All of that will make downtown Akron more vibrant to retain and attract people, organizers said.

The grant awarded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will give the Downtown Akron Partnership a boost to test and implement improvements to public spaces in key areas of downtown over the next two years.

“It feels like we’re hitting this tipping point in downtown Akron,” said Kyle Kutuchief, Knight Foundation program director for Akron.

As part of the collective work of the foundation, Downtown Akron Partnership and other partners, including the city of Akron, three main public focus areas have been determined for the grant. They are:

• The Link: Identifying and promoting an east-to-west, 1-mile connector dubbed “The Link” that runs from the University of Akron’s University Avenue and Broadway Street area (near the Akron Public Schools’ National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM school and the UA schools of law and business) to the Akron Children’s Hospital campus.

• Cascade Plaza: Enhancing a key public park adjacent to Huntington Bank’s campus and as well as a proposed residential development.

• Night Out at North High Street: Improving and bringing more activity to the sidewalks around the North High business district to attract new activity and pedestrian traffic to the area.

‘Where is everybody?’

The idea behind the grant is to work with various partners throughout the key areas to encourage more people to be out and about on the streets.

“It’s a game of hide-and-seek in downtown Akron,” said Kutuchief. “Where is everybody?”

Thousands of workers drive in to Akron and enter office buildings via underground parking decks. Many don’t venture out for lunch or don’t leave until they get back in their cars to go home, Kutuchief said.

In a recent study completed by Gehl Studio, a firm specializing in urban design, 60 volunteers — including downtown small business owners — spent 190 hours watching how people used spaces downtown in two-hour blocks.

They saw people were either not coming out onto streets or they were using skywalks connected to parking decks to traverse through downtown.

At the corner of University Avenue and Broadway, about 1,000 students stay within the buildings and eat quick lunches or walk through the skywalks — often going down two levels through unattractive areas and parking decks — to make their way down to the Polsky Building on South Main instead of walking on the streets, said Suzie Graham, Downtown Akron Partnership president and CEO.

“We want to make it more attractive and inviting to have those folks out in our streets and being part of our network,” she said.

Part of that means encouraging more street-level eateries, instead of ones hidden within buildings, or public spaces with areas to eat lunch or walk in at night, she said.

‘East-west connection’

“The Link is an opportunity to build a strong east-west connection that goes right through the heart of downtown to both bring students into the downtown area and to bring patient families and employees of Akron Children’s Hospital into the downtown area,” Graham said.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said it’s essential to connect the tens of thousands of UA students, educators and employers to the urban center.

“We continue to focus on connectivity between the nodes of activity downtown and look forward to working with [Downtown Akron Partnership] to sprinkle ‘bread crumbs’ between the University, Lock 3, Akron Children’s Hospital and Cascade Plaza to make it easy and attractive for people to further explore and discover their city,” Horrigan said. “As we prepare to invest $5 million in TIGER [Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery] grant funds in a more accessible, livable Main Street, we must ensure that all our major employers and assets are linked through cycle- and pedestrian-friendly streets and infrastructure.”

Cascade, North High

Two other large areas that need some “icing,” Kutuchief and Graham said, are Cascade Plaza and the shops on North High Street.

The city has spent $4.2 million to improve Cascade Plaza and has recently pledged more upgrades. The top of the plaza now needs a welcoming green space for Huntington Bank and other area employees, residents of proposed downtown apartments and future guests at a redeveloped Akron City Center Hotel, Kutuchief said.

Some improvements could be as simple as temporary projects for seating or sidewalk cafe areas on North High Street.

Kutuchief and Graham said a survey done of the lighting around downtown showed many areas where there are dark blocks that discourage people from exploring. Adding lighting will make a big impact, they said.

Some improvements, including those to North High Street, could happen as soon as this fall and Cascade Plaza upgrades by next summer, they said.

A vibrant downtown complements the major upgrades Akron Children’s Hospital has been making to its campus near downtown, hospital President and CEO Bill Considine said.

“If you look at what’s being done with that corridor, that’s only going to add to the excitement for everybody and not only for our workforce but the families that are here,” said Considine, who is also a Knight Foundation trustee.

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ  on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty

He found them at the Sons of Italy Lodge 685, a fun-loving group of immigrants and their descendants that celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.

“That’s how we got to know everyone and make good friends,” Ferrante said.

And that’s exactly why the Akron chapter was formed in 1917, a dozen years after the national order was founded.

“When people came over to this country, they were looking for paisans,” said club member Toni Ross of Cuyahoga Falls, using the Italian word for “fellow countrymen.” “They were looking for neighbors and people they might have known over there.”

Italy had only been unified half a century earlier, so the country’s regions still retained their unique flavors, customs and loyalties.

As a result, each region was represented by a different club in Akron, with members required to demonstrate geographic ties. There were societies and lodges specific to the Sicilians, the Carovillese, the Cassanese and the Abruzzi, to name a few.

The Akron area once boasted 30 or more Italian clubs. Today, about half remain.

The Sons of Italy — one of the oldest Italian clubs in the Akron area — was different than most. It accepted anyone of Italian descent.

And, common in most club charters, if one spouse was Italian, the other spouse was automatically Italian.

That’s why Lodge 685 overlooks the ethnicity of its president, Pat Puhak — Slovak by birth, Italian by marriage.

Helping others

In addition to being a social community, the clubs offered life and accident insurance. That was a huge deal for people who had moved thousands of miles away from their network of support, a time before Social Security or government welfare programs existed.

Over the decades, as generations distanced themselves from those early immigrant needs and challenges, the clubs started setting their sights on helping other charities.

Today, Lodge 685 donates annually to Cooley’s Anemia Foundation, Alz­heimer’s Foundation and Doug Flutie’s Foundation for Autism.

They also hand out three or four scholarships each year to the children of members. That’s where the profits from their booth at this week’s Summit County Italian American Festival will go.

The festival is celebrating its 70th year and is an annual tradition put on by 14 of Summit County’s Italian clubs, including Sons of Italy.

It will be held Thursday through Saturday at Lock 3 Park, 200 S. Main St. in downtown Akron.

At the Sons of Italy festival booth, Andrea Conti and her team will be serving up meatball subs with homemade sauce and sausage sandwiches cooked on-site.

“We try to be as authentic as we can,” said Conti, who was born 50 years ago in Akron’s Italian North Hill neighborhood.

The festival evolved from an old tradition in which each club held its own individual picnic. With many people belonging to more than one club, the practice of squeezing 30 or more Italian picnics into a few warm weather weeks was too unwieldy.

The Council of Italian American Societies of Summit County was formed, and the clubs agreed to throw their weight behind a single festival that would not only reach members, but draw in the greater community in a celebration of Italian heritage, music and food.

The Sons of Italy have been involved every year while also managing to organize numerous activities for its 183 members.

A look at its 2017 calendar is a good example: reverse raffle in April, a fashion show in June, a card party in September, a wine tasting in October.

Other activities are devoted to helping other nonprofits with their goals: assisting Rolling Thunder to raise funds for vets in October, wrapping toys for needy Akron children; and volunteering at the Akron Children’s Hospital Tree Festival in November.

“When I was first asked to join the group, I thought, ‘Oh my God, these people are so fun, so welcoming,’ ” Conti said.

Promoting membership

As with all ethnic groups and civic clubs, keeping membership up is the biggest challenge.

The Sons of Italy has seen its own ranks dwindle from a peak of about 250, but Conti is confident the club will still be around in 50 years.

The key is to promote the group to empty nesters who are young enough to be active but old enough to understand the special bonds that come from shared ancestry.

“People reach an age where they appreciate it,” Conti said. “Then they join the lodge and change it to reflect themselves.”

The one thing that doesn’t change is the result, she said. “There’s a sense of camaraderie and caring. But the one thing I would tell people about this group is they are all about having fun.”

To learn more about the Sons of Italy’s Akron Lodge 685, visit www.sonsofitalyakron.org.

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.

Christopher Hendon, 26, was arraigned on the new charges in Summit County Common Pleas Court by visiting Judge John Enlow, sitting in for Judge Christine Croce. Hendon, who was dressed in a striped polo shirt and black dress pants, is free on a $2,500 bond.

Hendon faces 60 charges, a combination of felonies and misdemeanors, including assault, kidnapping, abduction and endangering children.

Prosecutors say Hendon, dressed as an officer, attempted to enter the Summit County Juvenile Detention Center and the Summit County Jail and went to two schools with children in handcuffs between March 29 and April 6.

Hendon is not a certified peace officer in Ohio, but has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Hendon was arrested April 6 after he attempted to enter the juvenile detention center with a firearm and a child in handcuffs. He claimed to be a resource officer working as part of a Scared Straight program. He had a security badge with the word “security” covered with a band, investigators said.

