LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Author: David Miller

  • [A Video Archive] Celebrating the Black women of Loveland, Ohio

    [A Video Archive] Celebrating the Black women of Loveland, Ohio

    David Miller is the Publisher and Editor of Loveland Magazine

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – On Sunday, March 20, the First Missionary Baptist Church on Main Street invited Loveland native and historian Larry Hamilton, Jr. to lecture on the historical importance of the Black Women of Loveland. The occasion was to honor International Woman’s Day and Women’s History Month.

    Hamilton now lives in Piqua, Ohio. He is a retired high school teacher and a member of the Loveland Schools Foundation “Hall of Fame”. He is the author of three books and graduated from Loveland High School in 1967.

    Larry Hamilton

    Hamilton taught courses in African American History, World Studies, and Current Events at Piqua High School. His tenure of teaching African American History for 30 straight years may be the longest consecutive period of teaching the subject at a predominately white high school anywhere in the country. He was selected for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, was awarded the Ohio Tri-County NAACP’s Martin Luther King Outstanding African American Award, as well as the state of Ohio’s MLK Cultural Awareness Award in 2005.

    In his talk, Hamilton traces the path of African American women from slavery to their migration to Loveland. Hamilton presented slides of “Bill of Sale of Slaves” and an appraisement inventory from court proceedings of May, 1855 that lists Elizabeth (age 60) as “old woman worth nothing”.

    Loveland Magazine attended the Sunday morning service that was devoted to Hamilton’s presentation to record the event so this important history lesson could be archived on our pages. As Hamilton said, “Our Black history is Loveland’s history.”

    At the end of the service, Deanna Todd, who is the Assistant Principal of the Mason Middle School sings the Lift Every Voice and Sing, the Black National Anthem.

    View slides used in the Hamilton’s lecture Video

    Right click an image to open a new tab and see a larger view

    To learn more about Black History in Loveland

    These LOVELAND MAGAZINE HD VIDEOS are from a conversation between Paula Oguah, and Larry Hamilton about the early history of the Loveland Predestinarian Baptist Church (LPBC). The conversation took place in the Loveland Magazine TV Studio.

    This STORY and accompanying videos represent 3 months of study, interviews, and research into the chronological record of this historic Loveland landmark.

    Hamilton a native of Loveland is a retired teacher of African American History, World Studies, and Current Events who now lives in Piqua, OH. His family was intimately involved in the founding of LPBC and the construction of the church building. He is the author of Lucy’s Story – Right Choices But Wrongs Still Left, the historical account of his great-great-grandmother — a slave during the Civil War, who later lived and died in Loveland. Hamilton was a baptized member of LPBC and his grandmother Esther Hannon Hamilton taught his Sunday school class.

    Oguah is “Forth Generation Loveland” and a former resident, livied only one block from the Church. She travels often to Africa, and was an attorney with a private practice in Loveland. She grew up in Loveland, and her familiy, the Cobbs, were also intimately involved in the earliest of the Church’s history. Oguah’s family at one time was considered a backbone of the Loveland social and business community. Oguah’s great-grandfather Dennis Cobb reportedly helped lay the stone foundation to the church, and she was married in the church.

  • LaRose would ‘be fine with’ chief justice’s impeachment over redistricting rulings

    LaRose would ‘be fine with’ chief justice’s impeachment over redistricting rulings

    Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose talks to reporters. (Photo by Susan Tebben, OCJ.)

    Ohio elections chief says O’Connor ‘violated her oath’ by rejecting GOP-drawn districts

    BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Friday said he “certainly wouldn’t oppose it” if the legislature impeached Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor over her joining in rulings rejecting GOP-generated maps for Congress and the legislature, according to a recording of a breakfast meeting with Union County Republicans.

    LaRose, who is not a lawyer, said in the recording his fellow Republican “violated her oath of office by making up what she wants the law to say instead of interpreting what it actually says.”

    O’Connor joined the court’s three Democrats in ruling multiple times that the congressional and legislative maps approved by a majority vote of Republicans violated the Ohio Constitution by unfairly favoring the GOP. 

    Some Republican members of the legislature had previously raised the possibility of impeaching O’Connor, who will leave office at the end of the year. But LaRose, the state’s top elections official, is apparently the first of the five Republicans on the state’s seven-member redistricting commission to say he’d go along with it.

    Such calls to effectively end the career of a judge because her rulings didn’t go the GOP’s way have been too extreme for at least one other Republican on the commission — Gov. Mike DeWine.

