water at Swift Manufacturing.

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Profile 2012 63

HOME OF THE VIKINGSwww.symmesvalley.k12.oh.us

(ABOVE) SVHS seniors attempt to construct molecules from tinker toys in Chem II. (LEFT) SVHS Juniors who scored accelerated or advanced in three or more areas on the OGT were treated to a day at the Great American Ballpark.

(ABOVE) Second Grade students packing Valentine’s Cards and goodies for a local nursing home.

(ABOVE) Members of the jr. High football team show their school spirit during the homecoming assembly

(RIGHT) SVHS principal Darrell Humphreys accepts a

certificate of special recognition from Representative John Carey

(D). SVHS was honored both as a School of Excellence and a

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Symmes Valley Schools

64 Profile 2012

Rich TraditionPortsmouth Brewing Company crafts beer one bottle at a time

PORTSMOUTH — In a fast-paced world where so much is made in bulk, one com-

pany still takes the time to hand brew every bottle of beer.

The Portsmouth Brewing Company is the oldest brewery in the Midwest that still operates under the same name.

“We are an American-owned company,” Emily Uldrich, brewer, said. “All of our beer is proudly brewed and bottled right here in Ohio.”

The Portsmouth Brewing Company currently distributes beer to several Ironton locations, including the Fuzzy Duck, the Laid Back, Granny’s, Kwik Stop, Park Avenue Drive-Thru, S & S Drive Thru Carry Out and Worth-a-Stop.

They bottle a beer called the Portsmouth Pilsner. They are attempting to add their Red Bird Ale to the bottling line in the next six months, Uldrich said.

“Our Portsmouth Pilsner is cur-rently handmade,” Uldrich said. “Each bottle is labeled one at a time. We assemble the cartons and six packs by hand, package and distribute ourselves. ”

The Portsmouth Brewing Company has a long tradition dating back to 1843, the year it opened.

The brewery was created by partners Muhlhauser and Schiele, who died a year later, leaving the operation and management to Muhlhauser. The brewery origi-nally manufactured English-style ales and porters, Uldrich said.

“Our Red Bird Ale is a classic steam ale that is a tribute to the steam ales brewed all along the Ohio River in the early 1800s and at the PBC (Portsmouth Brewing Company) in its early years,” Uldrich, said.



The outside view of The Portsmouth Brewing Company locat-ed on 224 Second Street in downtown Portsmouth.

Profile 2012 65

After Muhlhauser’s death in 1858, the brewery had several unsuccessful own-ers until 1889 when Julius Esselborn bought the company, Uldrich said.

Esselborn remodeled the building, connecting the original brewery to an �� # ��Alley, which is now known as the #��=��

The original bricks that paved the

�� Esselborn also added a new façade to the building, which still stands today.

Esselborn was a German immigrant who brought with him a German love for lager beer.

“The Portsmouth Pilsner would be typical of the style of beer brewed at �� #"� �� \�|]�%*� �� '��"�� Z�� %� ��-

�� %� �� #"� ��of the same name, dating back to the ��*��

�� \|]]� ��his son, Paul Esselborn, took over the company.

�� #�� \|]|%� �� due to the women’s temperance move-ment, which was a result of the anti-

saloon laws, Uldrich said. After the brewery was shut down,

Paul became the president of the Ohio #��&� =�� %� � �� held for several years.

�� #�� \|\\�after the rose laws were repealed but only survived nine years until Prohibition forced the business to ��\|`]�

(FAR LEFT) A view of the dining room located inside The Portsmouth Brewing Company restau-rant. (LEFT) Tom Spackey sits in the bar area of The Portsmouth Brewing Company enjoy-ing one of the homemade ales.

THE TRIBUNE

JESSICA ST. JAMES

Briggs Lawrence County Public Library

Eastern Branch410Elizabeth St.Proctorville886.6697

Northern Branch14860St. Rt. 141Willow Wood643.2086

Ironton Branch321 S. Fourth St. Ironton

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;� '?( ?* �Branch11054Co. Rd. 1;� '?( ?* 867.3360

Southern Branch317Solida Rd.South Point377.2288

66 Profile 2012


(TOP LEFT) Head cook Matt Weekly pours some beer at The Portsmouth Brewing Company. (LEFT) A view of the brewing area. (ABOVE) The Portsmouth Pilsner uses only the finest malted grain, hops, yeast and filtered water, with no added chemicals or preservatives.

Profile 2012 67

“National Prohibition was enacted in 1919,” Uldrich said. “The PBC tried brewing a non-alcoholic beer � �� ^�� &� ��%� �� had to close the doors in 1920.”

From 1920 to 1995 the brew-�� most of the time. The �� functioned as a Z�� #��Station and also housed several small businesses, Uldrich said.

In 1995, Steve Mault bought the ��+ ��_� �� building and installing state-of-the-art �� brewed in 1997.

Steve and his brother Ira “Babe” Mault were avid home brewers before scaling up to micro brewing. Steve

and Babe perfected their recipes and �� #��"�� malt and hops, Uldrich said.

“The Portsmouth Brewing "��

� �� %� ��%� �� %��

no added chemicals or preservations,” Uldrich said. “All of our beer is also vegetarian and �� *��Steve and Babe

have tried to pre-serve all the tradi-

tions of the Portsmouth #�� "�� %� ��

�� Z��

“We are proud to continue a Portsmouth, Ohio, tradition,” Uldrich � ��'@��$�� *�•


Emily Uldrich helps to shovel grain into buckets during the beer-making process at The Portsmouth Brewing Company.

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70 Profile 2012

County’s oldest living WWII vet reminisces on blessed life

As Lawrence County’s oldest living World War II veteran, Eldon Wilson has seen quite a bit in his 93 years, both at home and abroad.

“I’ve seen a lot of change,” Wilson said. “It took us all day to go in and back to get to Ironton.”

The family’s only conveyance for the 25-mile ride was a horse and buggy.

Wilson was born and raised on his family’s 220-acre farm in Willow Wood. He was the seventh old-est of nine children.

Wilson and his brothers and sisters were also raised on hard work, tending to corn, tobacco, cattle,

horses, hogs, hay and the like.“We didn’t play. We worked,” Wilson said. “If one

played, we all played. If one worked, we all worked. But if you weren’t out of bed at 4 a.m., you didn’t get any breakfast.”

By the age of 13, Wilson was more than 6-foot tall. At such a height, he was able to drive a truck for his uncle in Huntington, no questions asked.

/�� %�=�� %��\|�]� �the age of 21.

In 1944, at 25 years old, Wilson entered military

��%�� =��%�� -ferring to the Air Force.

@�� wife during that time.

He was one of four brothers to enter WWII. �� /�� brother were stationed in Europe.

In his 27 months in the war as a member of the }�� {��%� @�� ^� ��%�England, Belgium and Germany.

He was wounded in combat in Belgium.

By Michelle Goodman | The Tribune

decades


Eldon Wilson sits inside his home in Willow Wood. Eldon is Lawrence County’s oldest World War II veteran. Shown far left, is a picture of Eldon during his service in the military.

9

Profile 2012 71

Eldon Wilson, pictured in the early 1940s during his ser-vice in World War II.

SUBMITTED

“I spent two months in the hospital,” Wilson said. “I left the hospital with a walking cast on. They said I couldn’t leave and I said, ‘Well you’re not doing a thing for me.’ They weren’t.”

Willing but still with a walking cast, Wilson wasn’t able to join his unit right away. He was sent to the Compiegne Air Force Base in France were he spent the next 11 weeks.

@�� %� �� C-47 planes to a base in Germany.

“They got word that airstrip was all right and they �� %� Z�� %*� @�� '�� *

Prior to, and during the beginning of WWII, the �� for the Luftwaffe. The United States Army seized it in April 1945.

“They just came out with their hands up,” Wilson � �� '�� &� � ��$�� rest of the time in Germany.”

Six weeks week later the war was over.“I was there when the war ended,” Wilson said.

“The German people were grateful the war was over. The German people, they didn’t like the war any better than we did. They were forced in.”

Wilson also recollected Adolph Hitler’s sister,

Paula, hosted a dance for all the soldiers. “Hitler’s sister ran a place Saturday evening and

had a big meal for the men,” Wilson said. “They ��&� �� the men danced together. I didn’t dance.”

When Wilson was back in the states, he rode all night from Fort Meade in Maryland, to Ashland, Ky. From there he took a taxi home.

He arrived at about 7 a.m. His wife didn’t even know he was coming home.

“She was still in bed and she wouldn’t get up,” Wilson laughed. “I wrote a letter but she never got it. That was a long time ago.”

Wilson spent the next seven years doing carpentry work and raising a family with six children. He went on to work at the Carlyle Tile Plant in Coal Grove for 35 years. He also drove tractor-trailers for a few years.

/��%�=�� %��\|�\� �� \|��%��}��

He spends his time now as a member and deacon of Fairview Missionary Baptist Church in Wilgus and is a member of the Symmes Valley VFW Post 2761.

He has 16 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandson and a stepdaughter, with whom he resides. • 740.534.6500

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72 Profile 2012

180 degreesMan turns back on addiction

It’s a story he tells all his clients who are seeking help from drug or alcohol addiction.

It was 1974 on the southside of Columbus. � �� \`�� got high. He remembers the experience as if it were yesterday.

His 16-year-old cousin was visiting from Dayton and had brought his stash of marijuana. The young

Vernier had never tried pot, but loved it from the start.

“I knew I was going to, from then on, have my ��%*�� '�� %��tried to have it all the time. In a very short period of time I was smoking most everyday.”

Vernier, now 49, is a husband and father of two adult sons. He has been in recovery for 14 years. At the beginning of January, he opened his second drug treatment center, Community Counseling and Treatment Services, Inc., in Ironton. He also owns

Hand of Hope in Ashland, Ky. Vernier said he felt a calling to help people deal

with their addictions. He knows all too well what it is like to feel help-

lessly depressed and have no control over the desire to do drugs. That was his reality for more than 20 years.

Gateway drugVernier’s father was a district manager for the

fast-food chain Burger Chef. As a result, the fam-


A


Paul Vernier sits at his clinic, Community Counseling and Treatment Services, Inc., located on State Route 93 in Ironton.

Profile 2012 73

ily of four moved around frequently, Vernier and his sister changing schools sometimes twice a year.

A loner with low self-esteem, Vernier said smoking pot was the one thing he wanted to make sure was always in his life.

'@��%�� %�� liked that,” he said. “From then on, I told myself to make sure to have this from then on.”

He was also sneaking his mother’s nerve pills from the medicine cabinet.

Right before his freshman year in high school, Vernier and his fam-ily moved to West Portsmouth. He continued smoking pot and getting in trouble at school. He met his wife, Sherry, before his junior year and the two were married in 1980 after Vernier graduated.

Vernier also joined the United States Air Force that year. Even the structure of the military, and a newborn son ��&� �� in California, Vernier said he contin-ued to smoke pot and experiment with other drugs. At that time, there were no drug tests issued.

“I tried coke, mushrooms and Valium,” he said. “But pot stayed my drug of choice.”

Vernier agrees with the saying that marijuana is a gateway drug.

“I would go buy pot for years and they would always have other drugs for sale,” he said. “You may turn it down a hundred times, but you only have to say yes once.”

After being honorably discharged, Vernier, his wife and 2-year-old son moved back to West Portsmouth and he got a job as a prison guard at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. It was at the prison where his drug habit took a turn.

Downward spiralWhile working at the prison, Vernier

continued to smoke pot, and even sneak it into the facility. The facility also did not drug test guards at that time.

And Vernier wasn’t the only guard using drugs and going to work high, he said. Many of the guards’ drug of choice was Valium.

“I had everything all set,” Vernier replayed in his mind. “Everything I would say I had already practiced so the doctor would write me (a prescrip-tion for) Valium.”

But instead, he was given a prescrip-tion for Xanax, a new drug at that time.

'=�� %*��said. “If he’s giving me this, how good could it be? But it turned out to be stronger. Of course I got addicted to Xanax. I continued to smoke pot. Then I started experimenting, doing coke a few times a year.”

He continued using and going to work high everyday.

“My co-workers knew,” Vernier said. “Everybody knew I was high all the time. It was obvious. I didn’t make a secret of it. To this day I don’t know why they (his superiors) didn’t deal with that.”

In 1992, Vernier was assaulted by an inmate and injured his back. He was prescribed pain pills, but mostly traded them, he said.

=�� attempt at a detox program. Vernier had been taking sometimes as much as 20 to 25 Xanax pills a day.

“By then I had been taking Xanax for seven years,” Vernier recalled. “The Xanax started really poisoning my system. It would make me really mean and angry and I would do stuff I wouldn’t remember. So I kind of had a little intervention with my family.”