Hendon was originally charged with 13 offenses. A supplemental indictment by a Summit County grand jury in late June added 47 more charges. He will next be in court Aug. 1.

Donald Malarcik, Hendon’s attorney, said his client is accused of taking kids who had gotten into trouble from their school and bringing them to the juvenile detention center, where youth offenders are housed, taking them on a tour, and then returning them to school or their parents. He said Hendon’s aim was to “instill a respect for authority” in these young people and some parents were grateful for his help.

“Drugs and violence are consuming a generation of children in Akron,” Malarcik said. “Chris Hendon tried to reach these kids to save them from a life far worse than a ride to juvenile court.”

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj  and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.

This weekend will mark the 70th Italian-American Festival in and around Lock 3 Park downtown.

A week later, Festa Italiana returns to Cuyahoga Falls.

And continuing the Italian theme of today’s column, we bring you news of a new Italian restaurant, sort of. Bravo! Cucina Italiana at Summit Mall in Fairlawn is one of the first locations to convert to the Columbus chain’s new concept: Brio Coastal Bar & Kitchen.

First up …

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the three-day Italian-American fest in and around Lock 3 Park in downtown Akron.

It will open for lunch on Thursday and run through Saturday night, when there will be fireworks around 10 p.m. Fourteen of Summit County’s Italian clubs collaborate to organize the festival, under the banner of the Council of Italian American Societies of Summit County.

The Sons of Italy club will sell meatball subs (with homemade sauce) and sausage sandwiches. Le Radici (The Roots) will sell Italian pastries, and the Italian American Professional Businessmen’s Club will sell subs made by DeVitis Italian Market & Deli on Tallmadge Avenue in North Akron.

Vendors include Corbo’s Bakery of Cleveland’s Little Italy and DiRusso Italian Sausage of Youngstown, a longtime vendor at Ohio fairs and festivals. You can buy DiRusso’s sausages at area stores, but there’s nothing like a freshly prepared sausage sandwich at a fest.

Debi Rauckhorst, an officer with the council, said the festival area gets pretty packed in the evening as folks come to enjoy the music.

The homemade wine contest is back, and you can enter until 5 p.m. Saturday for the 6 p.m. judging time; just drop off your entry at the volunteer booth.

Maybe you can learn some Italian toasts on Saturday, when Dora Ricci-Raymond offers half-hour Italian lessons for beginners from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Last year’s festival raised more than $60,000 for local charities and scholarships.

Oh, the music — don’t mean to ignore it, but this is a food column — will include Avanti (6:30 p.m. Saturday) and Lights Out, a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute band (8:30 p.m. Saturday). The Fleetwood Mac Mania tribute band will perform at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, after the opening ceremony that begins at 8 p.m. For a complete schedule, go to www.it-am.org.

Festa Italiana

The area is blessed with back-to-back Italian festivals.

Festa Italiana will set up on Falls River Square July 21-23 on Front Street between Broad Boulevard and East Portage Trail in Cuyahoga Falls.

It features a bocce tournament, grape stomping and lots of Italian food. It is one of the last events planned for the south end of the Front Street pedestrian mall before construction begins to reopen the street to traffic. Admission is free. For a schedule, go to www.festaitalianacf.com.

Bravo for Brio

“Basically, we took the best dishes of Bravo! and the best dishes of Brio and infused them,” tossing in some other items, and with an emphasis on fresh ingredients, said James Walker, general manager of the former Bravo! at Summit Mall, rechristened Brio Coastal Bar & Kitchen as of Monday.

The chain operates Brio Tuscan Grilles at Legacy Village and Crocker Park shopping areas outside Cleveland, which play off the simplicity of Tuscan cuisine.

So the new menu at Brio Coastal has Brio’s spicy shrimp and eggplant and beef carpaccio small plates, as well as entrees such as pasta alla vodka. From Bravo!, there are items such as grilled balsamic chicken, chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan and spaghetti and meatballs. Small plates include roasted beets and whipped feta and avocado toast.

“Handhelds” include a Double Stack Burger featuring two 4-ounce Angus burgers with white cheddar, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, special sauce and house-made pickles. It comes with fries. Cost is $14.

The idea is “a relaxed feel with small plates, with people sharing” in a less-formal atmosphere, Walker said.

Gone are the more formal white shirts and black pants that servers wore, replaced with blue and white gingham shirts and jeans. Colorful plates have replaced the white ones and the decor has been freshened up.

“It’s a lot lighter, brighter,” Walker said.

The bar has more seating, and now offers house-made infused liquor, such as pineapple vodka, spicy mango tequila and honey bourbon.

Look for the new blue Brio Coastal awnings. For a menu, go to www.briocoastal.com. Phone for the location at 3265 W. Market St., Fairlawn is 330-835-9583.

So far, the other Brio Coastals are in Torrence, Calif., and Charlotte, N.C. The Bravo! concept will remain, but some will be converted into Brio Coastals.

Here’s some related chain eatery trivia. Chris Doody, who with his brother, Rick, started Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, left the company to found Piada Italian Street Food, also based in Columbus. Last month, Piada opened its first Akron location at West Market Station at Hawkins Avenue and West Market Street. Another Piada is scheduled to open this year in the Portage Crossing development off State Road in Cuyahoga Falls.

There also is a Piada in the Belden Village area of Jackson Township. You order at a counter, and employees create the dish in front of you. Piada folks prefer the term “fast casual” to one moniker customers have bestowed: “The Italian Chipotle.”

Howie’s and Pav’s

Longtime Portage Lakes haunt Howie’s on the Lake is offering boozy ice cream drinks, pairing Pav’s ice cream with liquor.

It’s a riff on the adult offerings at the year-round Pav’s in Green’s Heritage Crossings shopping complex.

Local chef Dick Kanatzar is now running Howie’s kitchen. Late last month, he revealed on his Facebook page that he is temporarily closing his Chop & Swizzle craft cocktail bars in Akron and Green due to “culinary differences.” He wrote, “We will reopen in both locations better than before.”

Howie’s is owned by Eric and Claudia Griffin. Howie’s on the Lake is on Turkeyfoot Lake at 4856 Coleman Drive in New Franklin. The place started as a local grocery store in the 1930s; for the history, go to https://www.howiesonthelake.com/about-us.

As for Pav’s, a third location is expected to open late next month at 708 S. Main St. in North Canton. It also will be a year-round, sit-down location; the site is a onetime Isaly’s, a boomer-era favorite that sold ice cream and other food.

The original Pav’s seasonal ice cream stand is at 3769 Manchester Road in Coventry Township.

Small bites

• This year’s Plow to Chow dinner will be Thursday at the Winery at Wolf Creek in Copley. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. with a wine tasting, heavy hors d’oeuvres and entertainment.

Tickets are $75 and proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Akron. Call 800-654-5158.

• Peachtree Southern Kitchen and Cocktails at 200 N. Main St. in Hudson will host a benefit dinner Sunday organized by Inspire Within, a nonprofit that helps people and organizations in need. Courses include fried green tomato canapes with tomato jam, pulled pork sliders and Creole wings. The dinner runs 4 to 8 p.m. and tickets are $40 at www.inspire-within.com.

• Wise Guys Lounge and Grill at 1008 N. Main St. in Akron will host a Celebration of Cabernet from 6 to 9 p.m. July 19. Cost is $30 and includes “lite bites.” For reservations, call 330-922-3006 after 3 p.m.

• The Undiscovered Wines of Lombardia is the name of the wine dinner set for 6:30 p.m. July 19 at Vaccaro’s Trattoria, 1000 Ghent Road in Bath Township. Cost is $65 plus tax and tip. The Lombardy region is in northern Italy and is home to Milan and Lake Como. Reserve at 330-666-6158 or go to www.vactrat.com.

• Ken Stewart’s Grille, 1970 W. Market St., will have a five-course wine dinner at 6:30 p.m. July 20. Cost is $75 plus tax and tip. Reserve by calling Terry Kemp, event director, at 330-697-6917.

• Papa Joe’s, 1561 Akron-Peninsula Road, will host a five-course Vintage Italian Wines dinner at 7 p.m. July 28. Cost is $85 plus tax and tip. Reserve at 330-923-7999.

• Ken Stewart’s Lodge, 1911 N. Cleveland-Massillon Road, will offer an Italian Wines on the Patio dinner at 6:30 p.m. July 26. Cost is $75 plus tax and tip. Reserve at 330-666-8881.

Send local food news to Katie Byard at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ  on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com and read the Akron Dish blog at www.ohio.com/food.