    “This is an extraordinary measure to take,” he said when the idea was floated earlier this month. “I think we don’t want to go down that pathway, because we disagree with a decision by a court, because we disagree with a decision by an individual judge or justice. Not a good idea.”

    LaRose’s spokesman was sent a transcript of the secretary’s comments about O’Connor. The spokesman was also asked whether LaRose believes judges should be removed whenever LaRose thinks they misinterpret the law — and whether such a belief undermines the entire purpose of having courts. The spokesman, Rob Nichols, didn’t respond to an email and a phone call.

    LaRose made his comments about O’Connor at the Union County Republican Breakfast on Friday, according to a recording obtained by the Capital Journal. The source of the recording provided it on the condition of anonymity.

    County Republican Party Chairman Justin Hogan didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

    On the recording, the secretary of state was asked, “Can you talk about the ex-Republican O’Connor, should she be impeached?”

    LaRose replied: “I think that she has not upheld her oath of office, and that to me is a basic test of a public servant. That’s up to the state legislature, whether they want to impeach the chief justice or not. I certainly wouldn’t oppose it.”

    He was referring to repeated rulings in which O’Connor sided with the court’s Democrats in saying that maps passed by the Republican majority on the redistricting commission were illegally gerrymandered. 

    In recent statewide elections, voters have supported Republicans by roughly a 54-46 margin. But the maps produced by Republicans favor the party to have much greater representation in the legislature and Congress.

    They violate constitutional amendments overwhelmingly passed by Ohio voters requiring that the partisan makeup of the state legislature and congressional delegation resemble the general partisan makeup of the state, O’Connor has ruled.

    GOP members of the commission were called to the state Supreme Court on Monday to show why they shouldn’t be held in contempt after ignoring maps generated by independent commissioners and passing another set of maps that again heavily favors Republicans.

    The impasse has created a constitutional crisis in Ohio, with deadlines approaching for the primary, but no district boundaries in which candidates can run. LaRose on Friday acknowledged that impeaching O’Connor wouldn’t end the crisis, but on the recording said it might “feel really good.”

    “I don’t know if it will solve our current problem because the impeachment process would take a couple months and we’re going to need to have district lines way before that,” he said. “And so it may feel really good, and it may be the right thing to do because she’s violated her oath of office by making up what she wants the law to say instead of interpreting what it actually says, but I don’t know if it would accomplish much, but I’d be fine with it if they did.”

    LaRose didn’t explain how O’Connor misinterpreted the law, much less how such a misinterpretation would violate a justice’s oath of office.

    The secretary of state’s sharp partisan tone is a stark departure from the bipartisan one LaRose struck when he initially ran for office in 2018.

    At the time, he told The Columbus Dispatch that he wanted to “bring a sense of civility and bipartisanship to how we conduct elections.”

    He added: “I want to be part of a party that wins elections because we work harder, have better candidates and we have better ideas.”

    More recently, LaRose has taken a harsher line, including taking to Twitter twice in February to make sweeping, misleading attacks on a supposedly partisan news media, and saying former President Donald Trump is right to make his claims about voter fraud.

    The Associated Press noted on Thursday that LaRose posted the first such tweet a day after learning he’d drawn two opponents in the Republican Primary. Both have parroted Trump’s false claims about rampant voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, AP reported.

  • Hamilton County Overdose Deaths Remain Relatively Steady Despite Statewide Increases

    Hamilton County Overdose Deaths Remain Relatively Steady Despite Statewide Increases

    Hamilton County, Ohio – Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition (HC ARC) released its annual report on the State of the Addiction Crisis in Hamilton County. In 2021, overdose deaths remained relatively steady despite statewide increases reported by the Ohio Department of Health.

    Hamilton County has made several adjustments in response to the addiction crisis. The Quick Response Team (QRT) is now a full-time program that includes reactive overdose follow-up and proactive outreach in hotspot communities.

    To read the full report, click HERE.

  • In Search of the Grail: The Story of a Women’s Movement in Loveland, Ohio

    In Search of the Grail: The Story of a Women’s Movement in Loveland, Ohio

    Changing things that look impossible to change.

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – In 1940, an international movement of women got on a boat. The last boat before Hitler invaded Holland. They made it to America, “by an eyelash” in April of that year.

    The Grail from Loveland became a voice in the United Nations.

    After watching the video below and in the spirit of Grailville’s past of venturing into the seemingly impossible, as the Publisher of this newspaper I have made an executive decision to go “all in” with an attempt to inform Loveland residents about the imminent destruction and erasure of the artifacts of a great cultural event of our local history.

