$9.3 million will be directed toward graduating students by targeting education, income and health, according to a news release. That amount was $8.6 million last year.

Karen Mathison, CEO and president, said $868,000 less is being spent in the community and the local United Way will make cuts of about $600,000 internally. This means six staff positions are being eliminated or not being filled and technology upgrades and training are being put off.

The cuts are a result of the board’s decision to take a 5 percent payout from its strategic reserve fund instead of 10 or 12 percent like it’s done in recent years, Mathison said.

“If you think about your savings account, if you have a $100 in there and every year, you take $10 out, at some point, it’s gone. So we’re using less of our reserve fund to help off-set and do more community programming, but it’s more sustainable for us in the future,” she said.

Mathison said she has been meeting with community organizations to discuss the budget the past couple days. She said the organizations have appreciated meeting face to face and engaged in “rich dialogue.”

The local American Red Cross is one affected organization. It received $601,878, which is a 9 percent decrease from last year. However, it was expecting a 16 percent cut, according to a release. The four homeless shelters that the United Way helps support, Family House, St. Paul’s Community Center, the Aurora House and Catholic Charities, each received 5 percent in cuts, Mathison said.

Programs that received funding last year, but won’t next year are the Northwest Ohio Developmental Agency’s Individual Development Account program, WGTE’s First Book program, Ottawa County Family & Children First Council’s Family Preservation Program, Vanguard-Sentinel Adult Career Center’s V-S-GED testing contract and Wood County Health Department’s personal care contract.

Mathison said the United Way began telling organizations about the potential cuts in January to give them time to prepare.

The United Way board of trustees decided on the budget based on assessments from community volunteers and approved the new budget, which takes effect July 1, on May 15.

For more information, visit www.unitedwaytoledo.org/communityinvestments.

Chrysler Group’s Vice President of Vehicle Assembly Operations Mauro Pino and Jeep Unit Chairman of UAW Local 12 Dan Henneman drove the Wrangler off the line, according to a news release.

“Every Jeep Wrangler sold to customers around the world is born in Toledo, Ohio,” Pino said. “Since this facility opened eight years ago, the Toledo workforce has built every one of those million vehicles with pride, passion and a focus on quality. We all look forward to building the next million.”

“The Toledo workforce understands that the Jeep brand’s success is directly related to the quality of their work,” Henneman said.

The black 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition is set to go to a customer in Sarasota, Fla. In 2006, the Toledo Assembly Complex’s Supplier Park started production of the Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited. This year, production of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee is set to occur at the North Plant. The plant is expected to add 1,105 new jobs on a second shift in the third quarter, which would bring complex employment to more than 3,000 employees.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

I have heard people say that when you buy a white car (or a red one or a blue one, etc.), you tend to notice more of that color on the road than you once did. Since embarking on a weight-loss journey and undergoing bariatric surgery in September, I seem to notice very heavy people in ways I did not before. In particular, I seem to be more sensitive to how overweight people are portrayed and treated. It’s like I was in denial about the issue when I was pushing 400 pounds, but now I see more clearly how pervasive the topic is.
I have been watching news items that reflect many of the current attitudes about the American obesity epidemic. In a May 13 news story about Toledo mayoral candidates, Blade Politics Writer Tom Troy described candidate (and Toledo City Council member) Joe McNamara: “He normally dresses in a conservative business suit and tie with white or blue buttoned-down shirts that don’t quite conceal a few extra pounds around the middle.
“Once compared in looks with film star Omar Sharif, Mr. McNamara today looks more like somebody who spends too much time bent over his computer, or pushing the buttons on his TV remote.
“Mr. McNamara refused to discuss his weight, or relate it to the experience of very overweight New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie … who recently revealed he underwent a surgical procedure to restrict food intake and thus lower his weight.”
Yikes. Is it any wonder so few people want to enter public life in Toledo? I wonder if an overweight female candidate would receive the same physique critique from the daily newspaper. Anita Lopez had better keep hitting the treadmill.
Casual, skinny political observers might think The Blade’s unflattering description hurts McNamara, but as Toledo has been ranked America’s 7th fattest city, it might help him connect to a major new audience. Do not be surprised if at McNamara’s next campaign rally, he is greeted with bloated, out-of-breath chants of “One of us! One of us! One of us!”