Vernier spent the next 18 days in a hospital-based detox program. He was

treated for withdrawal and attended AA meetings and educational classes.

“Up until then, I was able to lie to myself about my dependency,” Vernier said. “That 18 days, when I left there, I left there knowing for sure that I had a problem. I was dependent to drugs and I couldn’t hide that from myself anymore.”

One hit and you’re hooked

When Vernier left treatment, he was in a deep depression. He went back to work at the prison.

“I was just really depressed so I was going to get me a gram of coke,” he remembered. “That was my way of thinking, something to make me feel ��&��$�� crack. One hit and you’re hooked. That was me on crack.”

With a new drug of choice, Vernier began to go through all the money his family had. He went through all the credit cards and wrote bad checks.

On Easter Day in 1993, about 10 minutes after Vernier’s shift at the prison ended, inmates led an insurrec-tion that lasted 11 days and resulted in the death of one guard and nine prisoners.

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It has now been three and one half years since Americas Styrenics was formed as a joint venture between Dow Chemical and Chevron-Phillips combining the two companies’ polystyrene businesses. Further changes occurred in 2010 when Dow sold their share of Americas Styrenics, along with several other businesses, to Bain LLC, a venture capital company. Bain named the new company the “Styron Corp.”. Americas Styrenics parent companies are now the Styron Corp and Chevron-Phillips.

The polystyrene plant was originally built in 1968. The new company, Americas Styrenics, is now the largest polystyrene producer in North America with facilities at other U.S. sites located at Marietta,OH, Joliet,IL., Allyns Point CT., Torrance, CA. and St. James, LA There is also an Americas Styrenics polystyrene plant located in Cartagena, Columbia in South America.

Polystyrene is sold as plastic pellets to other manufacturers who in turn use the resin to make appliance housings, video cassettes, CD cases, medical ‘glassware’, plastic cups, plates, and utensils, packaging, and many other uses.

The sign at the front gate on County Road 1A bears the logos of both the Dow Chemical Company and Americas Styrenics. The Styrofoam® Plant at the site re-mains a part of The Dow Chemical Co. While there are now two separate companies on site both companies work closely together and share many common facilities.

Despite all of the changes at the site, we continue to be very proud of both the ex-cellent safety and environmental performance of the site refl ecting the dedication and commitment of everyone working here. We are very proud that both the site and the entire Americas Styrenics Company did not suffer a single recordable injury in 2011.

74 Profile 2012

Vernier had just pulled into his driveway at home when his wife told him he had to get back to work right away.

“I already hated that job, but when I saw a couple of the dead ones they carried off the yard that had been tortured, and to think if it would have happened 10 or 15 minutes before it would have happened on my shift,” he said. “I was doing drugs well before the riot, so I can’t blame the riot for my drug use, but it sure didn’t help any.”

A few months after the riot, Vernier’s bad check writing caught up with him and he was arrested at work by the ��&��

“When they arrested me for the check charges, I had a couple of joints on me,” he said. “I don’t think they knew exactly how to deal with that because of all the press from the riot. I wasn’t immediately charged with the joints.”

But he was eventually charged with conveyance into a detention facility, a felony.

“That was the most scared time of my life because I’m a prison guard and I might have to go to prison,” Vernier said.

Luckily, Vernier’s sister was

the friend of a good attorney in Portsmouth. His 18-month prison sen-tence was suspended to 30 days in jail.

‘I’ve lost everything’“I humiliated my family,” Vernier

thought while in jail. “I’m a prison guard arrested after the riot. There’s no way I’m ever going to smoke crack again.”

But even in jail, Vernier smoked pot everyday.

“Crack was my problem, not pot,” Vernier said. “That was my way of thinking.”

Once out of jail and on felony pro-bation, Vernier managed to stay away from crack for about three months until his next binge.

“For four days I smoked crack,” he said. “I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. My mom and my sister found me over in the projects.”

His mother took him to a veteran’s hospital where he was admitted for dehydration and an elevated heart rate.

Feeling as if he had lost everything, including his family, Vernier took the blade out of a Bic razor.

“I’m headed to the bathroom and I pass a nurse,” Vernier remembered.

“And she walks right past me. I go in to the bathroom and a think that I’m going to kill myself. I don’t know if I would have had the nerve to do it or not, but that was my intention. The nurse said she didn’t know why, but she felt something was wrong so she turned around and came into the bathroom and caught me before I did it.”

Vernier spent the next 18 days in the mental health ward of the hospital.

Getting clean“Once again, I think there is no way

I’d ever do this again after being in the mental health ward for 18 days,” Vernier said. “It was a crazy 18 days. I get out of there. I go home and my wife and the kids had moved out.”

He makes it another couple of months before his next binge.

Vernier said he remembers sitting in a gas station when his 16-year-old son ��

“I look up and he’s there. He’s like, ‘Dad, please go home.’ I remember I wanted to go home so bad,” Vernier said. “A lot of people feel like it’s a choice. But I was so sick, so addicted, that no matter that I wanted to go home, I just couldn’t. That was a terri-

�� &�� $�� home, I make it another few months and my wife came home.”

Vernier started going to meetings again and church at every opportunity.

“My family was starting to relax and really think things were OK,” Vernier recalled. “It was like 6 p.m. one night. One minute I’m there and everything ��_��&�� $��there again. To this day I don’t know what made me leave, other than the addiction.”

�� %� ��said he spent about $5,000 on crack.

“It would be hard, I don’t think I could, sit and say where I came up with the money I came up with,” he said. “When I wasn’t smoking crack, there were things that I would not do. As soon as I started smoking, there was nothing I wouldn’t do. If I had any pride left it was gone.”

After the binge, his wife took him to the veteran’s hospital one last time, where he spent 30 days getting clean.

“I decided when I was in there I wanted to try and help people and I talked to counselors there,” Vernier said. “I just thought that’s what I would like to do. When I got out that

last time, I went to AA meetings twice a day, church every time the door was open. I did that for probably about a year.”

}�� %�� still struggled with Vernier’s disease.

“I was on the side porch reading a book and my wife said, ‘It must be nice to be able to sit here and read and not have a care in the world,’” Vernier said. “Then it dawned on me, I’m getting well but my family is still back there a year ago, sick. They were in that drug-addicted life because of ��=�� %�� needed to get counseling too.”

Healing the whole family

During the more than 20 years Vernier was a drug addict, his wife, Sherry, and two sons struggled. Even when he got clean, the emotions were still there.

His wife left him several times as well as kicked him out of their house several times, but always took him back, despite ridicule from both sides of the family.

“She still questions herself, ‘Why did (I) stay?’” Vernier said. “‘Why didn’t (I) leave? Was (I) stupid for staying?’ But she just felt like, God wanted her to stay, to try and make it work. What she would say was, ‘I know Paul is in there. I know he’s in there and I know he’ll be back.’”

Vernier remembered the toll his addiction took on his own sister, who � �� -cially.

“A year before I got clean, my sister started going to Al-Anon, for families that live or love someone that is addict-ed to drugs,” Vernier recalled. “She said, ‘That’s it. I can’t help you. I can’t help your wife. I can’t help your kids. Whenever I do something for them, that’s helping feed your addiction.’ �� was so mad at her.”

Vernier said, in preparing to talk about his addiction, he asked his sons what they remembered.

His older son, now 29 and a nurse, said he remembered that day at the gas station when he begged his father to come home.

Vernier said, his younger son, now 25 and in college to become a drug counselor, remembered an event that Vernier still feels regret about.

Even though money was tight, Vernier’s wife managed to buy two tickets for him and his younger son, then 10 years old, to see a Tough Man contest.

“So I go to the store and, again, I

can’t tell you why, in my mind I was just going to get one little thing and get high,” Vernier recalled. “Just get high for a second and go home. That was my mentality, but it never worked that way. My wife called, ‘Please come home. You’ve got the tickets in the car. At least bring the tickets and I can take him.’ I said, ‘I’ll be there, I’ll be there.’”

But he never made it home. Those are the moments that Vernier remem-bers as some of his worst.

Was it a choice?Vernier said in the beginning, his

drug habit was a choice, but before long, he didn’t feel as if it was a choice.

“I don’t know how else to explain it,” Vernier said. “It was like an evil spirit and I’m thinking, ‘I need to stop. I need to not do this. I don’t want to do this.’ I had no control over it. And that’s something that will be debated forever.”

“I remember one time I was so messed up I called my wife and I said, ‘The police are following me I can’t come home because I don’t want the police to arrest me in front of the kids,’” Vernier remembered. “I was so messed up I went to the Portsmouth Police Department, pulled in their back parking lot where they park their cruisers, got out of my car and sat on my car there for an hour. I thought if they were going to arrest me, I would rather them arrest me there. Police �� $�� %� �� out. Nobody said a word. After an hour I just got up and left. That’s so messed up to think that. My wife kept saying, ‘Please come home, it will be ��&�� home.”

Helping othersVernier enrolled at Lindsey Wilson

College in 1999 and eventually gradu-ated with a master’s degree in educa-tion in counseling and human develop-ment and became a licensed chemical dependency and mental health coun-selor.

/�� / ��of Hope alcohol and drug treatment center in Ashland, Ky., in 2009.

“I have a very strong passion to help people that are addicted because I know exactly how it feels,” Vernier said. “I was there. Plus I had to deal with it in a family setting with my own family. I know how miserable it is.”

Vernier’s older son also became addicted to drugs; pain pills. Vernier said he felt guilty and his wife held him responsible in a way. But he beat the addiction with treatment and counsel-ing.

At the beginning of January, Vernier opened his second drug treatment ��%� �� "��Counseling and Treatment Services,

Inc., in Ironton.He juggles both by working 16-hour

days, six days a week.And after 31 years of marriage,

Vernier said he has spent the past 14 making it up to his wife.

“We believe God didn’t put me through what I went through, but we believe God took a terrible, terrible �� $��the very best possible thing out of it,” he said. “The clients I work with, they know that I care. And when they relapse, I understand and I try to help them work through that. I believe this is my calling.” •

Visit us on the web at www.irontontribune.com

I have a very strong passion to help people that are addicted because I know eactly how it feels. I was there. Plus I had to deal with it in a family setting with my own family. I know how miserable it is.

— Paul Vernier

“”

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Serving Lawrence and Scioto counties in Ohio and Boyd, Greenup,

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Profile 2012 75

SavingGracePastor building resting place for ministry

76 Profile 2012

PROCTORVILLE — David Tuinstra speaks the words of Z�� $��

of righteousness, understanding full well what the journey through the val-ley is like.

'��are gone. You are eaten up with nega-tivity,” Tuinstra said.

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“I was going strong,” Tuinstra said. '#�� Z�� pastoring. We felt God was leading us �� *

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David Tuinstra stands outside his home-away-from-home, “The Resting Place” located in Lawrence Township on County Road 12. The Resting Place is a home designed for those in the ministry, even wives and family members, to get away and recuperate.

“A Tradition of Academic Excellence”

FA IR LANDLOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Ellen Hinshaw, Fairland High School Freshman, at the Science Fair

Students celebrate 100th day of school1st grade students during musical performance

Character counts winners

Julia Wu, Fairland High School Junior, at the Science Fair

The Fairland High School Student Section during a basketball game

Mrs. Daniel’s Homeroom Class with Mr. Speed

9-11 Remembrance Ceremony by the Proctorville VFW

Special Olympics Volleyball Team

78 Profile 2012

Bonnie and Clyde. “Baby Face” Nelson. John Dillinger.

These men and women, and many more, made names for themselves as Depression-era gang-sters who robbed banks, bootlegged and murdered.

Ironton’s own William Miller was among those, although his partner in crime, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, may be better known.

“He’s forgotten and “Pretty Boy” Floyd is a name that people would know nationally,” said Dean Mader, 20th Century history teacher at Dawson-Bryant High School.

Mader said he frequently researches Lawrence County’s seedy past to either prove or dispel rumors his students have about the history of the area.

“If we’re studying prohibition and Al Capone, you can show ways our area is tied into it,” Mader said. “Also, the kids ask a lot of questions that aren’t true,

�� to them.”

For example, Mader said a common myth is that Al Capone was tied to Ironton or visited the area. He said he has never found any evidence to support that.

��+ �� the story of William “Billy the Baby Face Killer” Miller.

An article of Miller’s death in the evening edition of The Ironton Tribune on Monday, April 20, 1931, said, “Broken sketches of Billy the Killer’s life equals that of the villain of any dime novel.”

An article in the Bowling Green Daily Sentinel-Tribune said, “A trail of blood followed him to his �� #�� Billy. He was too wise.”