    Grailville was the home of the National Grail movement in the United States; the symbolic heart of the movement.

    Will we allow the Grailville farm to be plowed under or will we choose new furrows planted in a way that continues to grow our future as a community?

    Screen shot from The U.S. Grail, a lay movement

    If we lose these artifacts, it will be by choice and not that we didn’t know – or know better.

    Will the City Historic Preservation and Planning Commission, the City Tree and Environment Committee, the City Planning and Zoning Commission, the City Council and City Manager, the City Comprehensive Master Development Plan Committee, the City Arts Commission, and Drees Homes stand in support or indifference of the bulldozers without acknowledgment of these, artifacts?

    Will they act out of ignorance or no comprehension of enlightenment? Will our future have value? Will Loveland’s legacy contain important worth? Preserving these artifacts can be value-added.

    Screen shot from The U.S. Grail, a lay movement

    A choice for each resident – Follow the Holy or Follow the Folly.

    We will no longer be able to say, “I didn’t know.”

    For sure, expressions of dismay about the impact of 200 plus homes at Grailville and the resulting strain on City services, overcrowding of already inadequate roads and schools, etc., are legitimate, however, so is the destruction of these intrinsic artifacts expressed in this video. A quality life whether for the individual, the collective community, or our grandchildren can be one filled with the remnants of the culture that made it so rich.

    Screen shot from The U.S. Grail, a lay movement

    This 2006 film by my friend Barbara Wolf, a Cincinnati filmmaker, for The U.S. Grail, a lay movement – explores the journey of those women seeking to transform the world as a matter of personal call and communal action.

    Our communal action in this present day is what?

    The Grail in the U.S. and in Loveland is not defunct by any means, read more HERE and HERE.

    Screen shot from The U.S. Grail, a lay movement

    Will we let a Kentucky home builder know they are proposing plowing under the footprints on this good earth and artifacts of an international movement of peace, gentleness, justice, and tranquility?

    We all have faith.

    Important artifacts, our seed crops, are about to be plowed under.

    Will our horizons call each other by name to respect these artifacts?

    More reading…

    Why is Grailville important? A look at the Grail founding in Loveland

    David Miller –  Mar 30, 2022

    [VIDEO] With public outpouring, has tide turned on Grailville?

    David Miller –  Mar 22, 2022

    Planning and Zoning Commission to hear from public on re-zoning Grailville

    David Miller –  Mar 8, 2022

    An open letter to City Hall by the Mullins: Grailville decision…

    Guest Column –  Mar 2, 2022

    Drees submits application for 209 homes at Grailville

    David Miller –  Jan 31, 2022

  • Why is Grailville important? A look at the Grail founding in Loveland

    Why is Grailville important? A look at the Grail founding in Loveland

    David Miller is the Publisher and Editor of Loveland Magazine
    Grailville was a place to find your place in the world whatever that meant to you.

[WATCH VIDEO BELOW "Grailville: the early decades]

by David Miller

Loveland, Ohio – Elizabeth Murphy, a Symmes Township resident, along with lifelong Loveland resident Elizabeth Robinson made this video about the early years at Grailville. It was made for Grailville’s 65th anniversary in 2009.

Robinson said, “We made a short video with interviews so we could explain how Grailville came to be. All music is music recorded at Grailville from Grailville Choirs. Many of the founding or early members including my mother Mary Schickel, had passed on and we were losing this history.”
 
Robinson also added that there was a lot of mystery about what Grailville and the Grail was and how Grailville came to be. The video contains many back in the day vintage photos of the former farm and the many women who moved to those rolling hills just on the outskirts of Loveland. 

From Holland. It was wartime. WWII. The women came when they did because if not then, they didn’t know if they would ever be able to leave Europe.

They came here looking for a farm with running water, enough buildings to house 50 people and within walking distance of a railroad station. They went two-by-two visiting farms and parishes, so much so they joked they were becoming real estate agents.
 
Liturgy was the unifying factor of the Grail community. There was a lot of singing. It became a quiet, peace-filled beautiful space; an agricultural and religious life.

The “Year School” was a training program for young women “focused on an integrated life of work and prayer, study and fun”.

Throughout the decades, the Grailville Retreat Center brought visitors from all parts of the world to spend time in Loveland, Ohio.

At one time a truckload of goats, 400 chickens, milk cows, pigs, and canning and preserving 10,000 quarts of farm product. It was described as a rich life, however one “materially simple”. 