I do not see McNamara on a regular basis, but unless he has been bingeing on Big Macs and Frostys lately, he does not merit a comparison to Christie. Christie was estimated to weigh about 350 pounds before electing to undergo lap-band surgery; he is reportedly down 40 pounds or so. Speculation is that Christie needed to lose weight to be considered a serious presidential candidate (one Tweeter called him a “Jello blob”), though he has said he chose the surgery with his family and children in mind.
Christie’s weight struggle and surgery elicited the predictable late-night jokes (Martin Short told Jimmy Kimmel that if elected president, Christie would be the first oval in the Oval Office, conveniently ignoring Ohioan William Howard Taft, who weighed 330-plus pounds and once got stuck in the White House bathtub).
“Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he’s not sure if he’s going to run for re-election next year. He said, ‘I’ll collapse that bridge when I get to it,’” Jimmy Fallon said.
“Republicans are having trouble luring Gov. Chris Christie into the presidential race. They should try pie,” David Letterman said.
The Christie jokes illustrate that fat may be the only safe prejudice in American society. Make fun of race, gender, disabilities and sexual orientation at your peril, but you can laugh at fat people without fear of repercussion. As obesity has become more common, even the entertainment industry has capitalized. There has always been an Oliver Hardy, John Candy, Chris Farley or John Goodman available to play the funny fat man, but that dynamic has shifted to include women … Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson have embraced their size and are celebrated for it.
Fat is a safe punchline because, unlike race, gender and disabilities, the perception is that being overweight is the fat person’s fault, an easily remedied choice. But underlying the supposed humor is a barely disguised contempt that is fuel for bullying.
Target apologized recently when shoppers noticed some interesting semantics. While a smaller dress was sold with the color “Heather Gray,” the same dress in plus sizes was called “Manatee Gray.” Target spokeswoman Jessica Deede described the Manatee Gray naming of the “Women’s Plus-Size Kimono Maxi Dress” “an unintentional oversight,” but even without the color gaffe, how consumer-friendly is a “Women’s Plus-Size Kimono Maxi Dress?” Does one dress need that many adjectives in its title to make it clear it’s for a fat woman?
Deede said Target was “fixing the discrepancy” and that the dress was removed from the company website.
At least Target offers clothing for plus sizes, if you can accept being overweight as a “plus.” Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mark Jeffries came under fire for saying his clothing company is only for the “cool kids” — and not for “fat people.” The store reportedly does not carry any women’s sizes above large and only carries bigger men’s sizes to appeal to athletes. I have never been inside an Abercrombie & Fitch — I find the pedophile-baiting images and staccato bursts of perfume the stores spray into the air repulsive.
As blogger Lindy West said, “Everybody knows that fat people are all dowdy frumps with no fashion sense — I mean, just look at the clothes they choose to wear, which clearly has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that nearly all major brands refuse to create clothes that fit fat people’s bodies because of exactly this type of kneejerk anti-fat disgust. More bedazzled tunics patterned like an antique Parisian suitcase, please! That’s what we fat ladies like!”
As Americans grapple with the obesity issue, it will be interesting to track how the prejudices evolve. Will there be increased compassion or increased contempt? Will we have another overweight president? Or even an overweight mayor? There’s not much I can do to help Christie, but hey, Joe McNamara, I walk for an hour Downtown almost every day. Let me know if you want to join me. We can get some exercise and maybe crack jokes about scrawny politics writers.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Burger bar 419's "Fat Elvis"

The chefs are excited for the event, Melden said.
“It’s a great idea … [Peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches are] what everyone grew up with,” said Tony House, co-owner of Burger Bar 419.
Burger Bar 419 will serve a play on the “Fat Elvis” sandwich. The dish will include a piece of brioche fried in bacon fat, topped with crispy pork belly, spicy berry ketchup, barbecue peanut sauce and caramelized banana.
Dustin Hostetler, co-owner of Grumpy’s, said his eatery will serve a peanut butter cookie with jelly frosting.
“When Sam approached us with the concept, it felt like a real no-brainer. Once we saw all of the other restaurants involved it was impossible to say no,” he said of the event.
Trevor Deeter, owner of Deet’s BBQ, declined to reveal his dish, but said, “We are dedicated to our community and try our best to get involved with any and all donations and benefits. Of course, it’s hard to be involved in everything but Jam City is an event that we had to do! We already get great pleasure out of feeding all of our customers, but realize that this event is providing real nourishment for those who really need it.”
Jam City will also feature local acoustic musicians: the Jason Hudson Trio, The Bricks, Andrew Ellis and People Being Human. In addition, the event will offer local beers and a special private-label Jam City wine from Adelaida. Melden said local ties are important to Food for Thought.
“This event is really local, which is a pretty cool aspect of it — local bands, local restaurants helping a local charity feed local people,” he said.
The local aspect appealed to Erika Rapp, chef/owner of Registry Bistro.
“It’s a great [idea for] a fundraiser and it’s for a really wonderful cause. It’s nice to see something that has local ties working to feed people in town,” she said.
Registry will serve a street-food style steamed bun stuffed with duck and a spicy peanut sauce along with an apricot-rose jam cookie.
Creating new items like the Jam City dish is fun, Rapp said.
“A lot of times, it’ll actually inspire a menu item,” she said.
Chemistry set