A book by Jeffery King called, “The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd” chronicled Miller’s life:

Born in Ironton in 1905, Miller began his life of crime at an early age, stealing chickens and then on to stealing cars. His father, Andrew Jack Miller and

many of his brothers also sought a life of crime.During 1925 and 1926, Miller was arrested more

than 25 times, including once for the murder of one of his own brothers. Miller spent a year in jail await-ing a trial and was eventually acquitted on the basis of self-defense.

In 1928, Miller and one of his brothers, Grover, �� by police. Grover was arrested and sent to the Ohio Penitentiary, but Miller escaped.

Miller eventually was captured and sentenced to 25 years in the Ohio Penitentiary in June later that year. He wouldn’t be there long.

It was an escape plan even John Dillinger would have been proud of.

Miller and his two cellmates spent eight weeks cut-ting through the ceiling of their cell. An accomplice had provided them with drills, steel reinforcements and rope. They covered their work with paper col-ored to match the ceiling.

On Nov. 4, 1929, Miller and his cellmates escaped

By Michelle Goodmam | The Tribune

NOTORIOUSIronton gangster makes headlines

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from prison. They managed to overtake a guard and take his weapons, which �� shot back at them. Once outside the walls of the prison one of his cellmates died of a gunshot wound from a guard. The other was eventually captured. Miller was the only one to escape.

Miller was suspected of robberies and murders throughout the Midwest and also worked as a hit man for vari-ous gangs.

While spending time in a Toledo jail for robberies in Ohio, Miller met “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Both escaped at different times but met up to begin their crime spree in Michigan and Oklahoma.

The two robbed and kidnapped a farmer in Pinconning, Mich., and �� ]%� ��they also kidnapped the attendant. Both the farmer and attendant were eventually let go before Miller and Floyd went to Oklahoma.

In Earlsboro, Okla., the two robbed �� $��%]]]� ��$��-ers and bank employees in a vault.

In Kansas City, they hid out at the home of a criminal sympathizer named Sadie Ash, and her two sons, William and Wallace. Miller and Floyd eventually

murdered the Ash boys, robbed them and left with their wives, Juanita and Rose.

The gang of four traveled to Elliston, Ky., and robbed the Mount Zion }��# �$��`%]]]�� -ture, the gang traveled on to Bowling Green, Ohio, where they began to � �� They also robbed another bank in @��%��%��\%�]]�

According to King’s book and The Ironton Tribune article, Miller paid his mother in Ironton a visit on April 11.

She told him, “If you’re not care-ful, they’re going to be picking you up along a roadside so shot up no one will know you.”

Five days later, Miller’s ride was up.The headline in The Tribune was,

“Local Gunman Walked into Death Trap As Plans Were Made for Bowling Green Job.”

Local police in Bowling Green were alerted to the gang’s presence as they continued to spend large amounts of money. Police Chief Carl Galliher and patrolman Ralph Castner followed the four as they got in their car. The gang was asked to put their hands up once they stopped the car.

Not wanting to go quietly, Miller ��^��

Miller was shot in the neck by Galliher and died. Juanita was also � �� %� �� " ��Rose was injured but recovered.

“Pretty Boy” Floyd got away, and went on to commit more crimes. He � �� \|�� "��Massacre that killed four law enforce-�� /�� $��\|�� orchard near East Liverpool, Ohio, �� -cers and FBI agents.

His funeral was attended by between `]%]]]� ��]%]]]��%��largest in Oklahoma’s history.

Miller’s funeral was not quite as popular, although the Tribune article

stated, “Thousands viewed the alleged bandit’s body at the Bowling Green morgue, and several parties claimed the body.”

Miller was eventually buried among other family members in Buckeye Cemetery in Scioto County, near Ohio Furnace. His grave bearing the wrong date of this death.

Mader posited that had Miller escaped with Floyd, he might have gained infamy on a larger scale.

Miller’s Toledo News-Bee obitu-ary said, “Toledo’s most notorious gunman, a pink-cheeked, quiet lad �� %� �� boasted, with his boots on and a gun in his hand.” •

Profile 2012 79

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80 Profile 2012

Stories from Porter GapA microcosm of Lawrence County and Appalachia

“Life is real old in Lawrence County. It is hard to see now because we sort of miss it but life is really old,” Ohio University

Southern Professor Dr. David Lucas said, as he turned up Porter Gap Road in early January.

Lucas practices folknography, a type of qualitative cultural research and believes what he and his stu-dents discovered along the three mile County Road 21, holds lessons — deeply rooted in the past — for everyone in Lawrence County today.

The road, according to Lucas, “is a perfect micro-cosm of Appalachia.” The stories about its homes, its cemeteries, its pig iron furnace, and even its old school house, shed light on exactly who the people of Lawrence County are now and why.

“There is no way to capture all of it,” he said, but as he drives along the windy road through dappled

sunlight, he begins with the story of how Porter Gap got its name.

“Old man Porter would harness up his team over in Flatwoods, Ky.,” he says. “He’d bring them over to the river and there was an old engine ferry. They didn’t have a bridge at that time. He would come over here and hook up to the old grader and he would grade the road.

“One evening in the late fall, he tripped while he was grading the road. He got the harnesses caught around his neck, and it broke his neck. And the team hauled him, drug him, through the gap and it became known as Porter’s Gap Road, Porter Gap,” he explained.

Life along Porter Gap was once centered around the LaGrange Furnace, built in 1836 and named for the Revolutionary War hero Lafayette’s farm in France, said Lucas, explaining LaGrange means simply an outlying farm in French. The furnace, �� %��

for its owners and is located at the exact middle of the length of road. It is now privately owned but �� _��

“Every furnace had a church, a school, a store, and a well, and then they had people that lived around it. They worked in the furnace, went to the school, shopped in the store. They got company issued script. It wasn’t real money. They got script,” �_�� %� �� $��lot of the LaGrange Freewill Baptist Church.

“This is the original site of the church, but it has ��%*�� squat brick building tucked into a bluff high above the road below.

Lucas also knows a thing or two about the old school building still standing at the other end of the road. Built sometime in the early 1840s, the building is now owned by Ironton Municipal Judge Clark Collins. Its hand-hewn stone foundation and outhouse are tell-tale signs of its longlife to a skilled observer, but the tale Lucas spins


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A vehicle travels along the west end of County Road 21, or Porter Gap Road, head-ing toward State Route 650.

Profile 2012 81

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about a visitor to the school is less obvious. “There was a tree here at one time,”

he said, pausing to look at a tall sycamore and speculating it to be too young to be the tree.

“Jesse James and his gang came in here from Missouri and they were staying out here in an old barn. They were staying with the Daltons,” said Lucas, recounting the tale and noting descendants of the Dalton family are still in the area.

“They went into the bank in Ironton to rob it and they found out there really wasn’t much money there to even bother with it. They really came to rob the train, but they found it was just iron ore and coal on it and they didn’t have any use for that. So, while they were here, they came down to the school and the teacher and the kids were all out here, and Jesse James put on a shooting exhibition with cards pinned to the tree. He rode around the tree shooting at it while the kids were all out watching it. I guess the kids were just so delighted,” he said.

An elderly woman Lucas interviewed whom he calls simply Grandma, once told him the tale just as it was passed down to her by her mother.

“She said, ‘Mom told me all about

it. She talked about how great things were. We didn’t know Jesse James was a desperado. We just thought he was friends with the Daltons. He was a good shot,’” Lucas recounts with a laugh, adding “They eventually went into Huntington, (W.Va.) and robbed a bank. Two of his men got shot in Huntington and they went back to Missouri. True story.”

But it is the area’s two cemeteries that fascinate Lucas the most.

LaGrange Cemetery, near Porter Gap’s intersection with Lawrence Road, is dotted with mature white oaks, a large Cyprus tree and some �� lower slopes of its prominent knoll are the newest graves — the most recent burials are within the last decade. A fence is in mid-construction around a family’s plot and an American Flag drifts in the wind next to a homemade solar light, which is no longer working.

Up on top of the hill, the names of the dead have long been worn off many of the headstones. Some bear the hallmark shield of Civil War vet-erans’ graves. Lucas kneels next to one, running his hand over the relief-sculpted letters that remain, but are mostly unreadable.

“You can see it was a Davidson but it doesn’t say much else,” Lucas says, making out that the soldier was part of the 92nd Ohio Infantry. “Here is this really interesting, powerful story that is untold. My heart continually tells me and the academic side of me says, ‘This is a story that ought to be told if �� %�� about this soldier.’ Where did he die? What happened”? Lucas asks as the wind blows leaves through the other-wise abandoned cemetery.

But the stories Lucas really wants to know are in a tiny cemetery across the ridge, on the other side of the old fur-nace where he and one of the county surveyors, Nate Dickerson, discovered a forgotten graveyard almost six years ago.

Lucas and his students had been told by many of the subjects they interviewed during their year of study-ing Porter Gap in 2005 and 2006 that there was an old African-American cemetery somewhere in the hills around the furnace.

But no one could tell them exactly where. Finally, one of the interview-ees told Lucas where he thought it was: On top of the hill, off the old LaGrange Furnace Road near the Perry and Upper township line. Once up there, the county surveyor marked a tree and the pair began rummaging through the brush looking for head-stones.

Lucas discovered a slightly rounded rock sticking up near the tree line and ��

layer of dirt around its base to reveal a hand-carved headstone, bearing the name: Mary Lou Mills.

They had found it. Later, with the help of ground-sens-

ing radar, they were able to identify the graves of 11 more individuals includ-ing nine adults and two children. Mary Lou is the only one they could identify. �� at the Lawrence County Courthouse or any other information to identify the others buried in the cemetery.

But Lucas believes he knows how Mary Lou and the others came to

be in what is now called Sacred Hills Cemetery.

He thinks a black solider return-ing from World War I contracted �� -ease home to Osborne Creek, where approximately 21 black families who worked at the LaGrange Furnace lived. As it was doing across the coun-try, the illness swept throughout the tiny community killing the dozen indi-viduals now buried at Sacred Hills.

“They took them up there and they buried them with evidently, just these hand-etched stone markers because

they couldn’t afford regular markers. The government wasn’t burying them �� There was nothing there to identify them,” Lucas said.

“You can feel the beauty of this place, the serenity. I think they did this on purpose,” said Lucas, standing at the edge of the cemetery looking out across the now re-forested hills of Lawrence County to the Ohio River below. “Feel how peaceful it is. You can feel that majesty. You can see why they put their loved ones here. It was cold and they were frightened. This was a terrible thing that happened to them.”

�� one of his most noteworthy and mean-ingful folknography accomplishments.

And as he tells his students, “Listen to these voices two ways. Listen to these voices and hear what they have to say and learn a lesson. Everything is for a purpose, everything.”

The inhabitants of Sacred Hills have plenty to say to the people of Lawrence County that is relevant now, he added.

“I think they represent, to a greater sense, they represent a time and a people all across the county. This was not an easy life that people led here. It is still not an easy life people live here. There is a lack of jobs, education and opportunity. But people keep at dig-ging away, not necessarily at iron ore and coal, but they are digging away trying to make a life for themselves and their families. I think, in a greater sense, this is what this cemetery repre-sents.” •

82 Profile 2012


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84 Profile 2012

In its past 25 years, Pixar Animation Studios has pro-duced some of the most beloved

��&��all time.

“Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story,” “Cars,” “WALL-E” and “Up” are �� _ �� created to push the bounds of both children’s and adult’s imagi-nations.

And to be a part of the produc-��_ �&�� %�'#� ��%*�set to be released in June, has been a surreal experience.

At least that’s how Crosby Clyse puts it.

Crosby, 24, is the 2006 valedic-torian of St. Joseph High School in Ironton. He has been work-ing with the animation studio since August 2010, after graduat-ing from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He is working as the assis- �� '#� ��%*��

=�� &�� %� "��said he acts as her liaison and a typical day is anything but, from performing administrative duties to working with various depart-ment managers and the director’s assistant.

“Every day is different,” Crosby said. “It’s been an amazing work-ing experience. The production process has been a huge learning experience.”

Riding the waveIronton man working atacclaimed animation studio

By Michelle GoodmanThe Tribune

SUBMITTED

Former St. Joseph High School student Crosby Clyse has come a long way from high school and community college productions to graduating from New York University’s Gallatin School to landing a job at Pixar Animation Studios as assistant to the producer.

Profile 2012 85

And getting to the Pixar studio in Emeryville, Calif., has been a journey in itself. The experience, he said, has been a non-stop wave that he doesn’t want to end.

Crosby’s proud parents, Bob and Sissy Clyse, both said their son, as well as their other three children, were always interested in the arts.

When his older brother, Tyler, began piano lessons, 4-year-old Crosby joined in on his own.

“He started pounding on the piano keys and making rhythms,” Bob said.

When he was a little older, Crosby participated in plays at Ironton High School and eventually at Ashland Community and Technical College as a freshman at St. Joseph.