After a brief pause, the friends and longtime homebrewers — who both live in Stow — agree that they want Hop Tree Brewing Co. to be known for two main things: high-quality beer and a positive experience.

“Great beer is always in season,” Ross, 34, said, borrowing the brewery’s catchphrase.

Hop Tree, a brewpub and production brewery that will distribute draft beer locally, hopes to open its doors as soon as late July.

The brewery is situated at 1297 Hudson Gate Drive off Hudson Road, at the end of a roomy industrial park filled with trees.

The brewing equipment — featuring a 10-barrel Specific Mechanical brewing system — is in place, and workers are now renovating the 12,000-square-foot building, including adding a 22-seat bar that will be topped with live edge wood slabs from an oak tree.

The stainless steel brewing system is in a warehouse setting adjacent to the tasting room, and there are several windows allowing visitors to gaze upon it. (The brewery will offer tours on the weekends.)

Community table

The brewpub, which will be family friendly, will feature some booths, high top tables, couches, love seats and a large community table.

“We really like the community table aspect because part of the culture of beer is sitting down with people and talking and discussing the beer and the food and whatever else,” said Ross, who previously worked as a landscaper.

“That’s part of the experience that we’re trying to create,” added McClymont, 39, who works in the manufacturing industry. “That relaxed environment where people come in and feel comfortable making a new friend even if it’s just for a few minutes.”

The brewpub menu will feature fresh items such as pretzels with beer cheese, pulled pork sliders, Cuban sandwiches, soups and salads.

Hop Tree has been long in the making. Ross and McClymont started talking about opening their own place more than a decade ago.

That’s when Ross got involved in the American Brewers Guild, they started expanding their homebrew equipment and they began to develop recipes. They estimate that they have 50-plus solid recipes now.

They shopped all around for possible locations in Kent and Akron’s northern suburbs, even being linked to the old Falls Theater in Cuyahoga Falls at one point. They also looked at the building that now houses HiHO Brewing Co. in Cuyahoga Falls.

Beer garden

They are quite happy where they ended up. The industrial park has plenty of space, including grassy areas that can serve as an outdoor beer garden. Woods surround the park.

“It’s just peaceful back here,” McClymont said.

There’s enough space out back that Hop Tree plans to grow some hops for special brews. They also have planted hop vines in the front of the building to greet visitors.

The Hop Tree name stems from their idea of possibly opening in Kent, which carries the nickname “Tree City” because it’s home to the Davey Tree Co. There’s also an Eastern Hophornbeam tree in Ross’ yard that produces a seed that looks like a hop.

A tree-related name was in play no matter where they looked.

“We stuck with the tree because we like the fact that trees are strong and take root and take shape and evolve and stay in one place,” McClymont said.

As for the beers, Hop Tree hopes to produce a style for everyone’s taste.

“We’ve always been attracted to those characteristics in the classic styles of beer that we think should be accentuated a little bit more so than they are,” McClymont said. “We’re not hop heads. We enjoy hoppy beers but we’re not nuts about highly bitter, hoppy IPAs. We like well-made, high quality, easy-drinking beers.”

Hop Tree will offer 10 draft beers, including two on nitro. Ross and McClymont expect only three of them will be mainstays: an IPA, golden ale and brown ale.

The others will rotate based on style. For example, there will be malty, wheat and stout handles.

While Hop Tree will be available on draft only to start, Ross and McClymont hope to add canning down the road.

The friends also hope to duplicate their love of homebrewing in a professional setting.

They want their experience to feel “like you’re going to the garage to brew another batch of beer,” Ross said. “Obviously there’s a lot more involved when running a business. But hopefully we still have a little bit of that feeling left when we’re actually operating here.”

Hop Tree expects to be open Wednesday through Sunday. Hours will be 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 4 to midnight Friday; 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

To keep up with the progress, check out: www.facebook.com/HopTreeBrewing.

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his beer blog at Ohio.com/beer. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .

Three people died, while two others have so far survived.

“I can’t remember a weekend this busy,” said Capt. Daniel Zampelli, a police spokesman who has been with the department for more than 30 years.

The shootings were at:

• 5:20 a.m. Saturday: Officers responded to a shooting at 35 Oakdale Ave., where they found a man shot on the front porch. He was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The man’s name isn’t being released until he is positively identified, according to the police department.

• 8:25 a.m. Saturday: A 48-year-old woman was shot multiple times while driving at the intersection of Little Street and South Hawkins Avenue and crashed into a tree. She was transported to the Cleveland Clinic Akron General, where she was rushed into the operating room. She was shot in the face, neck and chest.

Vester Morrison Jr., 58, the victim’s estranged boyfriend, was charged with attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and having weapons while under disability.

Police went to a home in the 200 block of Kelly Avenue about 12:15 p.m. Sunday where they believed Morrison was staying. Officers tried to convince Morrison to surrender, but he refused to leave the house.

A SWAT negotiator, after about two hours, convinced Morrison to surrender without further incident.

• 4 a.m. Sunday: A man died after exchanging gunfire with officers responding to a call about a woman being raped at gunpoint at 2070 Thurmont Road.

• 2 p.m. Sunday: Officers responded to a shooting at 766 Baird St. They found Giovanni Travis, 26, shot and unresponsive. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

• 11:15 a.m. Monday: Officers found a man who had been shot on the ground in the 800 block of Brown Street. He was conscious, and his injuries did not appear life-threatening, Zampelli said.

Zampelli said the Little Street/South Hawkins Avenue shooting and Thurmont Road incident both involved people who knew each other. He said officers aren’t yet sure if the other three shootings are related.

Anyone with information on any of the shootings is asked to call the detective bureau at 330-375-2490.

But Scene75 Entertainment Center, taking shape in the former Buehler’s store in Brunswick, will give the mouse a run for his money.

There are some 80,000 square feet of space inside with everything from bumper cars to electric go-karts to a two-story laser tag to a motion theater to two miniature golf courses.

Smack dab in the middle of the attractions and some 120 arcade games is a large circular bar for parents to imbibe and keep an eye on the kids.

Construction has been going on for months and there’s another 25 days or so before the doors will open at the destination situated on state Route 303 west of Interstate 71.

This will be the company’s third location, with one in Cincinnati and the first one opening in Dayton some five years ago.

Owner Jonah Sandler said he considered opening out-of-state but decided to stick in the Buckeye State and thought the Cleveland and Akron market needed a destination that would attract not only adults but also families.

There’s even a large area set aside for youngsters that includes a half-dozen inflatables to climb on and interactive toys and games, plus a small carousel.

Admission is free, but the big attractions — like the Vault where you crawl through a maze of lasers like James Bond — cost extra.

You put money on a card that keeps track of any winning tickets you earn at carnival-type games to redeem for prizes. The card also allows you to play arcade games that range from killing zombies to what is billed as the world’s largest Pac-Man game.

Sandler said they picked Brunswick because it is close to the interstates and Cleveland and Akron.

Sandler said the center typically draws guests from a 75-mile radius — thus the name and also the fact the original Dayton location is by Interstate 75.

Some 300,000 to 400,000 people a year visit the two existing locations and each host about 1,000 birthday parties annually. The Brunswick location will have 125 employees initially and will be open five days a week Wednesday through Sunday.

As a growing company, Sandler said, each location has been “a journey” to get finished and just right after dealing with a variety of contractors and vendors from throughout the world.

“This is very much a labor of love,” he said.

Sandler said he had hoped to have the Brunswick location open by now but ran into a big delay when workers went to remove the floor tiles only to have the concrete come up, too.

This meant pouring a whole new floor.

“That was not a good day,” he said.

But that’s all behind them, and now it is time to put the finishing touches on the space.

This location will have a food truck alley featuring Cleveland-area mobile restaurateurs.

Sandler said they have purchased former UPS trucks that are being cut in half and installed inside so guests can stroll up and have lunch or grab something to eat while enjoying the games and attractions.

The alley, which has its own outside entrance in addition to being connected with the attraction and games area, will be open seven days a week. It will include Rocky River’s River Dog Cafe, Fairview Park’s Sauced Wood Fired Pizzas, Berea’s Boca Loca Burrito Factory and Lakewood’s the Proper Pig Smokehouse.

“Cleveland is big into its food trucks,” said Dawn Meyer, Scene75’s business development manager. “This was a great opportunity to create something Cleveland-like.”

Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.

Under an Airbnb contract, she was required to pay extra if she had more than 20 people over.

A flyer about the party posted on social media, however, drew a large crowd of people in their 20s to the Sourek Road home Friday night.

“It morphed into 250 to 300 people,” said Bath Police Chief Michael McNeely.