Sam Melden

Bill Kline, general manager of The Blarney Irish Pub, said the restaurant’s chef is using his “chemistry set” and experimenting with homemade dishes.
“He promises it will be like no other [dish] served at the event and by the looks of what I’ve seen going on in the kitchen, those other chefs better bring their A game,” Kline said.
There will be a tip jar so Jam City patrons can give money based on dishes they enjoy. The tips will go to Food for Thought at the end of the night. Melden said Jam City has a “really great” lineup of restaurants.
“The list filled up really quickly. Unfortunately, we did have to leave some people out, but I think next year, we’ll expand. We’ll have more restaurants, maybe 20,” he said.
Food for Thought also plans to expand the number of locations it serves. It recently received a $40,000 grant from ProMedica’s Advocacy Fund. The charity was able to add a second mobile unit, which includes a vehicle, trailer, food inventory and personnel, because of the grant. By the end of the year, Melden said he expects Food for Thought to serve more than 20 locations, up from 12.
Melden said he’s also looking forward to The Arts Commission’s Art Walks this summer. Food for Thought plans to have an area in the Warehouse District for its program Art for Thought, where professional and amateur artists alike can decorate lunch bags for the charity’s patrons.
“Everyone from kids the youngest age that can pick up a crayon to the most incredible artist in the city can take a bag and decorate it,” Melden said.
Jam City has several community partners. Columbia Gas of Ohio, Toledo Free Press, WNWO-TV and Moms on the Go, Wells Fargo Advisers, WSPD and Hollywood Casino Toledo have joined forces for the Free from Hunger 2013 initiative, which helps support events for Food for Thought, Feed Lucas County Children and Cherry Street Mission.
Tickets for Jam City are $30-$50 and are available at feedtoledo.org and at the door.

The survey looked at 20,000 children between the ages of 5 and 19. The kids who rode to school were compared to the kids who were driven by their parents. The ones who exercised did better on puzzles or other work requiring concentration. Researchers noted that the effect of exercise lasted up to four hours after they arrived at school. Researcher and co-author of the report Niels Egelund said, “As a third grade pupil, if you exercise and bike to school, your ability to concentrate increases to the equivalent of someone a half a year further in their studies.” In the U.S., government studies say that as of 2009, only 13 percent of children walked or bicycled to school. In 1969, half of children walked or biked.

Most children attend grade or high school within a few miles of their home. While some have impediments to walking or cycling, many could find a safe route to school through residential neighborhoods. All area schools have bike racks where bicycles can be secured and most elementary schools have outdoor safety guards.

Toledo-area bike advocate Keith Webb says, “As a child, learning to ride a bicycle provided our first taste of independence and freedom. I experience that feeling every time I ride my bike, releasing the stress of daily life – I love it!” Webb is a member of TMACOG’s Pedestrian and Bikeways Committee and involved in local bike planning. He uses a bicycle for transportation whenever he can, and that is most of the time. He cites statistics from the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey: 40 percent of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work. Yet more than 82 percent of trips five miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle. “Riding a bicycle is practical transportation,” he says.

Dorothy Meyer is a Certified Nurse Practitioner and Toledo-area group exercise leader with an advanced degree in applied exercise physiology. She says that bicycling promotes cardiovascular fitness and is excellent exercise. “Bicycling is liberating no matter what body type you have,” she said. “Many long-time runners are thin and light because it’s hard to move mass on foot. But using a bicycle relies more on strength and balance than running. And because cycling is low-impact, people can do it longer with fewer injuries.”

Meyer sees benefits to biking indoors or out. “Everyone loves being outside on a bike and the communal part of a bike ride with a friend is important to enjoying your exercise. But during the winter, or if you have balance or vision problems, you can still get a lot of value on a stationary bike.”

Recent research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that bicycle commuting is one of the most effective ways to promote general health for adults. “Commuting is a relevant health behavior even for those who are sufficiently active in their leisure time,” said the lead author of the study, Australian epidemiologist Takemi Sugiyama. Active transportation – walking or riding – adds regular exercise into every weekday and replaces sedentary driving.

