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Akron area hit by slew of challenges
Published on Sunday, Dec 28, 2008
Beacon Journal staff report
It was tragic. Just look at all the people who lost jobs in the slumping economy and their homes because of the foreclosure crisis.
And it was, well, uplifting, too. Just look at the decision by Bridgestone Firestone to remain in Akron and Orrville-based J.M. Smucker Co. announcing plans to expand.
The past year certainly has been one full of major events for the Akron area.
So, rather than a traditional Top 10 list of the local stories of the year, Beacon Journal editors and reporters compiled a series of events that help put 2008 into perspective:
The economy
Weekly jobless claims in Summit and Stark counties doubled in the fall as American businesses cut back at an unprecedented rate.
A Beacon Journal analysis showed that high-paying management jobs were disappearing from Ohio at an alarming pace. From 2000 through last year, more than 163,000 management jobs of all types were eliminated in the state.
Soaring energy prices forced changes in driving habits and created fears about winter heating prices.
Oh, and remember the Rolling Acres mall? FirstEnergy shut off electricity because of an unpaid utility bill, effectively shuttering the once popular shopping center in Southwest Akron. The anchor stores, though, remain open.
Good economic news
After the Beacon Journal and Ohio.com launched a series of stories about managing your money and challenged the community to a debt-reduction effort, the America Saves Campaign and National Conference of Mayors recognized the city as the model for an effort to improve the nation's saving rate.
Bridgestone Firestone decided to build a new technical center in Akron, after entertaining the possibility of moving the operation — and jobs — to Tennessee.
Smucker bought Folgers coffee and announced plans to expand in Akron.
Foreclosures
The Akron area ranked as one of the worst locations in the nation for foreclosures.
It didn't help the city's reputation when a 90-year-old woman shot herself as deputies arrived at her door to deliver foreclosure papers on the house where she had lived for 48 years.
Addie Polk became national news. Fannie Mae, which held the mortgage, forgave her loan after her story was shared.
Then there was David Willan. The former president of Evergreen Corp. was found guilty this month in a wide-ranging case of mortgage and securities fraud.
The value of area homes sold this year will be less than half that of 2004. Average prices also have tumbled.
The declining values are being reflected in county property reappraisals, which will affect the ability of governments — particularly schools — to raise operating money.
Elections and politics
Ohio became center stage in national elections — go figure.
The state backed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic March primary. Oops. Then, swung in the fall for Barack Obama, the first African-American president.
All the interesting political stories weren't national, though.
Alex Arshinkoff, the longtime leader of the Summit County GOP, just couldn't stay out of the news.
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, booted him off the county Board of Elections early in the year, calling him unfit to serve. Then, he survived a public, and sometimes ugly, coup attempt from fellow Republicans to retain control of the local party.
Jack Morrison, a University of Akron trustee, Republican power broker and county elections board member, was indicted on misdemeanor ethics violations related to family-owned property that the university was buying.
And local state Rep. John Widowfield was caught in the illegal sale of Ohio State University football tickets, raising questions about the practice of providing tickets to people of influence.
It also was time for U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, a respected Republican from Stark County, to take a bow.
He retired after 36 years, prompting one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the country. Democrat John Boccieri won the seat.
Bath Township businessman Mike Connell, who developed Web sites for the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain, died Dec. 19 when his plane crashed short of the runway at Akron-Canton Airport.
Other events
If that weren't enough, there were plenty of other major news stories in the Akron area.
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic launched an effort to lease the city's sanitary sewers to finance college for local students. The idea bombed at the ballot box.
New roof, anybody? The windstorm that blew through the state in October turned out to be the costliest natural disaster in Ohio in nearly three decades.
And Regula wasn't the only person who rode off into the retirement sunset.
Ronald J. Fowler, a community leader and pastor at the Arlington Church of God for 38 years, retired.
So did Jody Bacon, who developed the Akron Community Foundation into a major supporter of community activities.
There also was a changing of the guard at the area's largest school district as Akron Superintendent Sylvester Small retired. David James, the district's former executive director of business affairs, took over.