The police went to the home about 11:15 p.m. While they were there, one of the partygoers, a 17-year-old male from Cleveland, was struck by a bullet in an apparent drive-by shooting. The teen was treated at a Cuyahoga County hospital for an injury that was not life-threatening.

A Bedford woman rented the home in the 3200 block of Sourek through Airbnb, a short-term home rental service.

The 2,894-square-foot, 2.5-bathroom, four-bedroom house is valued at $222,520, according to the Summit County Fiscal Office’s website.

Bath police responded to numerous complaints about noise and vehicles parked on the road. While officers were still clearing the crowd, they heard a gunshot at 12:34 a.m.

Officers didn’t locate a victim, but later learned that a gunshot victim was treated at University Hospitals in Cleveland and released.

Police said Lisa Yedidsion, the Sourek Road homeowner, has been cooperative and they are working with her to prevent a similar disturbance.

“She needs to monitor it better and have a plan in place for situations like this,” McNeely said.

Yedidsion couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. Her voicemail was full and unable to accept messages.

The Sourek Road house rents for $255 a night on Airbnb. The listing says the home isn’t available to anyone under 25 and is “perfect for parties and get-togethers both formal and non.” The house includes a large yard, tanning bed, fireplace, pool table and bar.

The home has received several positive reviews since April. “Great host, great neighborhood, great big house!” one person wrote in May. Reviewers mentioned renting it while in town for a concert at Blossom Music Center, hiking in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and hosting a baby shower.

Airbnb, founded in 2008 as AirBed & Breakfast, connects travelers with hosts using its website. It generates income by charging a service fee.

Across Ohio, people renting through Airbnb took in $17.5 million in 2016 from 130,000 people. This included people renting to out-of-town visitors to the Republican National Convention and the Cleveland Cavaliers championship run, according to Beacon Journal archives.

Jeff Henry, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based Airbnb, said in an email Monday that the company is working with Bath police to try to determine who was responsible for the shooting.

“There have been over 200 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings and negative incidents are extremely rare,” Henry said. “But even one such incident is too many.”

The woman who rented the house has been permanently banned from Airbnb, and Airbnb will reimburse the home­owner for minor damage to her home under its $1 million host guarantee, Henry said.

Anyone with information about the Bath shooting is asked to call the police department 330-666-3736.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj . Beacon Journal reporter Rick Armon contributed to this report.

The suspect, Ryan Allen Probst, 28, was killed in an exchange of gunfire outside of the Lela Avenue NW home in a tree-filled residential neighborhood.

Uniontown Police Sgt. David White, a 25-year police veteran who’s married and has four children, is in stable condition after having surgery for his injuries at an Akron hospital, Chief Harold Britt said.

“He’s a great guy,” the chief said Monday morning at a news conference at the Stark County Sheriff’s Office in Canton. “Everybody loves him.”

The Uniontown police district, located in northern Stark County, is a quiet, rural community known more for the Hartville Kitchen and Hartville Hardware than violent crime.

“This has really torn up the department,” Britt said.

He asked the public to keep White, who joined Uniontown police in 2002, and his family in their prayers.

Authorities said the shooting remains under investigation, and some details were either unclear or weren’t being released.

The Stark County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Ohio Bureau of Investigation, is investigating.

Sheriff George Maier said authorities had received a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at the residence. The suspect confronted two officers as soon as they arrived at 10:16 p.m. and he fired several shots, Maier said.

The officers returned fire.

“Domestic violence calls are one of the most dangerous calls officers respond to,” Maier said.

The Uniontown officer who wasn’t struck has been placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy.

The sheriff didn’t know what type of weapon Probst had or where on his body White had been shot.

Previous incidents

Police had responded to the home numerous times in the past, and there had been guns removed from the home during previous incidents, he said.

Probst was the only one home at the time of the shooting, Maier said. There had been people at the residence earlier.

Probst’s Facebook page said he had attended Lake High School and had served in the U.S. Marines from June 2008 to December 2011. He also posted several photos of himself riding a motorcycle.

His wife had filed for divorce in September 2014, but it was withdrawn, according to Stark County Common Pleas Court records.

A man at Probst’s home Monday morning declined to comment.

A neighbor, Ron McMorrow, said Probst was raised by his grandparents and alternated living at his grandparents’ home and with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter in a house across the street.

“I hate to see something like that happen. Now she’s going to be without a husband, the kid isn’t going to have a father,” McMorrow said. “It’s terrible.”

Authorities cited previous run-ins with the law during their news conference.

Probst was convicted of aggravated menacing in 2015, disorderly conduct in 2012, and disorderly conduct in 2008, according to local court records.

Britt said it’s the first time that he knows of that a Uniontown police officer was shot in the line of duty.

The last time an officer was injured was in 2011, when Capt. Dan Stiles was struck and killed as he directed traffic at Kaufman Avenue NW and state Route 619.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 330-430-3800.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .

The Akron Board of Education passed the motion 5-1 Monday night, with the sole dissenter being board member Debbie Walsh.

“While I’m very concerned about the safety of our students, I’m also equally as concerned about the message it’s going to send,” Walsh said. “I think there’s often too much of an attitude of, ‘As long as there’s Narcan, we’re safe’ … That’s just a message that I don’t want out there.”

For the rest of the board members, the move was seen as a proactive step toward preventing death as the region deals with an opioid epidemic.

“It could be a son or child or granddaughter. No one’s immune from this stuff, nobody,” said school board member John Otterman, who initially proposed the policy to the board last year. “I just hope that, if it’s necessary, it’ll be available to save somebody.”

Once the planned middle school and high school mergers are completed by the 2017-18 school year, APS will have six high schools and nine middle schools; each will receive two doses of the antidote in the form of nasal spray.

The school resource officers who are placed at each school, along with one additional officer who patrols between schools, will have access to the naloxone. The officers, who have been trained to administer naloxone, will check the doses out when they start their shifts and return them at the end of their shifts.

The naloxone will be stored in the schools’ health clinics “for security purposes,” and they can be administered to anybody on school grounds, said Debra Foulk, the executive director of business affairs for APS.

Foulk said the next step is to begin writing administrative guidelines, which will be approved and reviewed regularly by the Summit County health department. She anticipates the guidelines being finalized and the naloxone moving into the schools at some point during this upcoming school year.

The move by APS is on par with schools across the country that are stocking their cabinets with naloxone in case of an overdose, especially since Adapt Pharma Ltd., the maker of Narcan, began offering a free carton of Narcan to all U.S. high schools last year.

APS high schools are eligible to receive the free doses, but Foulk said the board is still determining where to pull funding to place naloxone in the middle schools, which will cost about $1,000.

The policy wasn’t prompted by an overdose on school property. Since Gov. John Kasich signed a bill earlier this year that allows schools to have naloxone on hand, the board decided to move forward with the idea to prevent overdoses from happening in the first place.

“Whether it’s fire hydrants or anything else that we put in place to be proactive, I mean, you put those things there hoping that you’ll never have to use them, but you want them there if you do,” said school board President Patrick Bravo. “A lot of people ask why, and maybe the better question is, why not?”

Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .

The Akron Community Foundation on Monday will ask residents of Medina and Summit counties to host hundreds of breakfast, lunch and dinner parties on Oct. 3. At each casual affair, groups of up to a dozen friends and strangers will break bread as they learn from one another the wants and needs of the community.

The following day, the University of Chicago Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement will survey participants to understand what drove the meal-time conversations, and where they landed. From this data and the usual research on public health and economic welfare, Akron’s largest collection of philanthropic funds will hear directly from the public it serves.

“People tend to speak more freely when food is involved,” said John Garofalo, Akron Community Foundation vice president of community investment and project lead for “On the Table Greater Akron,” the name for the daylong event in October. “Our goal is to bring together thousands of people from all walks of life, all socioeconomic backgrounds, to have their voices heard on all issues facing our community.”

“The main question of the entire process is, ‘How can we work together to create a stronger community?’ ” said Katie Fry, co-owner of Round River Consulting LLC, the company hired to plan and execute the day of discussions.

Fry will provide hosts with guidelines for civil engagement and pre-loaded prompts that will help participants explore their most pressing concerns around the central theme of bettering the community.

How it works

Anyone wishing to host a gathering of eight to 12 people can register at www.onthetableakron.com .

The location and timing is set by the host, who provides the food. Groups seeking financial assistance can request help from the Akron Community Foundation. As a partner, the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com will share stories about the initiative at www.ohio.com/akrononthetable.