“But what he fell in love with was the work call,” Sissy said. “He likes knowing how to build everything and the sound and lighting.”

Sissy said Crosby logged more than 100 volunteer hours at ACTC his senior year of high school.

As a freshman at NYU, Crosby dove �� -riculum on the concept of space and how it is used to tell a story.

He said he chose NYU for the potential internship opportunities.

“I was hoping to jump quickly into

��$��%*�"�� '/�� $� � ��

based on set design and the professor offered him an internship the second semester of his freshman year,” Sissy said. “They weren’t going to let him have it because they don’t let freshman have internships but the professor went to bat for him. He just went from one internship, theater-related, to another. He worked his butt off because that’s what he loved. He just knew what he wanted and he didn’t spare anytime.”

Crosby did internships or appren-ticeships every semester until he grad-uated including working with theater set designers, interning at the Public Theater and its Shakespeare in the Park productions, working in the art department for the Martha Stewart Show, and working with Tony Award-winning theatre director, scenic and costume designer Bob Crowley in London.

What gave him a leg up with Pixar was his work with Disney Theatrical Productions, also known as Disney on Broadway. He worked as the president’s assistant full-time for eight months.

“I’m kind of shocked sometime by ��%*�Crosby said of his journey to Pixar.

Most notably, Crosby was able to meet one of his heroes in animation, Alan Menken, who wrote the musical �� }��“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

The experience of being on the Pixar lot is something in itself, too, Crosby said of the facility that encom-passes one entire city block.

“Every day is a different day,” he said. “What I love about here is having everyone on site, in one place.”

Nearing the end of production for “Brave,” Crosby said he is excited to visit his family and get their reactions �� ``��

“We’re proud of him,” Sissy said,

noting that both she and Bob are proud of all their children’s accom-plishments. “He’s worked really hard.”

“They are pretty spectacular peo-ple,” Crosby said of his parents. “I ��$�� both of them. I would not have been here without their constant support.”

As for the future, Crosby said he is not sure where it will lead, but he will ��$��

“I never felt like I needed to choose one thing for the rest of my life,” Crosby said. “I’ve been very fortunate. It’s purely a blessing. … “Sometimes I have to shake myself. We’ll see what happens. The fates could change.” •

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86 Profile 2012

Teaching the TeachersCCC satellite program prepares future teachers

Diligently practicing their cursive handwriting, third graders in Jeremy Dillon’s language arts class at Dawson-Bryant Elementary

��$�� about their favorite books.

“We’ve worked all week on this and the writing process,” Dillon said to his students. “It’s in your hands now. You don’t need me anymore.”

One student tries to think of just the right words for her favorite book, “Anansi the Spider.”

“What are some words you could use?” Dillon asks her. “Tell me about the main characters, the setting.”

“I really like working with this age group. Especially third grade,” Dillon said. “They are at that age when they are independent and responsible for themselves. They like school and they want to learn, and you can really see things are coming together and things are clicking.”

And things have begun to come together and click for Dillon as a teacher as well. It wasn’t too long ago that he was a student himself.

�� }��&�� Dawson-Bryant Local School District. He graduated from Ohio University Southern in 2009 and started substitute teaching in the winter of 2010 for about a half a year, then moved to the middle school as a full-time aide before getting hired at the elementary school.

� � �+�� -ated in 2011 from OUS and is an eighth grade social studies teacher at Dawson-Bryant Middle School.

As a new teacher, Moore said she prepared her four classes by letting them know who was boss on day one.

“I started out pretty strict,” she said. “I was easy going, but I was strict. I respected them and they respected me. I don’t bluff. They know what is expected out of them and they know what they can-not get away with.”

As former Dawson-Bryant High School graduates,

the new teachers have come full circle to teach in �� #��+�� }�� do not have.

Each agreed their time in the Teacher Academy program as high school juniors and seniors helped prepare them for what was to come.

What is Teacher Academy?The Teacher Academy program is a satellite pro-

gram of Collins Career Center that gives students a taste of what it is like to be a teacher. Juniors and seniors in the Chesapeake, Ironton and Dawson-Bryant school districts are able to take the course at their home schools.

Sarah Humphreys is the instructor for all the schools.

“What I love about the program is that it gives kids the chance to try out a career before they have to actually declare a major in college,” Humphreys said.

Through the program, students learn teaching


Profile 2012 87

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strategies and philosophies, legal issues, the role of education in society, curriculum, parenting, interpersonal skills and signs of disorders or child-hood diseases. Students also complete a portfolio that can go with them to college as reference material or to help with the Praxis teacher exam. Some college credit is also available through OUS and Shawnee State University.

Aside from classroom work and instruction by Humphreys, the stu-dents also spend time each day in a classroom placement.

By the end of their senior years, students will have spent time in pre-school, early elementary, middle school and high school classes. They also have time in special needs classes at Open Door School and tour Tri-State Industries.

In classroom placements, Teacher Academy students help teachers and work with students themselves doing small group tutoring and instruction.

“They will leave this program know-

ing exactly which grade level they want to teach, what subject they want to teach,” Humphreys said. “Then they’ll have experience helping kids in those areas.”

Ahead of the gameMoore said she was glad she was

able to try a little of everything during her Teacher Academy experience.

“It made me realize I wanted to be a middle school teacher,” she said. “Teacher Academy gave me some real-life experiences. That and student teaching really got my feet wet.”

'^�� %� �� what I wanted to do before I even got to college,” Dillon said about the pro-gram. “I talked to a lot of people who have said they wish they could have gone through college knowing imme-diately what they were going to do.”

Both Moore and Dillon agreed that the program not only helped them commit to teaching but helped them through college as well.


Teacher Jeremy Dillon works with students in his language arts class at Dawson-Bryant Elementary who are writing persuasive essays.

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Profile 2012 89

“It was a good base building block,” Dillon said. “I was surprised at how much we were able to learn through it. There was a lot of stuff we learned though Teacher Academy that even through college was never really brought up again.”

'�� _��-��%*�+�� '��&��_�� and senior year. … “You don’t really $�� _�� the classroom. Books can’t teach you all of it.”

A new generationAs current students of the Teacher

=� �� %� �� +�� Roach and senior Brandon Doyle, both at Dawson-Bryant High School, said �� they want to continue with education through college and become teachers.

“I guess I’ve always wanted to be a � ��%*� ~� �� '=�� $��helping kids. “Just seeing the kids, I feel like I’ve helped them with something they had a hard time with.”

Roach said she wants to teach either kindergarten or special education class-es and hopes to come back to the Dawson-Bryant district.

'�� $� �� Academy does, besides the classroom work, is it gets your feet in the water,” Doyle said. “It helps you get prepared and makes you think, ‘Do I really want to do this?’”

Doyle said he hopes to teach middle school history after he graduates from college. He is currently observing a kindergarten class, something he wasn’t ��

“I thought the kids would be crazy, but they are all well-mannered and well-behaved,” Doyle said.

Even though the Teacher Academy students don’t actually get to teach an entire class, Doyle said the program makes him feel like he is doing the work of an actual teacher, from making cop-ies to mentoring younger students.

“It makes me feel good,” Doyle said. “It makes me feel like I’ve done some-thing during the day to help someone. It keeps me motivated.” •


(TOP) Dawson-Bryant High School student Brandon Doyle works with students on their persuasive essays in language arts class. Brandon is part of Collins Career Center’s Teacher Academy program at Dawson-Bryant. (ABOVE) Teacher Jeremy Dillon checks over students’ work during language arts class at Dawson-Bryant Elementary.

90 Profile 2012

ONA, W.Va. — With a look of sadness and confusion on her face, the woman had

��“My cat needs a home,” she whis-

pered.The lady explained that she was

�� %�unable to transport her 7-year-old companion.

“He’s a lap cat and so sweet,” she explained.

Unfortunately, it’s a story that Sue Brown hears more often than she would like. But she takes the woman’s and the cat’s information �� $� ��her if there is room.

�� -�� {]�� at Brown’s no-kill facility, Little Victories Animal Shelter in Ona.

=�� -�� %� �� ]�� \]]��so in the outside kennels known as Puppy Town.

'�&�� $�� take on a job like this,” Brown said of the shelter. “If you’re just an �� %�� and how many unwanted pets and �� dead pets there are. It’s really, really hard.”

The good fightEach life saved is a little victory

By Michelle GoodmanThe Tribune


A puppy peeks through the bars of his cage at Little Victories in Ona, W.Va.

Profile 2012 91

In loving memoryThe birth of Little Victories came

from Brown’s personal struggle with the loss of her cocker spaniel, Chloe, nine years ago.

Even before Chloe died, some-one dropped a matted lump of fur at the end of Brown’s driveway in Huntington.

“I thought someone had dropped off an old dog to die,” Brown said. The dog had cataracts, was dirty, matted and malnourished.

“I keep canned food in the car and I got it to come to me,” Brown explained. “Once I got it on a leash it started jumping around like a young pup. So we took it that day and got it groomed. I knew if I took it to the shel-ter at that point it would be put down.”

Brown contacted New York Cocker Rescue to come and get the 2-year-old spaniel that she named Biscuit. Soon after, a relay team picked up Biscuit and found her a home with a family in Pennsylvania.

“When Chloe died a bit after that, I was grieving so much. I thought, in her memory, I would try to help other dogs,” Brown said.

With Brown’s determination to honor Chloe, and the support of the community, Little Victories was born and was an immediate success.

“I put a letter to the editor in the paper and four people met in my living room and that’s how we got started,” Brown recalled.

Brown and her small group had public meetings and spread their cause by word of mouth and more letters in local newspapers.

“People just started sending us dona-tions out of the blue,” Brown said. “It

amazed me how people trusted. We went immediately and set up a corpo-� �� ]\X�[X�[��@��a license. And we have accounted for every penny that has been donated. That’s one thing we pride ourselves on. It all goes to the animals and their support.”

Bitter beginnings�� %�#��

her crew of volunteers rescued and fostered dogs and cats out of their own homes. As rewarding as it is to save lives, Brown said, it was hard to see the condition of many of the animals and she became bitter with people.

“We would have people drive up with dogs half beaten to death, starved,” Brown said. “I would be up at 3 a.m. bawling, crying, because we couldn’t take more, couldn’t do more. They’ve thrown them out of car windows at us.”

'=�� %*�#��said of the pets. “They are dropped from the only home they knew, for years sometimes. We’ve had dogs cry until they were hoarse.”

But Brown began to notice her bit-terness toward people was being offset by those that really did care for the animals, too. Donations of food or blankets and even money sometimes accompanied the animals in need.

“Then it dawned on me,” Brown said. “I was going to have to look at the big picture and try to save as many as I could and work for the day when there will be no more.”

Expansion and support

When it was apparent that Little Victories was outgrowing a home-based


Sue Brown, owner of Little Victories stands outside the animal shelter holding one of its residents.


(ABOVE) Sarah Wasley walks one of the residents of Little Victories. (BELOW) Sadie, a pregnant pit-boxer mix, is referred to by her handlers as a “Doll Baby”.

92 Profile 2012

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operation, Brown moved the shelter to a 115-acre piece of land in Ona, thanks to donations.

�� %� �� $�� _�� %� ��

�� $�� $�� Town.

�� %��-�� %� � �� a donation from Donna B. Wellman, a ��

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'��&��%� �� %*� #�� '@��&� �� %� �� $�� @�� %�� *

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�� of jobs. Some walk and feed the animals. Some clean kennels, cages and mop the �� $� �� phones. Some foster pets and some are on an adoption committee.

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Profile 2012 93


Mechelle Mullins gives Sadie, a pit boxer mix, a back rub at Little Victories.

(ABOVE) Little Bit is one of many felines available for adoption. (LEFT) Three puppies bark with excitement as workers enter the room.

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94 Profile 2012

Local family enjoys pastime

In a typical garage, most people house a family car or two, a lawn mower and a few tools.

Rube Allman’s, from South Point, houses a Pontiac GTO dragster, which has been driven at 182 mph. The car �� around $70,000.

Allman races the GTO in the International Hot Rod Association. Allman just bought a garage to store his old cars and race cars, which includes a Firebird Trans AM.

“We bought the other garage because we needed more space,” Allman said. “I wanted to get my house back to being a house.”

Allman already owns Allman’s Body Shop, which is used primarily for insurance work and car repair. The body shop has been operating since 1990. When they opened the body shop, they repaired wrecked cars and painted cars in the evening.

'=��%�� get serious on a job and we decided on body work,” Allman said.

The hobby began with bracket racing, which they still compete in. Bracket racing is a different form of racing. It doesn’t matter how fast the car is, each competitor is running off the estimated time placed on their windshield. They make a time trial to gauge the speed of the car, then they place their estimated time on the windshield.