Spiritually and intellectually very rich. Very rich in things from the ground, sky, and God in many forms.
 
Trina Paulus said Grailville was a “simplicity” that was ideal for her as a young woman. 

Art was equal to every other thing that happened at Grailville.

Visual arts, music, and writing. 

Paulus said she thought that the Dutch brought tremendous respect for the arts when they came to this country and Loveland. “It was equal to every other thing we did.” 

Grailville had a weaving guild.

Listen to how the Grail women reached beyond Loveland to the world. 

They were not there to hold onto what they were doing. Many of the programs that Grailville started were spun out into the world beyond Loveland. 

The women launched things that were much broader than themselves.

Grailville didn’t look like a church from the outside.

  • FDA Authorizes Second Booster Dose of Two COVID-19 Vaccines for Older and Immunocompromised Individuals

    FDA Authorizes Second Booster Dose of Two COVID-19 Vaccines for Older and Immunocompromised Individuals

    Today, the  U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). authorized a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for older people and certain immunocompromised individuals. https://bit.ly/3NuxvY6

    They previously authorized a single booster dose for certain immunocompromised individuals following completion of a three-dose primary vaccination series.

    This action will now make a second booster dose of these vaccines available to other populations at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death according to a FDA news release.

    The emergency use authorizations was amended as follows:

    • A 2nd booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines may be administered to people 50+ years old at least 4 months after receipt of a 1st booster dose of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine.
    • A 2nd booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine may be administered to people 12+ years old with certain kinds of immunocompromise at least 4 months after receipt of a 1st booster dose of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine.
    • A 2nd booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine may be administered at least 4 months after the 1st booster dose of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine to people 18+ years old with the same certain kinds of immunocompromise.

    Today’s announcement applies only to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, and the authorization of a single booster dose for other age groups with these vaccines remains unchanged.

    READ the full news release HERE.

  • Loveland Magazine turned 18 today

    Loveland Magazine turned 18 today

  • Ricky Mulvey talks with Jacob Goldstein about drone delivery, self-driving cars, the future, and Loveland, Ohio

    Ricky Mulvey talks with Jacob Goldstein about drone delivery, self-driving cars, the future, and Loveland, Ohio

    Ricky Mulvey interned at Loveland Magazine for 5-years while he was a student in the Loveland School District and now lives in Denver, Colorado. He recently emceed the meet the candidate night for Loveland Magazine last November.

    It’s 2022. Weren’t we supposed to have flying drones delivering packages to our homes by now? Ricky Mulvey talks with Jacob Goldstein, host of the new Pushkin podcast “What’s Your Problem?”, about drone delivery, self-driving cars, and the future problems that entrepreneurs are trying to solve right now.

    A Drone delivery company that actually works, because they are actually running a big drone delivery company that works right now. They’re actually “doing the thing,” says Goldstein.

    Mulvey doesn’t forget his hometown and talks briefly about Loveland, Ohio in this podcast.

    Mulvey asks the question about the behavior of people living in a place like Loveland, Ohio, and will we ever give up the “privilege” of just being able to hop in a car and go”. Will we get used to our packages being parachuted in from a drone over our front yard or place of business?

    Mulvey’s segment starts at 14:30.

    We’re still in love with this independently produced podcast by Ricky Mulvey:

    Ricky Mulvey’s Podcast: “Total Fighter,” about Cincinnati’s Ezzard Charles

    Listen to more Motley Fool Podcasts produced by Ricky Mulvey:

    The Inside Story of Instagram – Few people know Instagram better than Bloomberg News tech reporter Sarah Frier.

    Making Sense of Past Stock Drops… bout of volatility.

    What’s Happening With Russian Oil and U.S. Gas Prices?… prices spiked?

    The Big News From Apple’s Event… here is Ricky Mulvey.