To start commuting by bike, local cyclists recommend that you scout out the ride. Look for signed bike routes and paths, and for less busy roads that may parallel where you would normally drive. To figure how much time your commute will take on a bike, estimate that you will be traveling about nine miles per hour. Consider incorporating public transit. Ride a bike to work and take the bus home. On the next morning, reverse your commute and ride home. Or ride a bike to the bus. All TARTA buses have easy-to-use bike racks on the front of each bus. May is the month to explore the area’s bicycle facilities! It’s national Bike Month and local activities are posted at www.tmacog.org/bikemonth.htm.

BIKING FACTS:

• Wearetraffic.org is a local resource where you can find local biking information and help for learning how to ride with traffic.
• The League of American Bicyclists provides valuable tips on its website: www.bikeleague.org.
• Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) is the regional transportation planning organization including bicycle and pedestrian transportation. The TMACOG website (tmacog.org) has maps of regional bike facilities, information on laws, and many links to additional resources.
• The Ohio Department of Transportation website has more information including the free booklet “Cycling Smarter Guide.”

Mary Pat McCarthy is with Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG).

A few weeks ago on “Eye on Your Money,” I had the privilege of interviewing Professor Harry C. Veryser author of “It Didn’t Have to be This Way,” and one the comments he made stuck in my mind ever since. He said that in order for entrepreneurs to do what they need to do and create things, we need to have more leisure time. It is leisure time that allows the entrepreneur to create and experiment. I hadn’t really ever thought of an entrepreneur needing to have leisure time in order to think about a new product or service.

It makes sense, since we are usually going 90 miles an hour most of the time and don’t just think about new services or products that the marketplace needs or wants.

Ludwig von Mises explained the crucial function the entrepreneur plays in the economy:

The driving force of the market process is provided neither by the consumers nor by the owners of the means of production—land, capital goods, and labor—by the promoting and speculating entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs have long been honored in America. Thomas Edison and the light bulb, Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, Steven Jobs and Apple computer, Charles Goodyear and the process of vulcanizing rubber, Henry Ford and the V-8 motor. These and countless others have shaped and reshaped American life with their innovations and inventions.

Jack Hitt recently wrote a book called, “Bunch of Amateurs,” where he tells the stories of several self-invented tinkerers who are working on ideas from solar-powered cars to space elevators to a woman who is trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt. Why you would want yogurt that glows in the dark is beyond me but at least she is working on something new and probably will discover something totally different from her original idea

The point is that all of these people, you and I included, need more leisure time to think of things to try and the time to try them. Today leisure time is more likely categorized as playing golf or watching American Idol on television. Not that I dislike golf but the only thing I have created on the golf course is frustration and a job for someone to fill in divots.

The number of small business’ being started in this country is at an all time low and we need to change that right away if we are going to expand the economy in the future. Entrepreneurs need to be encouraged and developed from elementary school forward.

According to Hitt, “America is now poised to pioneer at another frontier that will lead, one more time, to the newest version of the American dream.” I agree. Entrepreneurship is a prerequisite of prosperity. We need, more than ever, individuals who are willing to think and create something new. Government cannot foster this and providing money in the name of innovation only creates fraud and wastes additional resources that we cannot spare.

I offer a challenge. Start taking some leisure time and think what new product or service we can use and let me know via e-mail. I will share some of the ideas in future columns and hopefully inspire more people to start the process of innovating. Always remember Edison create thousands of ways not to make a light bulb before he create the one way to make it. Only with failure and destruction can you eventually succeed and create something.

Gary L. Rathbun is the president and CEO of Private Wealth Consultants, LTD. He can be heard every day on 1370 WSPD at 4:06 on After the Bell, everyday on the Afternoon Drive, and every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening at 6 p.m. and Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. throughout Northern Ohio on Eye on Your Money. He can be reached at (419) 842-0334 or email him at garyrathbun@privatewealthconsultants.com.

The child-free Mothers Day tradition only lasted so long, as my oldest soon realized what Mother’ Day was supposed to entail. Between having to then share my children with school and the guilt setting in of not spending it with my kids, we moved into Mother’s Day: Phase II. Mother’s Day: Phase II was not exactly a blissful day at home either.