About 20 organizations already have signed on as super hosts, committing to facilitate 15 or more conversation groups. Super host Akron Public Schools will let youths talk. The University of Akron will hold a series of sit-downs across campus. Morning, afternoon and evening gatherings are planned inside the John S. Knight Center, at the Akron Art Museum and in nine neighborhood libraries in Summit County. Clergy from the Love Akron Network and South Street Ministries have agreed to open up churches and cafes of worship.

Guests can RSVP online, also at www.onthetableakron.com.All are welcome, not just the usual suspects from government or big business.

“It’s breaking bread together. It’s not a meeting in a boardroom,” said Fry. “We want people to come and share big ideas and aspirational goals.”

Once facilitators know how many to expect, participants can pick a table from a listing at eventbrite.com.

Good conversation

The idea is to meet people who care for the welfare of the community.

Intentionally, the tables may be filled with voices from often unheard members of society, like those familiar with the insides of prisons, jails and homeless shelters.

Translated materials are being passed out to immigrants and refugees at the International Institute of Akron. Among the partnering organizations is Akron Snow Angels, a advocacy group for the homeless.

On the Table Greater Akron, like Common Ground in Cleveland or the Big Table in Columbus, started as a micro-engagement piece launched four years ago by the Chicago Community Trust. In that first annual gathering on a single day in Chicago, 25,000 citizens showed up. Then 35,000 the next, followed by last year with 50,000. This May, more than 100,000 came together.

The Chicago Community Trust gave Acting Up Awards of $1,000 to groups with the most fund-worthy ideas. “Our hope is to do that someday,” said Garofalo.

When the concept spread to Miami last year, the Knight Foundation took notice, providing $1.15 million in grant funding to Akron and nine other Knight cities to host their own On The Table events. Then Akron Community Foundation will get $80,000 toward the $120,000 cost of holding the community engagements. The day of discussion will cover “greater Akron” area of Medina and Summit counties, but early reservations are scheduled almost entirely in Akron.

In its 62nd year, the Akron Community Foundation gave a record-setting $11.4 million in 2016. Along with On the Table Greater Akron, the foundation relies on a Total Community Needs assessment conducted yearly by the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions, which steers grant making by poring through public health and economic data, and by interviewing the usual stakeholders.

With food and drink, Garofalo hopes to hear from “people who are involved in the everyday conversations in Akron.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. An earlier version did not correctly name the event as On The Table Greater Akron. A flyer produced by the Akron Community Foundation omitted “Greater” from the title. Also, the Knight Foundation’s financial support has been included.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .

KTRH-AM, where Patrick hosted Houston’s morning news for six years until his final broadcast Thursday, announced his death.

Patrick, who spent more than three decades in local radio, told his Houston listeners at that time that he had exhausted his treatment options.

Patrick was diagnosed with Stage IV mucosal melanoma on Sept. 11, 2015, and discussed his battle with cancer on the air.

In Akron, Patrick had been honored for the WKDD (98.1-FM) radio station campaign to raise money for Akron Children’s Hospital.

“Akron Children’s Hospital is deeply saddened by the passing of Matt Patrick, who so generously gave of his time and talent,” the hospital said in a statement Sunday night. “The Have a Heart, Do Your Part radiothon he helped start and hosted for many years has raised millions of dollars to support patient care, education and research to benefit the children we serve, and we are forever grateful. Our thoughts are with his family.”

Eric Mansfield, Kent State University spokesman and former WKYC (Channel 3) broadcaster, said on Twitter, “RIP Matt Patrick. Thanks for always being so kind and supportive. You were one of a kind. Prayers for Paula and kids. Godspeed my brutha”.

KTRH noted on its website that Patrick was a two-time Radio and Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee.

The statement added that he was “a true conservative” who focused on God, guns and country. In 2015, he was honored by Houston Fisher House for supporting veterans.

Patrick started his Northeast Ohio radio career in 1979 at WCUE, which then became WKDD, where for years he was Akron’s top-rated morning disc jockey. He added a show on WHLO in 2008, but left those jobs in December 2009. Jobs at WTAM and at stations outside Northeast Ohio followed.

Patrick is survived by his wife, Paula, and children Jake, Alexandra and Alanna.

In his obituary, posted on KTRH’s website, Patrick’s family said there will be a memorial service in Houston followed by a private family service and burial in Ohio.

“I thought it’d be nice to preserve the music and the culture,” Byamungu said through an interpreter.

Through the help of community members, Byamungu and his band, called Congo to Akron, can continue preserving their traditional music with a modern flair.

Congo to Akron received a donated five-piece drum set through the Music Alive program Saturday during the Akron-Congolese community’s independence day celebration at the Patterson Park Community Center.

The Congolese refugees resettled in Akron from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area of Africa that has been steeped in violence since a civil war broke out in the late 1990s.

Since Byamungu came to the U.S. from a refugee camp in October, he’s organized a band with more than 15 Congolese refugees who play guitar, keyboard and drums and sing.

Before taking his band to the public eye, Byamungu invited Liz Walters, the executive director of International Institute of Akron, to come listen to a performance a couple of weeks ago.

There, she found people passionate for the music they played. Band members were able to pull together some guitars and a synthesizer, but they were still playing overturned buckets in lieu of real drums.

Walters turned to Tommy Bruno, the general manager of WAPS (91.3-FM) the Summit, for help crowdsourcing a drum set. The radio station operates Music Alive, a used musical instrument donation program.

“Typically we focus our Music Alive donations for students in Akron Public Schools,” Bruno said. “However, after seeing the video of Congo to Akron, well, we needed to make this happen. We decided to take action and find a full drum kit for our newest neighbors in time for their special holiday.”

Holiday gift

On Saturday, about 75 people gathered at Patterson Park to celebrate the independence day of the DRC, which fell on June 30, with food and music.

Before Congo to Akron set up to play, Bruno delivered and set up a five-piece Tama brand drum set, which was donated by his neighbor, Bath Township resident Gary Post.

“Immediately, he just sat down and started playing like he owned it his whole life,” Post said about the band’s drummer, Ernest Esube. “It was really cool, it was very touching … They’re very passionate about their music.”

Once the drums were in place, some members of the band began to perform original songs composed by Byamungu, many of which revolve around their Christian faith.

‘Really appreciative’

Rollin Mukanza, a case manager at the International Institute and the president of the Akron Congolese Association, said there are more than 200 languages spoken in the Congo, but Congolese musicians, including those in the band, primarily sing in Lingala and Swahili.

“[The drums] made the music sound even better. Everybody was dancing, everybody was cheering,” Mukanza said. “[Band members] were just thrilled to death. They’ve been looking for one, so it was just great.”

Byamungu said he hopes to grow the band to include even more members and acquire more instruments, especially those typical of traditional music in the DRC, he said with the help of two translators — one who translated his Lingala dialect to French, and another who translated French to English.

“We are really appreciative to know there are people who support us,” Byamungu said.

Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .

Stop the presses! Fourth- and fifth-graders at Glover elementary school in East Akron ended up raising $900 for Akron Children’s Hospital last school year by creating and selling copies of a school newspaper called the Glover Gazette. Students on the Gazette’s staff give up their lunchtime recess three days a week to put the newspaper together under the supervision of kindergarten teachers Dana Davis and Sandy Shoemaker.

Michele Smith, executive director for the Good Samaritan Hunger Center, recently visited St. Sebastian Parish School’s Outdoor Garden to collect bags of fresh produce that students had just picked.

Although the students planted many of the crops in the spring, now that school is out for the summer, many of them continue to gather in the school garden on Monday afternoons under the direction of fifth-grade teacher and STEM school coordinator Kelly Gupta to help harvest what is ready.

All the produce from the school’s garden will be donated to the Good Samaritan Hunger Center. It will be used for the center’s Hot Meal Program, which serves hot, nutritional meals three days a week, or the Grocery Bag Program, which distributes nutritionally balanced bags of food the last three Tuesdays and the last three Fridays of every month.

Akron Public Schools recently recognized these student-athletes for classroom excellence and outstanding performance in spring sports: Angela Morales-Perez, North softball; Patrick Cummings, North baseball; Amanda Sabo, East softball; Kristian Williams, Firestone softball; Beatrice Moxon, Firestone softball; Camille Henderson, Buchtel girls track; Drew Oliver, Buchtel girls track; and London Green, Buchtel girls track.

Tenth-grader Dylan Morris of Streetsboro High School is the grand-prize winner of the Ohio Education Association’s Create a Cover Contest for its Ohio Schools magazine. The contest asked students to express what they enjoy most about school. Dylan’s entry, depicting people walking in front of the school, is the cover of the June issue. It was submitted by journalism teacher and publications adviser Pauline Dierkens. Artwork was displayed at OEA headquarters in Columbus where judges, including OEA officers and staff, reviewed them. Meagan Monter, an eighth-grader at Edison Middle School in Massillon, was a winner in Group B, grades 5-8. Art teacher Meredith Self submitted her entry.