    The Power of Creating a “Good Enough for Now” Mindset… . In this podcast, Motley Fool producer Ricky Mulvey talks with Evans about: The power of creating a “good enough …

    Pulling the Curtain Back on Just-in-Time Delivery… producer Ricky Mulvey talks with Mims about his book, covering topics including: The roots of the microchip …

    What Crypto to Buy Now, and More Top Questions Answered… Bernd Schmid joins producer RickyMulvey to discuss what long-term investors should look …

    Alphabet’s Discipline, 5G’s Potential, and Microsoft’s Big Buy… , RickyMulvey, caught up with LaConte to talk about Vail’s difficult holiday season. How the company …

    “Grand Theft Auto” Comes to “FarmVille” as Take-Two Buys Zynga… -light and capital-heavy businesses this upcoming earnings season. Later in the show, RickyMulvey talks with Maria …

  • SAVE THE DATE! RAMSEY-PAXTON GRAVE DEDICATION

    SAVE THE DATE! RAMSEY-PAXTON GRAVE DEDICATION

    Loveland, Ohio – On Saturday, May 7 at 12:45 PM, a parade will leave the John Ramsey Homestead in the White Pillars subdivision and end at the Ramsey-Paxton Cemetary at 206 Ramsey Court; where a formal dedication of new and restored gravestones will take place.

    During the ceremony, the Clough Valley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in conjunction with the Ramsey-Paxton Cemetery Association, the Cincinnati Chapter/Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), and the Loveland American Legion Post #256 will be marking graves for Thomas Paxton, John Ramsey, and c.

    Bagpiper Robert Reid, will lead the parade and perform during the ceremony. The SAR will be demonstrating muzzle rifle firing and conducting the 21-gun salute.

  • Loveland FIRST Tech Challenge Team advances to World Championship

    Loveland FIRST Tech Challenge Team advances to World Championship

    Team 10464 The Bionic Tigers at the KY State FTC Championship

    The Bionic Tigers will be competing in the World Championship in Houston, TX from April 20-23.  The World Championship features 160 of the top FTC Teams from over 6300 teams around the world, and this is the 3rd year in a row The Bionic Tigers have qualified for Worlds.

    Loveland, Ohio – Loveland FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Teams 10464, The Bionic Tigers, and 5040, Nuts & Bolts, competed in the Ohio FTC Championship on March 5. The event, which was held remotely, included presentations to a panel of judges where teams had the opportunity to share the design and development of their robot, their outreach efforts to support STEM and robotics in their community, and their involvement with industry professionals. Teams also submitted scores for 6 robot matches, that were completed on their home fields, trying to score the maximum points possible in two and a half minute matches.  

    Based on their judging and robot performance, Team 5040, Nuts & Bolts, won the Motivate Award and 2nd place robot performance. The Motivate Award recognizes a team that makes a collective effort to make their team known throughout their community and school. Team 10464 won 4th place robot performance and the Think Award, which is the 2nd highest award for the event.  The Think Award is given to the team whose Engineering Portfolio best reflects the team’s journey through the design and build process for their robot.   

    Team 10464 The Bionic Tigers also competed on March 12 at the Kentucky FTC State Championship at Murray St. University. This competition was their first in-person competition in 2 years due to Covid restrictions, and the event included teams from Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas.  

    At the start of the day, the Bionic Tigers and all competing teams presented to panels of judges for evaluation for awards. Teams also submitted a 15-page engineering portfolio summarizing all of their robot design and development, outreach work with other teams and the community, and connections with the professional STEM community. Following judging, they competed in 6 rounds of qualifying matches and were ranked 3rd in a very competitive field. The top 4 ranked teams became the alliance captains for the elimination rounds, and the Bionic Tigers selected two Kentucky teams as alliance partners. They lost a close match in the semi-finals, and the 1st seed alliance went on to win the robot portion of the competition.


    Team 5040 Nuts & Bolts

    To close out the exciting day, in the awards ceremony the Bionic Tigers won the top award of the event, the Inspire Award. This award recognizes the best all-around team that has shown success in designing and building a competitive robot and shares their experiences, enthusiasm, knowledge with other teams, sponsors, their community, and the judges. The Bionic Tigers also won Promote Award for their video answering the prompt “If there was one thing I would tell my younger self about FIRST it would be…”. 

    As the Inspire Award winner, the Bionic Tigers have advanced to the FTC World Championship in Houston, TX from April 20-23.

    Loveland FTC teams are supported by many generous sponsors including Loveland American Legion Post 256, Sugar Creek Foods, Procter & Gamble, Standex Electronics, CBT Company, Kinetic Vision, Harlow Law Office, and Jarvis Global Investments.

    The Bionic Tigers are seeking additional sponsors to help cover the travel costs for the World Championship in Houston. Please contact lovelandroboticsboosters@gmail.com if you are interested in helping sponsor the trip.

    Loveland Robotics Boosters will be hosting Breakfast with the Bots, a pancake Breakfast fundraiser, on Saturday, April 9.  Tickets are available at www.lovelandroboticsboosters.org.