My kids want to be extra good on Mother’ Day; they really do (at least I think they do). My husband also strives to make Mothers Day go spectacularly well for obvious reasons, namely to avoid that infamous folktale known loosely as “The Mothers Day Freak Out.” No one wants to be on the receiving end of mom freaking out, especially on the day that she’s supposed to do anything but. Still, life happens and planning anything with children involved is not a perfect science.

All I wanted to do this year was go to IKEA. Actually, I didn’t really want to go to Ikea. It was simply the best choice under the circumstances (the circumstances being two Mother’s Day travel soccer games 50 miles from home but at least near an IKEA).

I enjoyed my Starbucks Frappuccino breakfast in bed and, especially, the kids’ handmade gifts from school. I could have stopped right there and called Mother’s Day 2013 a success, which is probably what I should have done. Instead, my husband and I devised an unrealistic plan that included seeing both of our own moms, shopping and lunching at IKEA and attending two soccer games. What could stop us?

In the spirit of it being a take-it-easy holiday, I make an attempt to not rush around on Mothers Day. I’m not sure why since it’s akin to dawdling along at 30 miles an hour enjoying the highway scenery while hoards of traffic pile up behind you, eventually creating one giant heap of trouble. Our heap of trouble began as we got a late start and realized that lunch needed to happen in the car ASAP instead of 50 miles away at IKEA. I decided to forgo the fast food on my special day and went for something a little nicer.

I guess all of the moms were opting for nicer takeout, as the place was hopping. When I finally received my order and my takeout taxi picked me back up after a Taco Bell stop, I learned there was a non-melted cheese quesadilla incident we had to address after yet another stop at Subway. We eventually hit the road with everyone seemingly satisfied but with our Ikea time quickly fading away

We made it a good deal of the trek before whimpering and an incessant nose clearing sound took over the mood of the car. My 7-year-old figured that blowing her nostrils as forcefully as possible was the way to unstuff her stuffy nose. My husband threw out some ludicrous claim that she was going to hurt her nose doing that, which was almost immediately followed by a blood-curdling scream and actual blood careening out of her nose.

It was OK. We were almost to IKEA and IKEA can fix everything. Mere minutes from IKEA, the nose bleeder informed us that she was also having a bathroom emergency. Despite trying to convince her that she could make it, we spotted the IKEA sign on the right and instead had to turn left into White Castle. After hands were washed and the bloody nose was cleaned up, I was left with 15-20 minutes of Ikea time.

While my husband made once last ditch effort to save Mothers Day by suggesting that 15 minutes was plenty of time to search IKEA for a trundle bed, I realized that we might as well swing by the Pentagon so I could grab dessert in the cafeteria or perhaps search for that lost needle in a haystack. Alas, IKEA was not to be.

Moral of the Mothers Day Story: Drink your Starbucks, bask in your homemade gifts and just be content that, no matter what else transpires, they love you. They really love you.

Shannon Szyperski and her husband, Michael, are raising three children in Sylvania. Email her at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Coach Tod Kowalczyk had been going hard after junior guard Kyle Vinales. The stud had averaged 21 points a game with Central Connecticut last year, but wasn’t happy that the program didn’t seem to be advancing along with him. He asked to be released from his scholarship in the hopes of finding a new, more successful home. He visited the likes of LaSalle, Buffalo, Kent State, Detroit, Oakland, along with a visit to Toledo. Over the weekend, he made an announcement on Twitter (all typos are left intact):

“Jus committed to the University of Toledo #gorockets”

Coach TK the recruiter wins again, right? Wrong. Not a day after that announcement goes out, it goes away, replaced with a different message:

“After praying and talkin to the people closest to I’ve decided to wait a little longer to make my decision. I’m still open to recruiting.”

What changed? Apparently a phone call from LSU has given him reason to reconsider. He can’t visit quite yet, the NCAA currently has a 2-week period in place where visits cannot take place. Should the Bayou Bengals impress him, I’m sure he’ll pack his bags and make the flight to Baton Rouge instead.

Now, bringing in talented kids from outside the recruiting ranks is nothing new for Coach Kowalczyk. It was literally the first thing he did when he got to Toledo, bringing Rian Pearson and Matt Smith with him from Green Bay. Dominique Buckley came to town via Iowa State. JD Weatherspoon and Justin Drummond will both join the team next year after sitting out for their transfers.

But I’m left wondering about the purpose of allowing these types of transfers to happen. I can understand a situation in where a player wants to be closer to family (case in point: Curtis Dennis leaving for Iona), or if the academic situation just doesn’t work for the player. I can also sympathise with a player who’s coach has turned sour on him; when a highly-touted recruit becomes the guy at the end of the bench, losing minutes to the walk-on. However, should a player be able to transfer to another team simply because he’s bummed out that his current one isn’t winning?