Archbishop Hoban High School students and parent leaders volunteered last month at the Good Neighbors Goodyear Heights Community Outreach and Food Center by helping to unload the food deliveries, stocking shelves, cleaning and serving those in need. The volunteers included Tom Hottinger, Kim Pickens, Joel Hottinger, Emma Harry, Erynn Ouellette, Allison Donatelli, Michael Jorgenson, Connor Butler, Madelyn Ferree, Erin Morehead, Dillon Walsh, Christina Worchester and Victor Vogt.

The weekly Good News column features awards and recognitions, military and scholastic achievements, civic accomplishments and other good works. Please fax information to 330-996-3033, email it to goodnews@thebeaconjournal.com or send it to Good News, Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Include a photograph if one is available.

Century Food Market promised big values and big savings when it opened in July 1952 as the anchor store of Westgate Shopping Center at West Market Street and South Hawkins Avenue in Akron.

When the automatic doors swung wide, customers stepped into air-conditioned comfort and roamed the bright, gleaming aisles of a 21,000-square-foot supermarket.

“The Store of the Century” was imported from Youngstown for Akron’s shopping pleasure 65 years ago. The Wallhaven market was the 18th location for the regional chain, which traced its origin to 1917 when Russian immigrants Samuel and Dina Aron opened a small grocery on Chicago Avenue in Youngstown.

Their four sons, Fador, Harry, Julius and Norman, founded the chain in 1940, anticipating that self-serve supermarkets would eventually supplant mom and pop shops in neighborhoods. In addition to Youngstown, the family operated stores in Warren, Berea and Ellwood City, Pa.

Century Foods followed Youngstown developer Edward J. DeBartolo to Akron in 1952 after he built Westgate Shopping Center for $750,000 (about $18 million today). The market soon was joined by other tenants, including F.W. Woolworth, Gray Drug Store, Wagoner-Marsh and Irene’s Women’s Apparel.

It was a carnival atmosphere when the supermarket held an open house Sunday, July 13, at 1688 W. Market St. Most of the 300 free parking spaces were filled with automobiles.

The Tommy Tucker Orchestra performed, and Miss Pennsylvania 1952 Claire Lippert sang. WCUE morning DJ Art Ross served as master of ceremonies, Akron Mayor Charles Slusser officiated at the ribbon-cutting ceremony and a Pathe news crew filmed the event for a showing at the Palace Theater.

About 18,000 people inspected the store from 1 to 7 p.m., but they didn’t buy a thing! Century Foods didn’t technically open until the next morning, July 14.

At Monday’s opening of “the largest food store in Ohio,” a little person in a bear costume welcomed shoppers. Teddy Snow Crop, a trademarked character of Snow Crop Frozen Foods, was 38 inches tall and weighed 75 pounds. Other attractions included Texas Jane’s Wonder Pony and Old Eli’s Ferris Wheel. Children were handed free balloons and bubble gum and could play in the Kiddie Korner while their parents shopped.

Grand-opening specials included meat (chuck roast, 53 cents a pound; chicken, 49 cents a pound; ham, 39 cents a pound; and link sausage, 39 cents a pound), fresh produce (oranges, 45 cents a dozen; grapes, 29 cents a pound; tomatoes, 39 cents a pound; and lemons, five for 29 cents) and name-brand products (Smucker’s grape jam, a 12-ounce jar for 19 cents; Libby’s pork and beans, two 14-ounce cans for 27 cents; Ritz Crackers, a 1-pound box for 29 cents; and Dinty Moore beef stew, a 24-ounce can for 53 cents.

A free bag of groceries valued at $10 was presented on the hour every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from July 17 to Aug. 9. Also, four $500 diamond rings were presented at 9 p.m. Saturday for four weeks.

Century Foods also offered S&H Green Stamps. One stamp was given for every 10 cents spent. Shoppers filled stamp books and redeemed them for premiums.

John Hatala and Arnold Cerny co-managed the store, which employed about 85 workers, including department heads, meat cutters, cash­iers, stock clerks, dairy clerks, meat wrappers and carryout boys.

For employees, the chain pledged high income, life insurance, a payroll savings plan, pleasant working conditions, paid vacations, sick benefits, hospitalization and surgery coverage.

One of the store’s mottoes was “A better place to shop, a better place to work.” According to the norms of the era, though, the business preferred to hire men over women for most jobs.

“I’d choose the man every time,” assistant manager James Higgins said in a 1952 interview with the Beacon Journal. “I’ve worked 17 years in food markets and I feel justified in saying this. It’s harder to get women to work in harmony. They are more sensitive and more easily upset.

“Of course, there are jobs like cashier’s jobs for which women are better suited because they are better on detail work than men.”

Within months of the Akron store’s opening, rumors began to circulate that Loblaw Inc. of Buffalo was interested in buying the Century Food Market Co. chain. Jules J. Aron, president of the company, denied that a sale was in the works.

Instead, the company expanded in Greater Akron, adding locations at Arlington Plaza, Wooster-Hawkins Plaza, Coventry Plaza, 866 W. Wilbeth Road in Akron, 655 W. Portage Trail in Cuyahoga Falls, University Plaza in Kent and finally Lakemore Plaza.

The takeover rumors began to circulate again. In May 1961, Loblaw Inc. bought out the 39-store Century Food Market Co. chain. There was no denying it this time.

“The Store of the Century” turned out to be “The Store of the Decade” — at least in Akron.

Mark J. Price can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

That may seem like a staggering number to those not closely following the opiate epidemic.

But it’s the new normal — about nine or 10 people OD per day — based on data tracked by Summit County Chief Epidemiologist Richard Marountas.

Every Friday, Marountas releases a weekly report detailing overdose numbers culled from a statewide computer system that monitors coded information from visits to Ohio’s emergency rooms.

The data is not perfect, but it’s one of the few real-time measures of opiates in our area.

Last week, the Akron Beacon Journal began sharing Marountas’ weekly report on its website, Ohio.com, every Friday to provide readers with information that, until now, was only seen by about 140 public officials, law enforcement entities and reporters.

The report only lists how many Summit County residents overdosed and other data, including what ZIP codes they live in, what age group they belong to — 42.5 percent of last week’s overdoses happened among people ages 35-64 — and what days and times of the week overdoses happened.

“The only way we can truly understand the depth of the opiate problem in our community is through good information such as this report,” said Bruce Winges, editor of the Beacon Journal/Ohio.com. “Once we understand the problem, we can look toward solutions.”

Evolution of a crisis

When the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil first hit Greater Akron a year ago over a long July Fourth weekend, overdose rates soared from an average of two or three a day to about 19.

Heroin users were suddenly collapsing in cars, on sidewalks and anywhere else they were getting high. Officials, Marountas said, were scrambling for any information to gauge what was happening in Akron and its suburbs. Toxicology tests from autopsies can take months. Assembling ambulance run data from Akron and other municipalities and townships could take weeks.

Marountas instead turned to a computer tracking system established in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to alert public health officials to possible bioterror attacks. In Ohio, it’s called the EpiCenter surveillance tool.

Staff in hospital emergency rooms across the state input patient data — ZIP codes, ages, codes representing a myriad of reasons for ER visits — into a system that public health officials like Marountas can monitor.

In the week after 9/11, letters laced with anthrax spores arrived at U.S. congressional offices and media companies. At least five people died from inhaling anthrax, and 17 others were infected.

Before EpiCenter, health officials had to depend on one ER noticing a problem and maybe reaching out to another ER to see if the issue was widespread before calling public health officials.

Delays like that can cause mass casualties.

“If you wait 48 hours on something like anthrax — which is treatable with antibiotics — you lose the first wave of people,” Marountas said.

Real-time warnings

Ohio EpiCenter, and systems like it nationwide, update every 10 to 15 minutes, and officials can see real-time data, he said. But the EpiCenter system also sends automatic warnings to officials if it detects important spikes or patterns in emergency rooms.

In Ohio, officials haven’t yet used EpiCenter in a bioterror attack, although bioterrorism remains a legitimate threat, Marountas said.

State officials have used EpiCenter information to track respiratory illnesses and viruses.

And in July 2016, when carfentanil hit, EpiCenter started sending warnings that Summit County residents were showing up in hospital emergency departments with overdoses at an unusually high rate.

“The next month was a nightmare, over and over again, getting reports from EpiCenter,” Marountas said.

EpiCenter has since self-adjusted, recognizing that Summit County overdoses have reached a new level. Marountas said he hasn’t received a warning from EpiCenter in months, but now he logs on daily to monitor opioid overdoses and create reports.