Crime and courts
In July, Twinsburg police officer Joshua Miktarian, 33, was killed in a traffic stop. Ashford Thompson, 23, of Cuyahoga County, has been charged with murder.
The national spotlight hit Canton again as former police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. was convicted in the death of girlfriend Jessie Marie Davis and her unborn child.
Richard Cooey, who was convicted of murdering two Akron coeds 22 years ago, was executed in October. One of his last pleas? He argued that he was too fat to be put to death.
Responding to reports of shots being fired, Akron police shot Jeffery L. Stephens Sr. 22 times. A review of the incident raised questions about police oversight.
Deaths
Retired U.S. Rep. John Seiberling, 89, of Copley Township, died Aug. 2.
He served in the U.S. House from 1971 through 1986. He is credited with helping to create what is now the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and helped preserve American wilderness.
Akron Judge Joseph Roulhac, 92, died March 5. He became the city's first black judge in 1967. He retired in 1987.
Acme grocery patriarch Frederick Ivan Albrecht, 90, died March 23. The retired grocery store executive had 50 years of service with the company that does business as Acme Fresh Markets.
Longtime chief executive of the local McDonald's franchise, Richard Heidman, 87, died March 3. He brought the area's first McDonald's to Akron at East Market Street and Mogadore Road on Nov. 3, 1959.
The voice of the Browns and former WEWS (Channel 5) sportscaster Gib Shanley, 76, died April 6. He was a sportscaster for 20 years and was a radio announcer for the Browns for nearly 25 years.
Potato chip icon Grandma Shearer aka Rosemary Shearer, 83, died June 20. She was the face of Shearer's kettle-cooked potato chips and her image helped launch a snack-food empire from Stark County.
The man instrumental in turning the former Quaker Oats facility into a landmark business complex, Jay Nusbaum, 68, died Aug. 9. He was the only original partner still involved with the property when the 400,000-square-foot complex was sold to the University of Akron last year for $22.7 million.
Arts benefactor Mary Schiller Myers, 86, died Dec. 10. She was a member of the board of trustees for the Akron Art Museum for more than 10 years and served two years as president.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 08:35 AM, 12/28/2008
I suppose the good news is that Akron's city hall hero doesn't have the money for the Goodyear and Firestone projects, and the voters have shut down his efforts to raise the money he doesn't have, by tax increases, levees and the leasin' of our public utilities.
Posted 09:01 AM, 12/28/2008
How is losing Goodyear and Firestone a good thing?
Stow, OH
Posted 12:32 PM, 12/28/2008
What about Herb Score?
Stow, OH
Posted 12:36 PM, 12/28/2008
What about Herb Score??
Wadsworth, OH
Posted 12:56 PM, 12/28/2008
Despite what the old curmudgeon Betamax says, Goodyear and Firestone will get new facilities and will both be staying in Akron.
Posted 03:16 AM, 12/29/2008
university park...the only part of akron with an increasing white population.
I guess whether or not thats positive or negative is subjective to the individual.
Wadsworth, OH
Posted 08:56 AM, 12/29/2008
@Betamax: Why do you feel the need to be a foul-mouthed hooligan? I truly feel sorry for people like you that can't hold an adult conversation and feel they must drag everything into the gutter.
Akron, OH
Posted 05:23 PM, 12/29/2008
@bowskiboy, I could ask y'all the same question, but I think y'alls little ego won't let y'all recognize the answer.
I see not much has changed. Y'all shoot y'alls mouth off, then point the finger and cry foul when y'alls teeth get knocked in for the effort.
I must say, that iff'n we are in the gutter, it's because that's where y'all reside, and I had to come down to y'alls level to respond to y'all.
But y'all knew that already as well.
Wadsworth, OH
Posted 05:41 PM, 12/29/2008
@Betamax: Nice to see your comments are getting deleted. Perhaps I am not the only one that finds your demeanor to be abusive. Keep it up and hopefully they will ban you altogether.