I’m not even sure I like asking the question, because it opens up too much gray area. What constitutes a legal transfer? What constitutes an illegal one? How can you make sure that the parties involved aren’t going to falsify the circumstances to let one happen? All very messy questions that, quite frankly, I don’t have the answer to

But it comes back to the academics for me. If the NCAA’s mission is to protect the integrity of the academic side of the student-athlete, then I’m not exactly sure what’s being served by allowing transfers for reasons that, in a vacuum, seem frivolous. Of course, I’m sure every player feels like they have a shot at the big time, and being stuck on a program like Central Connecticut doesn’t help your future one bit. That’s not the NCAA’s business. Their business (allegedly) is to make sure that athlete comes out of that program educated

I know that the incentives to stick it out are there. Namely, transfers have to sit out a year of playing if they’re transferring within their division (if they’re moving down a division, that year on the sidelines is waived off). Hell, in the game of college ball, that’s a bonus: when you’re playing amongst 18-22 year olds, being 23 or 24 has its physical advantages. How about this: unless there’s a logical reason for your transfer (family, academics, loss of playing time, etc.), not only do you sit a year, but you also lose that year of eligibility

Yes, we all want to be on winning teams. In Kyle Vinales’s case, he did everything he could for Central Conn, and he feels he’s not getting any support around him. I get that, but I also get that playing basketball isn’t the end-game, it’s getting an education. When you’re a student athlete, your focus can’t only be on a ring, it has to also be on a diploma.

Matt “Shaggy” Culbreath is sports director at 1370 WSPD.

The Spinners

Bell visited the Motor City and recorded Fambrough, Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson and Philippé Wynne.
“[Bell] said, ‘I’m going back to Philly, and I’m going to have my writers write for your sound,’ ” Fambrough said. “He said, ‘I think within a year or so, you guys are going to be the No. 1 group in the country.’
“After being at Motown for all that time, we just looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, sure, Thom,’” Fambrough said and laughed.
But Bell and the writers struck gold. “When Thom came back, the first songs he played for us were ‘Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,’ ‘I’ll Be Around,’ ‘How Could I Let You Get Away’ and ‘Just You and Me Baby.’ And out of those four songs, three of them were hits off of our first album that was released,” Fambrough said.
Known for soulful harmonies, snappy matching suits and smooth moves, The Spinners had a string of hits, including “The Rubberband Man,” “One of Kind (Love Affair),” “They Just Can’t Stop It (Games People Play)” and “Working My Way Back to You.” The R&B group and Dionne Warwick reached No. 1 with “Then Came You.”
Fambrough is the only surviving original member.
“We lost Pervis and Billy in ’08 and ’07,” the singer said. “Bobbie left the road back in September, and we just kept working with the four guys. In fact, we’re still working with the four guys.”
Smith died in March at age 76. Jackson died of cancer in 2008, and Henderson died due to complications of diabetes in 2007.
“You keep going, you know, you keep going,” Fambrough said. “We try to find someone that has the same values and the same goals that we have.”
The Spinners — Fambrough, Charlton Washington, Jessie Peck and Marvin Taylor — and The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards will perform at 8 p.m. May 24 at the Hollywood Casino Toledo. Tickets are $45.
“The songs that we did then, they’re so good now because they’re about love and happiness,” Fambrough said. “We have people coming to see our concert today and they’re introducing our music to their grandkids because the music is still good and you can listen to it without cringing.”

A 2009 car accident motivated Victor Buhler’s documentary, “A Whole Lott More,” which last week placed third at the Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival.
The festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with 180,000 audience members, according to hotdocs.ca. The 11-day event featured 418 public screenings of 204 films on 16 screens across Toronto. The film’s win was decided by an audience vote.
“Those are the 200 best documentaries that were made in the past year,” Buhler said.
Buhler, who resides in London, attended the festival with locals TJ Hawker, Wanda Huber and Kevin Tyree, three people who appear in “A Whole Lott More.” He said at the end of the screening his film received a standing ovation.
“It was just a really fantastic moment,” Buhler said. “It was an incredible, rewarding moment.”
The documentary takes a look at Toledo company Lott Industries, which employs 1200 people with developmental disabilities. It tells the story of three locals associated with Lott: Hawker, who has cerebral palsy and is deaf; Huber, who has become an advocate for the disabled; and Tyree, whose mother works at the company.
Buhler wants to make people with disabilities more visible with his documentary. He acquired a sense of empathy for the community when he spent two years in a wheelchair and crutches following a car crash.
“During that experience, although different from having a permanent disability, I became very interested in their world,” Buhler said.
He began to see how challenging their lives can be and how differently they are treated from everyone else.
“They really want the things that we want. They want a good job, a place to live, they want a car,” Buhler said. “They are also extraordinary people because they’ve been given challenges that they deal with.”
Buhler started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the documentary in 2010 and he raised more than $18,000. Buhler spent over two years in Toledo filming the documentary. In total, the film took more than three years to make.
For more information on the film, visit awholelottmore.com. Because there are no screenings planned at the moment, Buhler said signing up for the newsletter will be useful for upcoming news.