He starts by looking at EpiCenter cases of residents from Summit County that include “OD” or “overdose.” They’ve shown up at ERs in 35 or more counties across Ohio, he said.

Next, Marountas throws out ODs caused by suicide attempts or by everyday drugs like Tylenol or ibuprofen. Those are a problem, but they don’t reflect the accidental overdoses Marountas’ reports track.

What he’s left with are a pool of overdoses. Most don’t specify the likely drug or drug-combo to blame. But based on the opioid epidemic, Marountas said most of the ODs likely involve heroin or heroin mixed with fentanyl or carfentanil — the super-powerful synthetic drugs often mixed with heroin to provide a cheap, powerful high.

Marountas said the overdose numbers in his reports are likely low. They don’t include people who overdose and die before reaching an ER, or those who overdose and don’t seek help at a hospital after being revived by a friend or family member with naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan.

But the numbers, especially when followed over time, offer a glimpse into where Summit County’s opiate crisis was and where it is now, Marountas said.

“Basically you’re keeping an eye on the situation to see if it’s getting better or worse,” he said. “When you see a big uptick, we have good idea it’s getting worse, at least in the short-term.”

When will it end?

Marountas said Summit County residents overdose rates between 2012-2014 were slowly rising, with about one to three per day. That number began to tick up in 2015 and through the first half of 2016, to three or four per day.

Then, July 2016 hit. Numbers, he said, spiked to about 19 ODs per day before trailing off to 15 to 16 per day in mid-summer and falling to seven to eight ODs per day in the fall.

Since late March, Summit County numbers have ticked up just a bit, hovering around nine to 10 ODs per day, Marountas said.

“Where it goes, no one can say,” Marountas said.

Some researchers believe drug trends have a lifespan, he said. As public health officials educate people about a drug and law enforcement and intervention specialists figure out how to deal with that drug, numbers of overdoses and deaths drop.

“But we’re seeing (opiates) on an unprecedented scale,” Marountas said. It’s unclear, he said, what opiates’ lifespan will be.

Also, ever-evolving synthetic drugs flowing in from China can reverse a trend or change the pattern.

Carfentanil did it last year. Now officials are worried about “gray death,” a chunk of hybrid synthetic drugs made to look like concrete. Also, Akron police have recently found heroin perfectly disguised as prescription drugs — dyed, shaped and stamped to look like any number of name-brand pills available only through a pharmacist.

“I think we can plan on opioids being a factor for the foreseeable future,” Marountas said. “It may look grim, but it’s got everyone’s attention now and the more we can get information into people’s hands, the better off we’ll be.”

Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.

Candy — Tootsie Rolls, Dum Dums suckers, Nerds and more — rained from the sky in waves Saturday at the 60th anniversary West Akron Baseball League Day of Champions parade, often piling up faster than the hundreds of spectators lining South Hawkins Avenue could gather it up.

“Oh, there’s Isabela,” Ashley Hanley hollered, waving as she spied her 8-year-old daughter and her team coming toward her in the parade.

Whoosh! Another smorgasbord of airborne sugar landed near Hanley — Sweet Tarts, Starburst candies and Butterfinger bars. Hanley and her niece, Keira Tabron, added the bounty to a growing pile of candy on a woven blanket that would rival any trick-or-treater’s score during Halloween.

At a time when parade organizers across the country ban candy tossing — fearing a poorly thrown Squirrel Nut Zipper could hit someone in the eye and lead to a lawsuit — scores of West Akron baseball and softball players gleefully showered their family and fans with treats Saturday.

It’s tradition, just like the West Akron Baseball League (WABL) itself, which was founded in 1957.

As the number of children participating in baseball and softball has dropped nationwide over the past 10 to 15 years, WABL has grown.

Although it hasn’t matched its peak — about 1,200 players in the 1980s — it has nearly tripled since reaching its lowest participation rate in the 2000s, about 270 kids.

WABL President Mike Dies said more than 620 children ages 5-14 play on the nonprofit league today.

“This is just kids that want to play ball,” he said. “We don’t have any travel teams built into our leagues. We don’t have a tournament team built into our league.”

But they also offer more than baseball and softball.

“We have a sense of community built in where we like to do extra events like go clean up a community center,” he said. “We like to have picnics at the beginning of the year, and we like to have big celebrations and parties.”

On Saturday, friends and families of players began unfolding lawn chairs and blankets along the half-mile parade route about 10:30 a.m., an hour before an Akron police motorcycle would lead a firetruck, the Firestone High School marching band, a few local elected judges and hundreds of children in the annual march down South Hawkins Avenue.

Becky Whitney walked to the parade from home and found a spot in the sunshine on the devil strip with her youngest son, 20-month-old Macsen.

They were there to cheer on husband and father Ben Whitney — who grew up playing in the league and now coaches — and the couple’s other two children — Brady, 7, and Connor, 5 — who now play.

“It’s just a great organization that caters to kids,” Becky Whitney said, handing Macsen a sippy cup as he sat in an orange stroller. “And the parade is a big deal, especially for the kids.”

Alicia Hughes grew up in West Akron, but Saturday was her first WABL parade.

Hughes, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls now, picked up her daughter Amia, 3, from tumbling class before finding a place under a tree to watch her son Nehemiah, 10, and his WABL teammates.

“I’m surprised how many people are here,” Hughes said, looking up and down the street.

Amia, showing off her tumbling moves for a stranger, asked for a piece of bubble gum and was disappointed to learn no one had any.

But 15 minutes later, after the firetruck and marching band had passed, Amia had a surprise: She and everyone around her were showered with gold-and-blue wrapped pieces of Dubble Bubble gum as Nehemiah and the kids from WABL passed by.

Beacon Journal writer Michael Beavan contributed to this report. Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @agarrettABJ 

They entered the weekend 46-39 and in first place in the American League Central. They remain the clear favorites in a weak division, even if that alone doesn’t reach the high expectations within the clubhouse.

Here’s a quick look back at what went right and what didn’t in the Indians’ first half (yes, the All-Star break comes after the true midway point). Or, if you’re just jumping on the bandwagon after the Cavaliers’ run, here’s a crash course on where they stand.

Next Sunday will include a look ahead to the trade deadline and the contenders around the division and the league.

Not included in this is the unfortunate, recent events surrounding manager Terry Francona and his health. Francona underwent a minor procedure on Thursday to correct an irregular heartbeat. He missed the past week as well as the game on June 27 and parts of games on June 13 and June 26 with symptoms including an elevated heart rate and light-headedness. The procedure was successful and Francona is expected to return on July 14 when the Indians travel to Oakland to play the A’s. He will not manage the All-Star Game.

What went right

Jose Ramirez’s stellar half — Ramirez has been the club’s Most Valuable Player thus far and will start for the American League in the All-Star Game. He hasn’t just built off of his breakthrough season in 2016, he’s been one of baseball’s top hitters by nearly every statistical measurement. Entering Saturday, Ramirez was fourth in the majors in batting average (.332), sixth in slugging percentage (.596), seventh in OPS (.982), sixth in wRC+ (155) and eighth in fWAR (3.8). Edwin Encarncion was the Indians’ high-priced free agent this year, the slugger in the middle of the lineup fans had been craving. But it’s been Ramirez, hitting behind Encarnacion, who has powered the lineup.

Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco — The top of the Indians’ rotation has been terrific. Kluber missed several weeks with a strained lower back but upon his return on June 1 was his dominant self. He was the American League Pitcher of the Month in June, posting a 4-0 record and 1.26 ERA to go with 64 strikeouts. With it, he effectively forced his way onto the All-Star team. Carrasco, due to performance and his health, has been the most stable member of the rotation. Carrasco enters the break 10-3 with a 3.44 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 104⅔ innings. Those two remain one of the better 1-2 punches in the league.

Lonnie Chisenhall’s power surge — In case anyone hasn’t noticed, Chisenhall is having an outstanding offensive season, and he’s done it about as quietly as one can while having the best year of his career. Chisenhall is hitting .306 with 12 home runs, 12 doubles and leading the team with 51 RBI entering Saturday.

Michael Brantley returns and remains — It’s fair to say there were still question marks about how Brantley’s shoulder would hold up once the regular season started. The Indians were cautious with him early on, and Brantley hasn’t just remained in the lineup (with the lone exception of some time off due to a sprained ankle), he’s found much of his former success prior to the multiple surgeries that robbed him of essentially the entire 2016 season. Brantley is hitting .307 with an .809 OPS. He’s remained a staple in the No. 3 spot of the lineup and earned an All-Star selection.