“You need to run the same time tri-als consistently,” Allman said. “That way it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of money or little money.”

If the cars are running on an eighth


Revved upfor racing


Rube Allman, of South Point with his Pontiac GTO dragster

P

Profile 2012 95

mile track and a car posts a 4.93, then that time gets placed on the wind-shield. When the competition begins, the car needs to run as close as pos-sible to the time on the windshield. A car can run above the posted time and still win but if the car runs below the posted time, it’s called breaking out and it’s an automatic loss. The only chance to win if a car breaks out is if the other competitor breaks out with a lower time.

Allman credits bracket racing to the overall success of drag racing.

“They moved to that in the ‘70s, early ‘80s,” Allman said. “If it wasn’t for bracket racing, drag racing might not be good right now. It really changed things.”

Allman is part of R&R racing, which stands for Randy and Rube racing. Allman credits much of his success to Randy and Kathy Kelly, who own BWC Trucking.

Allman began by racing locally.“You go to these local tracks and

you race against the same people all of the time,” Allman said.

Allman then decided to race in a pro-am division. Pro-am is an elimi-nation event, which is different from bracket racing. If a competitor loses in bracket racing they can buy their way back in. Pro-am holds races on Saturday and Sunday, if a car loses, then they are done for that day.

� �� %� =�� %� ��

�� /~=%��^��$��%�� /��round but placed in the top 16 nationally.

Randy and BWC Trucking, in many ways, have been the biggest support for Allman’s fortunes.

“Two years ago, we went to Montgomery, Ala. and I broke a valve spring in the motor,” Allman said. “We came back and wanted to go to Columbus in a door-cars only event, so Randy took the motor out of his car and put it in my car so we could run the race up there. Randy was having a motor built and I ended up running that motor the rest of the season.”

Last season, they broke a lifter in �� running on seven cylinders.

“We had four weeks to get the �� _�� +�� %*�=�� '@��_��and then we won Michigan.”

Allman’s wife enjoys going to races and she enjoys the atmosphere.

“She probably enjoys going to the races more than me,” Allman said. '�� _�� Pontiac GTO as her own.”

Allman acknowledges the lack of knowledge that drag racing garners.

“It is a complicated sport for peo-ple to understand,” Allman said. “Everybody thinks it’s easy. They have trouble understanding the process. This is close racing. You are winning by thousandths of a second and you’re losing by thousandths of a second.” •

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One of the race cars owned by South Point resident Rube Allman.

Profile 2012 97

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98 Profile 2012

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Profile 2012 99

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100 Profile 2012

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Profile 2012 101

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102 Profile 2012

Belle in the WellMurder remains mystery three decades later

They called her The Belle in the Well. That �� $�%� � ��$��directed by the caprice of Mother Nature.

No one knew who she was; they still don’t today. All that was on her body was detritus. A fake brass

token from a Jerry Falwell revival in the pocket of her soaked, dank cable-knit sweater, a Trailways bus ticket from Ashland, Ky., to Huntington, W.Va., and the key to a locker at a Greyhound station.

These were the worldly goods of a woman who in the silence of the grave has held onto the mystery of her life for three decades.

On April 21, 1981, a decomposing body was trussed and hauled out of a 10-foot cistern in the north end of Lawrence County. Concrete blocks had weighed the body down into the murky rainwater, tied to it with her own panty hose.

“I’m guessing her neck was broken,” said Ronnie }� ��%� �� Z� � ��the day she was found. “They tied her with the

blocks and dropped her in. Spring rains rotted the hose and made them pop.”

Cathy and Tammy Baxter, then 13 and 14, were playing near the well when they dragged off the cement top and looked inside. Frightened, the teens ran back home, telling their father a story he couldn’t believe. It was John Baxter who called the Lawrence County Sheriff.

Diamond was a deputy then and remembers that early spring afternoon.

“It wasn’t cold. We were just in shirt sleeves,” he � ��'�� $� �� cut the concrete slab out.”

With Diamond was Roger Burge, another deputy, as well as then-prosecuting attorney Richard Meyers.

“It was up on a ridge above Lake Forest,” Meyers said. “She had been there awhile. In my years I saw lot of them. That was minor. She was bloated, white, had clothes on. Most of her body wasn’t deteriorated because of the clothes.”

Burge was one who went into the well after the water was drained.

No wallet. No driver’s license. Nothing tangible

to say who she was. Just a 3-year-old bus ticket and that key.

“We found a locker at the Greyhound bus station that she had used,” Burge said.

Huntington Police Corporal Damon Slone went with the deputies to his city’s bus station near Marshall University.

“There was a suitcase with clothing and photo-graphs, family photographs,” Slone said. “More than likely she came up missing from the bus sta-tion.”

A stranger, she apparently reached out to the habi-tués at the station for they were the ones who gave investigators the most information.

“They remembered seeing her,” Slone said. “She changed buses from around the Tennessee area.”

Some thought her home was in Arkansas; others believed it was Alabama. But after a few years the memory plays tricks.

'�� X��[� �� her,” Slone said. “We tried our best. There was no forensics at the time. You didn’t have forensics.”

Every so often over the years, a lead might surface


Profile 2012 103

and just as quickly evaporate, leaving the nameless woman undisturbed in an unmarked grave, ironi-cally off Homeless Road.

“(The case) was never closed, but once I realized I didn’t have anyone to charge, there wasn’t much �� %*� +�� '=� �� %� ��%� ��_�years, it would come up. But we still don’t have anything.”

What they did have were theories, all with a com-mon thread.

“She had rubber bands around her wrists,” Slone said. “And when you ride a (motor) bike in the win-ter, you wear rubber bands, so the air doesn’t go up your sleeves.”

Investigators at that time believed her path had crossed with that of some motorcyclists, maybe even a gang.

Fast forward to a warm June morning 2011 when a new group of investigators, still wanting answers, watched that unmarked grave be opened for the ��]��

In her casket that morning was a bag with the clothes investigators had pulled from the bus locker in 1981. By that time those family snapshots had either disintegrated in the bag or were lost.

�� }�=� ��could solve the decades-old mystery.

'�� "��%*� �� “Certainly there are other deaths and other cases �� #�� person.”

=�� %��&��entered the available information that came from the original autopsy and police reports into the � �� } � �� &��

'�� $�� }�=� � �� a better description entered into the website, just maybe we could get an identity,” the sheriff said. '�� one.”

��}�=�� %��_�step would be to determine the circumstances of her murder and possibly identify her killer.

'@�� }�=�� $%� �� %� �� %*� � �� “You don’t want any murder to go unsolved.”

Those answers that might be welcomed by her family, certainly to those original investigators.

“It is one that nags me the worst,” Slone said about the case. “She was trying to make a new start, had no work, no money. (Someone) picked her up for a party, abused her and threw her down a well.” •


The casket of a women dubbed “The Belle in the Well” is excavated by workers in June of 2011. With the advanced technology investigators once again are trying to discover the identity of Lawrence County’s only unknown Jane Doe.

104 Profile 2012

CHESAPEAKE — The only per-son who knows what it’s really like to be a mother is another

mother. The only person who can give the best advice is, likewise, another mother.

And the women who make up the Mothers of Preschoolers understand that philosophy full well. In fact, they live it.

�� @�� of each month for two to three hours at a time, the MOPS group of mothers get together at the Chesapeake United Methodist Church to compare notes on child-rearing, give encouragement to each other and just plain have fun and be each other’s friends.

“It gives you companionship,” said Sarah Runyon, mother to 4-year-old Evan and 1-year-old Seth. “To be able to talk with other moms that go through things. It is hard to be home with two �� this stage of our lives. It is a nice get-together. They have day care and for two hours you can talk to adults.”

For almost 40 years MOPS has pro-vided support to women like Runyon in a friendly setting, starting out with eight �� +�� @�� ~��%�"��%��\|��

Eight years later MOPS formed a �� -�� \|�`%�\�]�� +�� -nar.

It was Christine Case, the wife of the new pastor at Chesapeake Methodist, who brought MOPS to the village.

“One of my friends from graduate school told me about it,” said Case ��


Support group brings moms together

A mother’sadvice


Christine Case, a mother of two, has helped to develop a MOPS program to help provide support to women in a friendly set-ting. MOPS is a Mothers of Preschoolers group.

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Profile 2012 105

16-month-old Sarah. “She had gone to it and suggested I look for one.”

The closest one met in Kenova, W.Va., and Case was looking for something closer to home. Her solu-tion was to start one herself.

“When we started, there were four of us,” she said. “We are adding to it little by little.”

Now the group of eight meets biweekly during the school year to hear speakers, learn a skill and just hang out. Children are brought in tow, because the church provides childcare. And although the group came about to help mothers of infants or preschool-ers, all mothers are welcome.

“It is a time of fellowship,” Case said. “We have a snack in the beginning and then speakers. The CEO from Ronald McDonald House talked to us about the charity. It can also be things like sharing a craft. A lady from our church makes ornaments and she talked about why she does it. We all had the oppor-tunity to make an ornament. And we do get to know each other and have times of sharing about our kids and what we are going through.”

Another time a fellow parishioner who is also a nurse spoke to the group, giving the women the opportunity to get cer-

tain child-rearing questions answered.“It helps moms develop friendships

and encourages moms to value moth-ers,” Case said. “It is challenging us to grow as mothers, women and leaders. And it is not every day you get to sit down with a group of ladies who are going through the same thing, like trying to get your child to eat their food.”

While the advice and encourage-ment is well-received, the women who come to the MOPs group have the opportunity to reclaim aspects of their lives the responsibility of caring for children can reduce.

“When you are a stay-at-home mom, you have lost some of your identity. You don’t get to socialize because you are not in the workplace,” Case said. “One thing about our group is a lot of the ladies have moved to the Chesapeake area and a lot of them don’t know people in the area. We get to know each other and we have a Facebook page so that we can talk to one another.”

Since its inception MOPS has grown to become an international company, instituting a publishing house and a group for teenaged mothers. But it is the grassroots level that gives the orga-nization its unique strength.

“I don’t get out and it is an oppor-tunity to meet other people,” said Andrea Parrott, mother of 3-year-old twin boys and a 2-year-old girl. “I love being able to meet new people who

have babies the same age as mine. And you get to do different stuff. I made an pie. I had never made a pie from scratch. It was apple. It was deli-cious.” •

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106 Profile 2012

Profile 2012 107

108 Profile 2012

Who am I?High school students share experiences as Appalachians

It started out as a spur-of-the-moment suggestion. Evelyn Capper, Fairland High School media specialist, and educators from Ohio University

Southern-Proctorville Center were brainstorming one day to come up with an idea for a countywide project for the high school students.

“Let’s do a writers’ workshop and let’s do some-thing with our Appalachian heritage,” Capper said.

With that decided, the word went out to all high schools asking students for their literary take on what it means to be part of the Appalachian culture, focus-ing on the theme of “I Am an Appalachian. That is

Who I Am.”“Some of our students didn’t even realize they

were Appalachian,” Capper said. “Some students wrote an essay who weren’t born here. But are you an Appalachian because you are born here or because you live here?”

The schools then submitted what their educators �� were invited to a workshop in October where they �� $��

All schools participated in the workshop except for Ironton High and Ironton St. Joseph because of ��

“Our students have just grown,” Capper said. “And if you could have been there the day they had the writ-

ers’ workshop, they have literally blossomed. Their regional eyes have been opened. With regard to their writing styles, I think the experience helped them. They were able to work on different aspects of their writing.”

Now a committee has chosen the top four essays to �� &��=��-��~��$�/�� in that selection process.

Along with each essay is a short portrait, verbal and visual, of the students selected as they talk about their hopes for the future and those who have inspired them along their paths.

As Capper sees it, the writing experience has had multiple rewards.

“They were very, very proud,” she said.


In writing a tribute about a beloved grandfather, Jesse Blevins has created a tribute to the Appalachian culture.

“It was fond to remember him and writing something for other people,” Blevins said about her grandfather, Blain Duncan. “But it was hard. He was such an important part of my life. When my mom was going back to school, he spent a lot of time with me.

“He was so fun-loving. He was like a little kid. He was always up to something crazy. He was so fun to be around.”

The senior at Fairland High School plans to go to Ohio University Southern campus in the fall to study early childhood development with the goal of becoming an elementary teacher.

“I like little kids and teaching them things,” she said.

As the big sis to three brothers and a

sister, Blevins has had many chances to stretch her teaching muscles.

“They kind of annoy me, but I like them anyway,” she joked.

Blevins also likes to explore her creativ-ity through words.

“I love publications at school where we work on the yearbook and we have an online newspaper,” Blevins said.

Besides her grandfather, Blevins said her most inspiring person is her father.