Ben Treece is a 2009 Graduate from the University of Miami (FL), BBA International Finance and Marketing. He is a partner with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and a stockbroker licensed with FINRA, working for Treece Financial Services Corp. The above information is the express opinion of Ben Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

Chris Aldrich, left, and Jeff Kurtz created Saltwater Smarts, a blog created for marine aquarium hobbyists of all skill levels.

Many freshwater aquarium hobbyists are afraid to get involved with saltwater because they think it’s too complicated, according to the partners.
“If you can do freshwater then you can do saltwater,” Aldrich said.
“All the chemistry and principles are the same. It’s not cheap but it’s not insanely expensive to get involved in a saltwater hobby,” Kurtz said.
A 30-gallon tank is a good starter for people just getting involved in saltwater, according to Kurtz.
“However, bigger is better for saltwater tanks for the stability of the environment,” he said.
Aldrich and Kurtz have been involved in saltwater hobbies for more than 20 years. They met through the Toledo Reef Aquarium Club in 2012.
They soon started talking about creating a friendly website for saltwater hobbyists. The seasoned hobbyists are avid scuba divers who have experienced the saltwater environment firsthand.
“We truly care about the saltwater hobby but also about the natural environment,” said Aldrich, who is also involved in a live rock project in the Florida Keys.
Aldrich, a website developer, designed the website. Kurtz focuses on the content with his editorial background as senior consulting editor for Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine and editor of Healthy Living News.
They began promoting the site in January, creating Facebook and Twitter pages to begin building their own saltwater community. They also held a pre-launch contest and awarded a gift card for aquarium supplies to the winner, Holly Thomas.
Susan Santillo, owner of Coral Reef, said she thinks the site will be good for aquarium hobbyists and their retail business. The saltwater store was established in Toledo in 1995 and has operated from its current location since 2009.
Aldrich and Kurtz said they have a lot of ideas for activities on the blog and for expansion of the website. They said they will welcome input from bloggers.
Anyone interested in saltwater aquariums is invited to visit www.saltwatersmarts.com.

Delia

Delia’s immediate family — especially her father, who was fighting terminal prostate cancer — was supportive of her decision, but many people didn’t understand.
“Any friend who had ever lost a loved one to cancer was immediately supportive and encouraging of my decision. Anyone who had not generally responded with, ‘That’s really drastic.’ Some people said, ‘Why not watch and wait?’” Delia said. “That was frustrating. They don’t realize that while that is an option, it’s a risky one. Mammography can only do so much. There’s no guarantee a cancer can be caught early. Others may be comfortable with that approach, but for me, that was too big of a gamble to live with.”
Angelina Jolie
On May 14, the topic was thrust to the forefront of international conversation when The New York Times published an op-ed column by actress Angelina Jolie in which she shared her recent decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy after testing positive for the gene mutation BRCA1.
“Knowing that many other women have been through this helped for sure,” Delia said. “[But] what I appreciate is that she is sharing this information and bringing more awareness and discussion to the issue.”
Local reactions mixed
Jolie’s announcement has also reverberated — with mixed reactions — among local medical professionals.
Kelly Morse of ProMedica’s Hickman Cancer Center at Flower Hospital, Northwest Ohio’s only board-certified genetic counselor specializing in cancer, said she thinks Jolie will be a positive role model for local women.
“Some women are very attached to their natural breasts and see that as an important part of themselves as a woman and it’s very difficult emotionally to wrap their heads around losing them,” Morse said. “Other women are of the mindset that they will do anything to remove the risk and basically say, ‘How soon can we get this done?’ Every woman is just very, very different.
“[Jolie’s announcement] should at least allow women to start asking questions and if maybe they didn’t think surgery was right for them a few years ago, maybe they will revisit that and decide it’s the right thing for them now. Or if they were never tested but know it’s in their family, maybe they’ll think it’s the right time to come back in for testing.
“Just being in her position, as an actress, where physical appearance is obviously very important, that she was able to go ahead with that surgery, I think it’s really empowering,” Morse said.
However, that same awareness could be “a double-edged sword,” said Dr. Nasfat Shehadeh, medical director of Mercy Cancer Centers at St. Anne and St. Charles.
Preventative mastectomies have become more common during the past seven years as more people become aware of the option and as reconstructive methods improve, but it isn’t the best choice for all women, Shehadeh said.