Bradley Zimmer takes ahold of center field — Zimmer, the Indians’ top prospect, was called up on May 16 and has slowly taken control of center field. He’s made numerous highlight-reel catches and has impressed with his combination of speed and size. Among outfielders with at least 300 innings this year, Zimmer’s 26.5 UZR/150 (essentially his defensive value equated to 150 games) is tops in the majors. But he’s also hitting. Zimmer is hitting .282 average with a .783 OPS, five home runs, 11 doubles and nine stolen bases in 47 games with the Indians.

The bullpen, despite Twitter’s fury — Indians Twitter has at times reacted harshly to Bryan Shaw or Cody Allen, but the Indians’ bullpen has kept its standing as one of baseball’s best. The Indians’ bullpen as a group owns the league’s best ERA (2.78) and FIP (3.26) entering Saturday. Andrew Miller, an All-Star, is one of the elite relievers in baseball. Allen has been solid as always for the season, and Shaw continues to own better-than-league-average numbers. Boone Logan, Dan Otero, Zach McAllister and company have backed up the big three.

What didn’t go right

The rest of the starting rotation — Kluber and Carrasco have been the anchors, but the rotation as a whole has been top heavy. Danny Salazar hasn’t been himself all season, was relegated to the bullpen and is now working his way back from the disabled list. Salazar was pitching at an All-Star level until he ran into injury issues around the All-Star break last year. Josh Tomlin went through a rough patch as well, but came back with a strong outing after evaluating film with pitching coach Mickey Callaway. Trevor Bauer, meanwhile, has been searching for answers all season.

Slumps in the middle infield — Francisco Lindor was voted in by the players to the All-Star Game, because he is that good, but he’s also been enduring the first extended slump of his career. For the season, he’s hitting .256 with a .315 on-base percentage. He has shown more power, already belting 14 home runs, one off his season total from 2016. But much of that came in a torrid April, from which he has since cooled. Jason Kipnis just hasn’t gotten going. He had a late start while he dealt with a shoulder injury and is hitting .230 with eight home runs and a .687 OPS.

Building up frequent flyer miles on the DL — Every team deals with the disabled list, but it’s true the Indians have had to navigate a bumpy road. Kluber, Salazar, Kipnis, Brantley, Chisenhall, Brandon Guyer, Abraham Almonte and Austin Jackson all landed on the DL, as it hit the outfield particularly hard. Heading into the break, only Salazar and Jackson remain sidelined, a good sign for a team trying to put additional separation between itself and the rest of the division.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ

Perhaps one of the most chilling is the one he tells of a friend who was despondent over the loss of his two sons to heroin within a month of each other. The friend called him at 3 a.m., the barrel of a .45 in his mouth. Police were on the way, but Otterman got there first. The gun was cocked. Otterman gripped the handle, trying to wrestle it away. Police arrived. His friend made it through the night.

Otterman also tells the story of his teenage daughter having to go to the funeral of a friend who overdosed. He doesn’t even want to think about if it were one of his children. But he is thinking about how he can help prevent such a loss with a policy to get naloxone, also known by its brand name, Narcan, a drug that helps reverse an opioid overdose, into the Akron Public Schools.

No students have overdosed on school property, but the district wants to be prepared if they do as the opioid epidemic continues to hit close to home.

Under a proposed policy, which the school board will consider at its regular meeting Monday night, the opioid antidote in the nasal spray form would be available in all Akron Public Schools’ middle and high schools during school hours.

The board and district administrators still need to specify who at the schools would have access to naloxone and receive training to administer the antidote. Guidelines also would need to be developed to outline how naloxone would be stored as well as the exact hours the drug would be accessible.

If approved, Akron Public Schools’ policy will be in place by the start of the 2017-18 school year, Otterman said.

“I’ve had to go to so many funerals — kids, and guys and girls that you grew up with,” he said. But when his daughter lost her friend, he got to thinking.

“That told me, if you can have this in the school … you have everything else in there, [like the medications] they give in grade school, what would be the problem with having this in the high school?” he said.

If the district moves forward with the plan, Akron will join a growing number of communities nationwide that are opting to have naloxone on hand in case of heroin or other opioid overdoses.

According to a recent article by the New York Times, educators across the country are adding the opioid antidote to their medicine cabinets.

Adapt Pharma Ltd., the maker of Narcan, last year began offering a free carton of Narcan to all U.S. high schools through the state departments of education.

“We understand the crucial role schools can play to change the course of the opioid overdose epidemic by working with students and families. We also want every high school in the country to be prepared for an opioid emergency by having access to a carton of Narcan nasal spray at no cost,” Adapt Pharma’s president and CEO said in a prepared statement last year.

Akron would receive Narcan for its high schools for free the first year, according to Daniel Rambler, director of student support services and security. The cost to stock the district’s 10 middle schools for the school year would be $1,000.

The district still is determining how to fund the expense, Rambler said.

The plan to have naloxone available in Akron schools has been in the works since last year, when the region saw a huge spike in opioid overdoses, largely due to the appearance of carfentanil, a powerful opiate used to sedate elephants and other large animals.

Otterman estimates he’s spoken to about 40 to 50 law enforcement and medical professionals in doing research for the naloxone proposal.

He’s been told of parents who have shown up at schools and passed out and paramedics have had to be called.

“You don’t wait for someone to be injured before you address it,” school board President Patrick Bravo said.

Students are not overdosing at school, Bravo said, “but we have seen in the community where they’ve overdosed from what their parents have at home. So for us the worst-case scenario would be for that not necessarily to hit a student until they walk in the door and then have nothing there to address it. Mr. Otterman was being proactive and I applaud him for his efforts to do that. So I think it will be a good thing.”

Otterman knows having such a policy is not going to curb the use of opiates, but it may be an opportunity to help if someone does overdose.

It also would be good to have Narcan in schools in case police or medical units are tied up elsewhere in the city, he said.

“Hopefully, it never needs to be used,” Otterman said. “I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better, the epidemic.”

Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ  and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.

The zoo’s staff has been trained to assist guests who may be sensitive to loud noises and crowds, and to help them enjoy all the animals and attractions.

To achieve the designation, the zoo partnered with KultureCity, a nonprofit that works to help places create acceptance and inclusion for individuals of all unique abilities.

Akron Zoo President and CEO Doug Piekarz said this is all an offshoot of a strategic planning initiative started in 2014 that took a hard look at ways to make the zoo friendly and accessible to all guests.

“Everyone should feel welcome at the Akron Zoo,” he said.

Piekarz said his staff worked closely with the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama — the first zoo to earn the designation — to ensure they got everything just right to assist guests with sensory concerns.

A driving force behind the initiative was Akron couple Jeff and Amy Belles, who are a part of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Kulture­City.

They are the ones who persuaded Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to set aside a quiet room for fans and families to use should they need a break from a raucous game or a concert.

Amy said their son Carson, 12, is nonverbal autistic. Large crowds and noises — at places like the zoo — can be problematic, Amy said, so some families just avoid going there.

“This means these families are welcome every day at the zoo,” she said.

In addition to the training for all the 120 year-round employees and 150 seasonal workers, Piekarz said, there are special quiet areas set aside for families to use, including a room at the zoo entrance, and designated zones with signs to alert parents and others that it can be particularly loud.

To ensure all guests can enjoy every inch of the facility — particularly the loud areas where the lions roar and the hyacinth macaws frequently squawk — the zoo has created sensory bags that can be borrowed for free.

Elena Bell, manager of marketing and group sales, said the bags — which resemble a string backpack — contain fidget toys and noise-canceling headphones. Special weighted comfort blankets are also available.

Bell said signs have been installed to alert guests of four zones of the zoo that can be particularly noisy and cause sensory overload. One area is by the carousel.

Another five quiet areas with benches to rest are also marked for guests.

As new attractions and animal exhibits are changed and added, Bell said, these zones and rest areas might have to be adjusted.

But the wild card is always the animals and the particular mood they might be in. “We can’t exactly tell the animals to be quiet,” she said.

Jeff and Amy Belles — along with KultureCity — previously worked with the zoo to set aside special times for local families with children with autism and other sensory needs to visit.

The Akron Zoo now offers a so-called Zoothing Hour where guests with special needs can enter an hour before opening. The next Zoothing Hours are Aug. 8 and Nov. 18.

A tearful Amy said initiatives like this make it possible for families like hers to experience something that others take for granted.

“We are often judged or clearly not understood,” she said, when a child suffers a meltdown.

Something as simple as offering sensory bags and designated quiet zones, Amy said, is big step forward in ensuring accessibility to all families and individuals.

“The initiative breaks down barriers,” she said. “This initiative says you are welcome in this space.”

Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.