“Because he is hard working,” she said. “He isn’t one to judge people. He would help anybody.”

The idea of writing about the Appalachian culture gave Blevins much satisfaction, she said.

“It was a great idea,” she said. “I feel a lot of times high school students aren’t given a voice. They are not old enough for their opinions to matter. This gave us voice.”

Jesse BlevinsHere in Appalachia, our creativity is what makes us unique. It sets us apart from the rest of our country more than our accents, our home-grown way of life, or how close knit our families are. Being able to call myself an Appalachian is a right, and even an honor that nobody outside our region has. To me, as the granddaughter of �� he did, creativity has always been the most important thing. I can’t imagine what my �� &��am from such a young age.

When I was just a little girl, I remember my papaw pulling me onto his lap and saying, “C’mere, Jesse, your papaw wants to show you somethin’.” That was the day

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Profile 2012 109

�

Leah Webb

�� couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6, but on that hot summer day, he ingrained a love of art in me that I’ll never forget.

Papaw was an artist through and through. When his brush met the canvas, it was like his creativity just burst forth like ��$�� Day – it was magical. While growing up, I loved watch-ing him paint. Especially as a small child, I was so awestruck at the way his paintings made me feel. It was just a magical feeling that started deep inside and boiled over. It’s indescrib-able.

/�� creativity, like lightening but without thunder. There was

no warning, just brilliance – the most incredible kind of brilliance. It was pure, unadul-terated beauty, like a wild horse, running free through �� -covered.

/�� -ing, as far as I know, he just picked it up on his own. Because of this lack of condi-tioning, every brushstroke he � �� /��had this wild way of paint-ing. It was so vibrant, bright �� /�� &�controlled, it was an extension of his self and anyone who �$��would tell you he was uncon-trollable. I suppose that came from growing up in the hills of

��$��/��&�� to be tied to anything, and his art shows it.

When I was little, he would always color with me. I remember that he would �� /�&��just do whatever looked good to him. My little kid brain couldn’t wrap itself around his �� %�'=��&�about lines; it’s about feeling. If you’re not feelin’ somethin’, then you’re doin’ it wrong.”

Looking back now, I realize what he meant. It wasn’t just about art; it was about life as well. If you constantly act the way people expect you to, you’re not living. You have to feel like you’re living life the way you want to, not the

way you’re told. If everyone lived the way they were told, society wouldn’t have got-ten anywhere and civilization would have failed a very, very long time ago. Life is all about being a unique human being. If you aren’t willing to live outside the lines, then you may miss out getting where you need to go. It’s kind of like being a horse in a cor-ral, fenced in by stereotypes and what people think about you. You’re not going to get anywhere unless you actually have the will and desire to jump the fence.

That was the thing about my papaw, he could tell you anything and you’d get a life lesson out of it at some point in

time. The references he used to make his point depended on who you were. With me it was always art and he always used it to tell me to just be myself and embrace my individuality. =�� %� '�� are the same because if they were they wouldn’t be worth two cents or the time it took to look at them.”

/�� art was something you do for yourself. If you love it, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. That mentality has affected how I live my life each day. Whether you’re =�� #��-self because if you love you, isn’t that all that really mat-ters?

It is a love of words that propels Leah Webb and she appreciated the oppor-tunity to write about the place she

calls her home.“This took a lot of thinking,” Webb

said about creating her essay. “But it was cool to know I was writing something that was going to be part of something bigger. Usually I write and then I crumple it up. This is something to read. I do a lot of writ-ing and will scratch over it and do it over.”

The Symmes Valley senior knows where she is going after graduation, but � ��&��

“I am caught between journalism and teaching,” she said. “I think I want to teach, but I also like to write.”

The appeal of being a journalist would be “just getting to tell other people’s sto-

ries,” Webb said.But her love of literature makes her

wonder if her career might be as a high school English teacher.

“English is my favorite class,” she said. “I love to read, love to write. I really like Emily Dickenson’s poetry. I love the way she writes. It is beautiful.”

=�� @�� -�� ^��/ �� /��%� ��%� � �� "�� university.

Besides her parents, her greatest inspiration comes from the world stage: Gandhi.

“Everything he said was very, very wise, very peaceful,” she said. “My favor-ite quote of his is ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’”

I have lived here in Appalachia for as long as I can remember. This is my home. This is where my family, my friends and all my memories are. It really is a special place, beautiful and safe . . . but to outsiders, our area can seem more than a little ��=��"�� %� ��you’d think she came from a different planet entirely. We’re talking about a girl who, �� %�� for fun, and even stranger that almost everybody in our high school is at church on Wednesday night. She thinks we talk funny (and we think the same of her!) To her, =��

I used to say the same thing. I am stuck in the middle of nowhere. I always told myself that when I “grow up,” I will move away to a big city. Now that I’m less than �� %�� =�� %� ��=�� is a part of me. . . . I can’t just leave this place behind.

�� =��%�� &�� \]]�people, but an abundance of farm animals. No cell phone service, no movie theaters, malls, bars — not even a single stoplight. But, is this really the middle of nowhere? =��%�� $�� &��%� ��

there’s nothing to do. This is a rural area, dotted with farms and gardens. Actually, there’s always something that needs to be done. Animals need fed, grass needs mowed, weeds in the garden have to be pulled. In the sum-mer, when coastals are hang-ing out at the beach, my fam-ily is putting hundreds, if not thousands, of strawberry plants in the ground. We’re weeding them, growing them, picking them, and selling them. While big city teens are at the

mall, I’m at home, sitting on the back porch with my family, my real network. When there’s not any cell phone service, and the Internet is so slow it could be powered by snails pulling lead weights, you automatically become clos-er to the people you live with, whether you mean to or not.

Here in Appalachia, fairs and festivals are paramount. There are hundreds, celebrating everything from banana splits to stargazing to scrapbooking. I don’t know for sure, but if I

had to guess, I would say there are probably more festivals in Appalachia then there are any-where else in the entire coun-try. It seems like there is always something worth celebrating!

Here in Lawrence County, Ohio, people look forward to the fair all year. We live for the funnel cakes and the rides and the entertainment.

Also, many of the kids in my school are involved in 4-H, so the fair is something they have been preparing for. When �� %� ��

who’s been anticipating its arrival practically lives there until it’s over. The most fre-quent question asked through-out that week is, “Have you been to the fair yet?!” The fair is a really BIG DEAL around here, so it seems a shame that it’s only here for a week, rather than being a year-round event.

But then again, if it were con-stant, we Lawrence Countians wouldn’t have anything to look forward to, would we?

Appalachia isn’t all fairs and festivals and small towns,

though. It is an area heavily affected by poverty as well as substance abuse. I don’t know anyone who isn’t in some way affected by one or the other.

But, in spite of those few dark patches, the sky of our Appalachia is otherwise blue. This isn’t the middle of nowhere or inhabited by uncivilized hillbillies. We are a strong group of people with a rich heritage, living in one of the most beautiful and unique areas in our country.

We are Appalachia.

110 Profile 2012

Eric Sias

Eric Sias’ writing may win him acco-lades but he admits he gravitates toward math when he is in class at

Chesapeake High School.“When you are in math, you can always

�� %*��

this 11th grader.“I am thinking about medical school,”

Sias said. “I have been in the hospital envi-ronment a lot and I want to help people. �� *

As the son of cardiologist Dr. Tina Sias, the 16-year-old has had a front-row seat on what it takes to be a successful physi-cian. In fact, he calls his mother one of his ��

“She is a very hard worker, very pas-sionate about her job, very inspiring,” he said. “She always has a positive attitude.”

When he is not in the classroom, Sias can be found out hunting or on the golf

course. For the past two years he has been on Chesapeake’s varsity golf team. He is also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Big Branch Church and the Soaring Eagles 4-H club.

Sias’ essay focused on the Appalachian way of life he observes, especially with his grandparents and their role in fostering that special culture. Writing about what � �� &� � ��assignment, he said.

“I found it interesting that I could express my thoughts and opinions and that is very interesting,” Sias said. “I think it is great that we can get our voice out there about the area and its culture. We can show the rest of the world how we are. It is my background. Any place has its own culture. A lot of urban areas look at this place and think we are a bunch of hillbillies, but we aren’t. We can be just as successful as anyone.”

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Appalachian culture may appear odd or backward to many other cultures even in America, but I share that way of life with millions of people. The Appalachian way of life is my only way of life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Time may move on and I may end up doing great things one day in diverse places but my heritage goes back to Appalachia and that will never change.

��&��\{� �� _��\{�� %��the colors of Appalachian ways. I grew up in the Tri-State, which to me is where Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and the great Ohio River converge into a serene landscape of hills, towns and several large but unique bridges.

All through my childhood I have lived within an hour of all my grandparents. This is something that I have often taken for granted. There are many out there whose core family lives far away and they don’t see them very often. My grandparents have been a huge part of my life. They are the ones who introduced me to Appalachian culture.

Many times would I go to either of my grandparents’ houses and just learn and absorb how they run their days and what their strong beliefs are. Through them I have learned that Appalachians are very opinionated and don’t welcome change. That is how we have preserved the culture for so many years from when it originated. Each time that I learned from them it has melted and formed me into a true Appalachian citizen. I took on their beliefs and what they treasure. They were passed down to me through caring and authentic words.

One of the biggest parts of Appalachian lifestyle is Christianity. Everywhere you go

in the Appalachian area you’ll see a church. From the huge lavish cathe-drals to the little white country establishments in the hills, but whether big or small they all serve one purpose and that purpose is to serve God.

=�� as it is by beliefs. One of my most prominent Appalachian traditions is a reuniting Sunday dinner after church. My parents and I for as long as I can remember have gone to my grandparents’ for Sunday dinner. Not every Sunday did we make the journey, but we went more Sundays than not. These are special times for me.

When I can see at least one side of the family all together at the same time it is very exciting and is something I look forward to. For dinner we might have fried chicken or pork chops with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn on the cob, baked yams, salad and a big glass of homemade iced tea. Those meals were my comfort food. Those meals were made with care

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Profile 2012 111

Trevor Wilcox

Trevor Wilcox has a simple goal — to be the new Dr. Seuss.

“I would really like to write children’s books for ages 5 to 10,” Wilcox said.

�� }�� @��_� �� classes at Dawson-Bryant High School and is now studying at the Ohio University Southern.

“I am doing my freshman classes and hopefully I will get them done in a shorter time than a year and then go to OU in Athens for creative writing,” Wilcox said.

But he also has another dream, to be a teacher like his mother.

“My mom passed away when I was 13 and told her I would be a teacher,” he said.

Writing about Appalachia was an assignment he found easy.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said. “People around the world kind of take Appalachia for granted.”

Yet it is the world Wilcox wants to see ��

“I want to travel everywhere,” he said. “I want to end in California on a beach. I � �� place I would go to would be Niagara Falls. I would like to maybe go to Africa, the Ivory Coast and help out other people there.”

The thread throughout his life has �� %� � �� grade writing a short story that ended up ��

“In eighth grade we had to write a scary story and mine ended up to be 14 pages,” Wilcox said. “ It was about a boy and girl who has a fear of clowns.”

/�� \� �� mother, followed by his eighth grade and senior English teachers — Carrie Holland and Hope Crabtree.

“Ms. Holland pushed me to start writ-ing,” he said. “I liked to write but I never opened myself up. She pushed me to start experimenting with writing and got me to fall in love with it. And Ms. Crabtree inspired me to make it my career.”

and love. Intended to feed the whole family, to bring them together, and feed them love just as much as food.

Sunday dinner means more than just a large amount of mouth-watering deliciousness, it allows the family to socialize, to update everybody about each other.

It allows the family to laugh and fellowship. Sometimes we may go out on the front porch and continue drinking the iced tea or maybe we moved to a grape soda or even a bot-tle of Coke. We would sit out there and tell stories… serious ones, funny ones and nonsense ones… it didn’t matter. Stories

told were stories cherished. I can remember my grandmoth-er telling me about when she was a child, about how she made butter in the churn and about how she had to wash clothes with a washboard. I always looked up to my grand-mother because of her hard-working demeanor.

In the Appalachian area, vegetable gardens tend to be quite popular. They are a lot of work, having raised one myself, but if done right are very rewarding. My grand-mother always plants a garden every year. She includes in her garden, cabbage, lettuce, corn,

green beans, potatoes and car-rots. From these vegetables my grandmother forms the Sunday dinner. She also has a peach and apple tree from which I ��%��and healthy fruit.

Hardworking is another description of Appalachia. From the steel mills and the coal mines, �� -ies, Appalachians are hard work-ers. You can walk in any hospital, �� %� ��%�� in the area and you see people working hard to put food on the table. Sometimes it may seem like some people in Appalachia are not very hardworking, but deep

inside hardworking sums up the soul of Appalachia.