Shehadeh

“It’s an extreme measure,” he said. “It might even be an extreme measure in patients with a mutation. I think what [Jolie] has done is very reasonable; it will decrease the risk of breast cancer without question. But a study done in Europe showed it didn’t have an impact on overall survival. It can also have a significant psychological effect on the patient and the spouse.
“We have to make sure the patient is really well-informed and understands the consequences. We have to understand that the vast majority of patients will do fine with just a lumpectomy if cancer is detected early. We are overdoing mastectomies and I hope we won’t see a second rise of mastectomies because of this story.”
One in eight women
One in every eight women, or 12 percent, will be diagnosed with breast cancer, but those with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation are five times more likely to develop the disaese, said Shehadeh, adding that only about 5 to 7 percent of breast cancer cases are genetic.
The genetic test is called BRACAnalysis and is done by only one company, Myriad Genetics Inc. in Salt Lake City.
Not everyone is a candidate for BRACAnalysis and not every cancer patient is tested, Shehadeh said.
Younger patients and those with multiple diagnoses in their families are likely to qualify for insurance coverage, but there are many criteria, said Morse, who said she consults with about 10 people per week, typically with a doctor referral.
The initial test costs $4,040, Morse said.
Once a genetic mutation is identified, the test for family members can be set to hone in on that particular gene, making it less expensive, about $475, Morse said.
Delia underwent genetic testing after her father was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer in 2010. Both were found to be positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation.
Her father’s sister, also BRCA2 positive, had breast cancer, and three of her father’s aunts died of breast cancer, one at age 30, Delia said.
“When people hear about my surgery, even medical professionals, they always ask ‘Did your mom have cancer?’ No. ‘Your grandma?’ No,” Delia said. “Cancer on the father’s side of the family matters just as much as cancer on the mother’s side.”
Road to recovery
Although she trusts she made the right decision, Delia said the physical recovery process as well as the emotional and psychological process of adjusting to her new body will take time.
“All along, I fantasized about the relief I would have once my surgery was over. I thought my anxiety would lessen and this huge weight over me would finally disappear,” Delia said. “[Instead] I felt a lot of discomfort and sadness. I know I did the right thing, but to expect relief in the short term was short-sighted.”
She does count the timing of her surgery as a blessing as it allowed her to spend time with her father, who died in April, shortly after her second surgery.
“I spent the last two weeks of his life with him almost nonstop,” Delia said. “Had I postponed the surgery, I would have been at work. I believe I was meant to have the surgery when I did.”
Everyone copes with a cancer diagnosis or a positive BRCA test result differently, Morse said. National support organizations like Bright Pink and FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered) help many people, she said.
“We can’t change or correct our genetics right now,” Morse said. “We have to cope and deal with whatever hand we’re dealt.
“That’s why I personally feel it’s important for these families to see the expertise of a genetic counselor, not just for medical but for emotional support.
“It’s a pretty personal choice.”

Borelli

“I believe for many, many years the black community has been held hostage by the message from the black liberal establishment, and that is that blacks are victims and need the government to get ahead,” Borelli said. “I learned early on, it’s hard work, perseverance, equality, education — those are the keys to success.”
Borelli, a New Jersey native, worked for Philip Morris while earning her college degree. After 11 years of working and going to school, she received her degree from Pace University.
“I didn’t rely on government to get my college degree. It was my planning and my hard work,” she said. After she left Philip Morris, Borelli began volunteering for Congress of Racial Equality, where she became interested in politics.
Borelli said she has faced negative reactions for her beliefs.
“I’ve been called an Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, a traitor, a token. Really, that just tells me my message is getting through and people are trying to intimidate and keep me from getting through and empowering people,” she said. “I’ve met a number of black conservatives who are being more vocal about their values and their beliefs.”
The event, which includes dinner, runs from 6:30-9:30 p.m. May 21 at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Banquet Hall, 802 N. Superior St. Tickets are $35 and are available at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6397305513#.