One of the most popular tra-ditions in Appalachia that will never die out due to all those who are passionate about it is hunting. I myself hunt, and do enjoy its sport. It lets you con-nect to nature in a unique way; you get to take in all that nature has to offer. Once, my dad and I planned on missing church to go hunting one Sunday. We sat there in our homemade blind of old straw bales and didn’t see a thing except a curious little barn swallow that kept chirp-ing, “church, church, church.” So feeling guilty, we got up, left

the blind, and went to church. My aunt once told me, “Shoot animals with cameras, so that way they’ll last longer.” I’ll never forget that.

So I have painted a picture of my Appalachia. I hope it is as colorful a picture as is your Appalachia. There are hard times, but anyone who has ever taken a breath knows that. Hard times come. But the soul of Appalachia, the basis on God, the hardwork-ing, the culture, the tradi-tions, the customs, the beliefs, all go on to last and intrigue the future generations of Appalachia.

Five thousand people gather to protest in front of a doctor’s clinic, 11 friends � �� %� �� coal mine. All of these men are brothers, but only the Appalachian blood goes beyond the physical presence of another. Appalachia is a place where blood runs deeper than any valley, the bond is stronger than any chain, and the dinner is always on the table by six. This is the story of our people, our land, our Appalachia.

It’s 3:30 and the air is still. The picnic table sits by the willow tree, isolated from the rest of the house. This is the most peaceful part of my day. School just let out in my small town of Coal Grove, and I’m headed home. I drive from school and head over our well-known “Zoar Hill” with the even-more-known Zoar Church sitting on top. As I drive by, I think of how religion plays such an important role around here. Nine out of 10 times you ask someone from Appalachia what their religion is, and they’ll say Christian. Jesus watches over every house, protecting the lives of every small town family just trying to get by. Every Sunday the churches are full, and even more on homecoming. The hymnals and praises are shouted from every lung and every voice. “Praise the Lord!” can be heard ringing from the rafters. Appalachian religious values

are important to every person, and every child. Every small town man knows, after coming home from a hard days work, as long as we have food on the table, the love of our family, and Jesus in our hearts, that it’s been a good day.

After popping over the hill, I head down our winding country road $�� `�� &�� communities or as we call, “hollers.” When you live down a holler, every-one knows everyone. You can take a cruise down a spiraling road, full of potholes and opossums, and name off every single person, in every single ��%�� legacy. Hollers aren’t just some country road we live on, they’re our land.

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We play in the creeks that run shallow in the summer, we take walks down the road with that certain girl we like, and we even have some fun with a tire, rope, and tree every now and again. There is also the darker side of hol-

lers: What happens here, stays here. Appalachians have been known for “not butt-ing into people’s business,” and we hold true to that. My papaw once said, “This ain’t city no more boy, you’re in the country.”

=�� $�� down the twisting roads, and pull into my driveway, �� love about Appalachia: family. The one thing that holds us Appalachians together is the blood that runs through our

veins. We have more cousins and uncles than anyone out-side of our mountain paradise.

Our family reunions are big-ger than our graduating class, and a lot more fun. Nothing breaks the bonds of families in Appalachia, not the strongest

tornado or the most deadly illness.

We hold strong, arm in arm, as we sing our hym-nals and watch our football games because we know we are Appalachian, and we are as one.

112 Profile 2012

Taking it all offYou don’t have to be a Grammy-Award-

winning singer to succeed at a weight loss program.

Just ask Lana Dickess and Marida Glimore.Both the heaviest they had ever been, Dickess,

�]%��`{��%� ��Z��%��%��-�� `�`� ��%� �� embark on an arduous journey to lose that weight.

�� \�%� `]\\�� shopping and decided enough was enough.

'�� %*�}��$�� “And I needed to lose weight.”

Dickess, a para-professional at Dawson-Bryant Elementary School, lost weight after her surgery, but gradually put the weight back on. And she was tethered to blood pressure and cholesterol medicine.

As a computer teacher at Symmes Valley High School, Glimore said being in front of a classroom full of students every day was a push for her to lose the weight. But there was also another reason.

'�� `�� to play with her,” she said. “I wanted to be able to keep up with her. She’s fast.”

�� \�%��/�� $��@��@ �� Roush Community Building in Coal Grove.

With the help of their group leader, Debbie Sparks, Dickess and Gilmore set individual weight loss goals for themselves, and one they could strive for together.

'@�� ]��by Christmas,” Gilmore said.

The Weight Watchers wayAs the Weight Watchers commercials with spokes-

people Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley will tell


you, the popular program isn’t a diet and it works.

Through a combination of weekly meetings, weigh-ins and meal planning using the Points Plus program, mem-bers can adopt a healthy way of life without depriving themselves of food.

Every food is given a Points Plus value. Based on your starting weight and your weight loss goal, you are allot-ted so many points per day. When you join the program, Weight Watchers gives you a calculator and a pocket guide that lists foods from almonds to zucchini and their point values based on serving size.

“They give you a tracker every time you weigh-in for the week,” Dickess said. “They really encourage you to write down every thing that you eat and put the points down. You start out with so many points and then you deduct those through out the day.”

Dickess started out with 36 points allowed per day; Glimore 34.

'=��%� �� $�� used to,” Gilmore said. “It’s basically changing the types of food you ate.”

According to Weight Watchers, fruits and vegetables have a point value of 0. One four-ounce store-bought �� \`��%�� cup of fat-free plain Greek yogurt is only 3 points.

Until the points system became sec-ond nature, Dickess and Gilmore said they ate a lot of the Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen meals.

“It has your portions and your points,” Dickess said. “It’s already _�� %� � � � �� $��_ ��how much you were eating.”

Both women said even though they knew they had to eat based on a points system, they said it wasn’t depriving.

“Really you don’t have to give up a lot to be on Weight Watchers,” Dickess said. “You can eat almost everything. You just have to do it by the points system.”

“You can eat things that I was shocked you can eat,” Gilmore said.

The two even ate out at restaurants after their Weight Watcher meetings.

“You can go to the Roadhouse, we would eat at Chili’s, O’Charley’s, Applebees,” Dickess said. “Fast food is the worst. But if you go to a restaurant, you can eat well.”

=� "�� &�%� �� points for a meal of lemon pepper grilled chicken, baked potato with sour cream and a salad with fat-free ranch �� \`�\��could only eat about three fast food tacos for the same points.

And sweets were still within their bounds. Weight Watchers has its own

line of candy, ice cream and baked goods at local grocery stores.

Getting to the first 50With the accountability of week-

ly weigh-ins and meetings, plus the knowledge of how to pick healthier food options, and the support of their families, Dickess and Gilmore were �� ]�pounds by Christmas.

'@�� %� �� was kind of like, it was just a couple of pounds at a time,” Gilmore said.

Dickess said it was not uncommon for people in their group to see suc-cess early on with losing weight. She also said many of those people would become discouraged and not return when their weight loss would taper off to a pound a week.

“The main thing is, if you maybe only lose half a pound, or you main-tain for a week, don’t give up,” Dickess said. “That was one thing we said we were not going to do.”

Also, the women said they never cheated the system.

“It helps to have a good leader too,” Dickess said. “Debbie (Sparks) has been really encouraging. And the people there are real encouraging. We’ve met other people we didn’t know before and became friends.”

The women said joining Weight Watchers together and encouraging each other was a big part of their success.

The finish line#��}��$�� Z��

��]��"�� By Oct. 4, Gilmore had met her

personal weight loss goal of 77 pounds ��\{��}��$�� |`��``%� ��\��

In the Weight Watchers program, members that maintain their goal ��_��$�%�� -ing within a two-pound range, can become Lifetime Members. Once a Lifetime Member, you are only required to weigh-in at meetings once a month, at no cost.

Both women said they have never felt better.

Gilmore said she could walk up and down stairs more easily than before and her blood pressure has improved.

Dickess’s doctor took her completely off her cholesterol medicine and cut her blood pressure medicine in half.

Losing all that weight is something that people have noticed, they said.

“Everyone notices at church,” Gilmore said. “Our (students) we have in school were amazed when we went back in the fall after not seeing us all summer.”

The friends said they have even

more fun shopping for clothes than they used to.

“When you’re a heavier weight, you’re always wearing a jacket over a shirt,” Gilmore said. “You don’t tuck things in. That kind of stuff. Whereas now, you can do that.”

Z�� }��$��_��

“We go in these stores that we never could go into before,” Dickess said. “That was a big adjustment for us. We were just so used to going to the women’s (stores), and now the styles are all different.”

Normally shopping at CJ Banks, the

women’s store, now they said they like to go to the misses-sized Christopher Banks.

“We went down a store,” Gilmore said.

Both Gilmore and Dickess said being on Weight Watchers has changed their way of thinking when it comes to food.

“We would have gone to McDonalds to get a Big Mac, now we go to get our grilled chicken,” Gilmore said. “We don’t want to go back to the way we were.”

And a key to succeeding, they said, was doing the program together.

“We’ve done a lot of things togeth-er,” Gilmore said. “We’ve raised our

kids together. We go to church togeth-er. We shop together. We’ve done about everything together, but this has been a real important thing we’ve done together. It wasn’t like a competi-tion. It’s encouragement.”

How to joinThere are two ways to join Weight

Watchers. You can join online at �� %� �� meeting close to you, like Dickess and Gilmore did. The website has a meet-�� closest to you.

The meetings in Coal Grove, led

by Debbie Sparks, are every Tuesday �� |��]� �� %� �� \]� �� ]��

Sparks has been a leader since �� `]]|�� + �� `]\]�she attained her lifetime status, having lost 66 pounds.

Sparks, who fully believes in the program, borrowed a line from spokes-person Jennifer Hudson.

“I used to never be able to imagine myself where I am now, but now I can’t imagine myself anywhere else.”

Sparks said the registration fee will �� + ��`�� \�� %��-dent and family discounts available. •

Community Home Health Care, Inc.“Our standard is good care”

Passport and Private Pay

Locally owned by Tara Boggs and Becky Young

(740) 532-1273

2009

Profile 2012 113

We’ve done a lot of things togehter. We’ve raised our kids together. We go to church together. We’ve done about every-thing togehter. It wasn’t like a competi-tion. It’s encouragement.

— Marida Gilmore

“”

Visit us on the web at www.irontontribune.com

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114 Profile 2012

Project: DestinationGroups feel Ironton can tap tourism potential

IRONTON — On every single Memorial Day in the memory of anyone alive, the streets of Ironton

are jam packed with cars, motor homes and throngs of people who come for one reason: The annual Ironton Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade.

The parade is something everyone knows is going to happen, same time, same place every year and has happened without fail for more than a hundred years. Ironton’s patriotism is on display.

Each August for the last several years, thousands of motorcycle enthu-siasts have varoomed their way to Ironton, Ohio, for a weekend of cama-raderie with fellow bikers. Ironton’s fun side is on display.

And each December the faithful stream down the streets of Ironton to gaze at beautiful churches and hear a Christmas message. Ironton’s history is on display.

Some of its citizens may not think of Ironton as a tourist destination, but others do. They would like to see more of a welcome mat for the people who are already making their sojourn to the city and a red carpet rolled out as well for the ones they hope will come. City leaders are always on the lookout for new busi-

ness and industry that will bring badly needed revenue into the city.

Some local leaders believe Ironton’s small town charm and large-scale events could be very appealing to families planning that weekend trip.

The past is the future

It has been estimated that in some years, as many as 25,000 people attend

the annual Memorial Day parade. Many people locally make this the highlight and kickoff to their sum-mer; still others who have left Ironton for other pastures plan their vaca-tion around Memorial Day and come home for the parade and the other activities of that extended weekend.

Lou Pyles is a member of the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial

Day Parade Committee and the Ironton Lions Club, which sponsors the annual Haunted Tunnel. Pyles said the parade may be a local staple, but it also draws attention from folks outside of Lawrence County and the �� -otic people. Pyles said a few years ago a Wisconsin radio station called her for information about the parade. But even those who harken from Ironton still carry their stories of growing up here — and the parade — with them wherever they go.

“We had a gentleman from Utah who came one year. He had been in the military and he was from Ironton and he wanted to come back and be a part of the parade,” Pyles recalled. With so many people coming into town for that one weekend, Pyles would like to see other events added to the Memorial Day weekend to pro-mote the city and make this one week-end a more rounded destination. After all, the people are already coming, why not give them an assortment of activities while they’re here?

A ghost of a chance

One Saturday each September, members of the Lawrence County Historical Society and a few extra volunteers fan out across Woodland



(TOP) One of many scenes from the annual Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade 2011 in downtown Ironton. (ABOVE) A scene from the annual Ghost Walk sponsored by the Lawrence County Historical Society at Woodland Cemetery.

Cemetery, decked out in period cos-tume. With fans and shawls and stove pipe hats, they direct visitors back to another time. The annual historical society cemetery walk, also known as the ghost walk, tells the story of some of the city’s most prominent citizens. There is no way to truly count the walkers; the event is free and the tour is self-guided. But every year since 2003 the crowed has continued to grow.

“Last year we had roughly 2,000 people,” historical society member Debbie Rogers said. “It was probably the largest crowd we’ve ever had.”

Rogers said there is no way of determining where people come from exactly but knows there are out-of-towners mingling with the locals to savor this Ironton event.

“We had a lot of new faces in last year’s crowd,” Rogers said.

The next month, hundreds of Tri-State residents make their yearly pil-grimage to the Haunted Tunnel, which is almost every weekend in October. But the Halloween event also draws people from Jackson County, Mason County, W.Va., and places outside the immediate Ironton-Huntington, W.Va., -Ashland, Ky., area.

“We get calls from Columbus, Cincinnati, wanting to know about it,” Pyles said. “They’ll say, ‘When does it open?’”

Having a ball

In late May each year, people come to Ironton literally to have a ball — a basketball. Sponsored by The Friends of Ironton, the Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament last year drew an estimated spectator crowd of 9,500 and 800 players. While the bulk of the crowd may have come from the Tri-State, FOI member Jessica Williams said there were out of towners in that lot.

“We had teams from New York and Maryland and a couple of teams from North Carolina,” Williams said. “I never really viewed it (Gus Macker) as an attraction but I know it is.”

Williams said Ironton’s Gus Macker weekend offers something that is appealing to many: A small town experience and a wholesome event.

“Ironton is a really nice small town. I know there aren’t a lot of places to shop but we have dining. Ironton is more of a family-oriented place and that’s what this event pulls.”

Varoom

Roughly three months after Gus Macker, the crowds are coming to

town for something else: Rally On The River. The Friends of Ironton member Dave Smith said the rally has a national reputation and, hence, a national following. Last year’s rally drew an estimated crowd of 100,000 during the four-day event, according to police estimates, Smith said.

“We’re already being contacted about it,” Smith said of this year’s event.

The motorcycle enthusiasts come from as far away as Quebec, Canada and California.

“There’s an event in Sturgis, S.D. the week before,” Smith explained. “They migrate here on their way home.”

Smith said, while word of mouth is important in marketing the rally, FOI members also rely on their orga-nization’s website to draw people in. Additionally, FOI members routinely attend bike shows and events that attract motorcycle enthusiasts to talk up Ironton and the rally.

What does FOI need to keep going? A hand, maybe.

“We’re a volunteer organization and we need more help,” Smith said. Entertaining an idea

� �� -ist for the city. But she told the city �� year she would like to become more involved in marketing the city and, in so doing, become one of its most vocal supporters.

Profile 2012 115


(ABOVE) Local businessman Joe Unger portrays a Civil War soldier during the annual Ghost Walk. (BELOW) Youth play on the Dream Court during the annual Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball event in downtown Ironton in May of 2011.


Gus Macker revs up the crowd during the annual event in 2011 in downtown Ironton.

116 Profile 2012

Keith is convinced the old Ro-Na Theater, one of the city’s once-charming venues for entertain-ment, could be again. All the city has to do is say yes — right now. Keith may have a point. Economic Development Director Bill Dickens said recently there are people right now who want to rent the Ron-Na for concerts and meetings and the like, even though its has no restroom facilities and no heating and air conditioning.

“Ironton is full of great performers, musicians, art-ists. They have no platform for their talent,” Keith agreed. “The Ro-Na is the perfect place to not only show case your talent, but to unify an entire com-munity.”

"�� $�� monies to continue renovations at the Ro-Na.

Dream it and they will come

Many Irontonians who are involved in events that

draw large-scale crowds are convinced the city has numerous assets and needs to showcase its history, its hospitality and its small-town charm in hopes of drawing tourists and, hence, tourist dollars.

“We have historic churches, historic homes, the Underground Railroad, the iron furnaces,” Pyles said.

“We have very talented people in the community who paint, do needlepoint, crystals,” Pyles pointed out.

Keith agreed. “The (historical society) museum does an excellent job during the ghost walk, the Memorial Day Parade, etc.

“What if we go another step by having riding tours through Ironton? Horse and buggy transportation that escorted tourists on the underground railroad tours, and so forth. On the weekends, we could turn back the time in Ironton and have people dressed in period clothes at every station. Let them tell

Ironton’s story.”Keith said she would love to see more done to use

the Ohio River to bring in tourists and said the city’s sports tradition could also be used to draw visitors.

Gathering together

Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization Assistant Director Ralph Kline talked �� + ��+ �� and coordinate all the groups staging events in the city and help promote what the city has to offer. Kline said groups that stage large-scale events are seeing increases in attendance.

Groups such as Ironton in Bloom are making progress in beautifying the city landscape and the ��}��

“We’re to the critical point,” he said. “We need to get to the next level.” •


Eventgoers at the annual Rally on the River make their way down Second Street in downtown Ironton.

Profile 2012 117

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Rescue missionVolunteers work to save documents, history


For the past hundred years this “secret room” in the Lawrence County Courthouse has housed documents from deaths to births records, property deeds and news-paper bound volumes.

118 Profile 2012

�Index of AdvertisersWe would like to take this opportunity to thank the following advertisersfor jumping on board and making this year’s Profi le 2012 such a success.

A special publication of The Ironton TribuneFebruary 26, 2012

123 Auto Glass .................................................. 100243 Auto Sales .................................................... 98A Touch of Grace ................................................. 98AAA Travel .......................................................... 16All-American Air Heating and Refrigeration .... 101Allyn’s Jewelers .................................................. 12AmericasStyrenics LLC ....................................... 74Appalachian Uprising ........................................ 105Area Agency on Aging District 7, Inc. ................. 55Armstrong............................................................ 29Ashland Community and Technical College ........ 49Ashland/Huntington West KOA Campground .... 16Automated Mailing ............................................. 16Bartram’s ............................................................. 95Basedow Family Clinic ........................................ 47BC Tool and Party Rentals ........................... 16, 101Best Care Nursing and Rehab ............................... 9BH Earthmoving, LLC ......................................... 101Brenda’s Photography ....................................... 105Briggs Lawrence County Public Library .............. 66The Brow Spa .................................................... 101Buckeye REC........................................................ 41Cabell Huntington Hospital ............................... 119C&A Tree Service, Inc. ........................................ 99CAO’s Family Guidance Center ........................... 29CAO’s Family Guidance Center/ Community Action Partnership ....................... 85

Central Christian Church ..................................... 45Charlie’s Tire Sales Inc. ................................. 33, 99Chesapeake Union Exempted Village School District ................................................. 97

Church of the King............................................... 45City Mission Church ............................................ 45Bob Clyse Chevrolet-Buick-GMC .......................... 3Community Home Health Care, Inc. .................. 113Community Hospice ............................................ 75Collins Career Center .......................................... 73Concrete Poured Walls ....................................... 41Cross Country Cabinet Shop ....................... 47, 100Jerod Darnell, DPM............................................. 31Dave’s Satellite ................................................. 100Dawson-Bryant Schools ...................................... 17Desco Federal Credit Union ................................ 10The Dow Chemical Company .............................. 74E.L. Robinson ....................................................... 15Eastham & Associates ........................................ 99Fairland Local School District ............................. 77

Fancy Cut Dog Grooming..................................... 99First United Methodist ........................................ 45Forth’s Foodfair .................................................. 165Genesis Oxygen and Home Medical Equipment 31Don Gleim Auctions and Real Estate LLC ..... 14, 99Gold Street Muffl er ............................................. 98Greasy Ridge Church of Christ ............................ 45Guy’s Floor Covering ............................................ 53Hall Funeral Home and Crematory ...................... 98Hamilton Home Improvement ........................... 100Head Start ........................................................... 82Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Huntington .................................................... 4Hecla Water Association .................................... 13John Hixon Construction and Remodeling........ 100Holzer Clinic ........................................................ 92Jim Howard and Son Body Shop and Towing ................................................ 49, 99Joe Hurley Insurance Agency Inc.................. 14, 99Ironton First Nazarene......................................... 45Ironton Vision Center .......................................... 67Johnny on the Spot, Inc./ Storage on the Spot, Inc. ................................ 57Kid’s World Daycare Center and Pre-School .... 105King’s Daughters’ Medical Center .................... 120Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce .......... 83Lawrence County Early Childhood Academy ...... 87Lawrence County Farm Bureau ......................... 101Lawrence County Health Department ................ 21Lawrence County Museum ................................. 21Leo’s Carry Out ............................................ 47, 100Liebert ................................................................. 88The Linda Center ................................................. 10Lindsey Wilson College......................................... 8Lou’s Style Shop ................................................ 100Marathon Catlettsburg Refi nery, LLC .................. 96McCormick’s Custom Meats, LLC ....................... 98McCormick’s Extermination, Inc. ......................... 98McDonald’s ......................................................... 21Members Choice Credit Union ............................ 82Morehead State University ................................. 58Morning Pointe Ridge ......................................... 81N&M Cake and Candy Supplies.......................... 98New Beginnings Hair Salon .............................. 101New Image Weight Loss Centers ....................... 82New Valley Missionary Baptist Church .............. 45Ohio River Bank ................................................... 53

Ohio Valley Bank ................................................. 38O’Keefe-Baker Funeral Home.............................. 79Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital ........ 59, 60, 61, 62Park Avenue Apts./Storms Creek Apts./ 10th Street Apts./Riverview Apts. .................. 11Patrick Insurance Agency .................................... 98Robert G. Payne, CPA .................................... 49, 99Pickett Concrete ............................................ 41, 98The Printing Express Inc. ..................................... 29Quality Care Nursing Services/ Ultimate Health Care ...................................... 81Ray’s Roofi ng ....................................................... 98River Cities Bone and Joint Centre/ Dr. Joseph R. Leith .......................................... 25River Cities Motors, Inc....................................... 99River’s Bend Health Care LLC .............................. 82Rock Hill Local Schools ....................................... 32Rolo Excavating and Contracting, Inc. .............. 101Rolo Sand and Gravel........................................ 101Sanctuary of the Ohio Valley ............................ 100St. Mary’s Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons............................................. 2St. Mary’s/CAO Family Medical Centers .............. 4St. Paul Lutheran Church..................................... 45Scott Orthopedic Center...................................... 57Second Street Auto Sales ................................... 51Servpro of Southern Scioto and Lawrence Counties.......................................... 98Shafer Brothers Body Shop, Inc. ....................... 100Slack and Wallace Funeral Home ....................... 85South Point Church of Christ ............................... 45South Point Local Schools................................... 39Southern Ohio Behavioral Health ....................... 87Southern Ohio Medical Center ..................... 68, 69Spice of Life Catering and Events ..................... 100Spriggs Distributing .................................. 106, 107Staley’s Pharmacy ......................................... 79, 99Stephens and Son Insurance .............................. 99Sugar and Spice Sweets To Go ........................... 16Sugar Creek Missionary Baptist Church ............. 45Super Wash New Express Laundry ..................... 25Symmes Valley Schools ...................................... 63TLC Home Care............................................ 47, 100Tri-State Baptist Temple ..................................... 45Village Floor Covering ....................................... 100Wayne National Forest/Ironton Ranger District .71Workforce Development Resource Center ......... 36

2012

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Cabell Huntington Hospital

We are privileged to serve you and to be your healthcare coordinator for both wellness and illness. As your medical home, we offer you multiple providers and extended hours for all your

healthcare needs, from the common cold to home medical equipment to inpatient referrals.

We are conveniently located at the intersection

of highways 52 and 93. 912 Park Ave., Ironton, Ohio

Welcome to Ironton Family Care Center, Urgent Care Center and Home Medical Equipment store . . .

Family Care Center

Our services include: imaging services – X-ray, CT scans,

ultrasounds, MRI, mammograms EKG testing on-site laboratory testing cardiology referral center for specialists and

community based resources

(740) 534-0021toll free (888) 246-0340 Hours: Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

We treat the illnesses and injuries of adults and children who cannot wait for a traditional physician appointment, but do not require the services of a hospital emergency department. At Urgent Care we treat you quickly – without an appointment.

(740) 532-1100Hours: Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Open holidays

Home Medical Equipment

Our Home Medical Equipment store is adjacent to the Family Care Center. Products include walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, orthopedic bracing, nebulizers, diabetic

supplies, feeding supplements, oxygen and respiratory products, bath safety equipment, women’s health products and apparel, and much more.

(740) 532-9403Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

your medical home.

profile 2012

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