LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Author: David Miller

  • CANCERFREE KIDS APPOINTS THREE PROMINENT BUSINESS LEADERS TO TRUSTEE BOARD

    CANCERFREE KIDS APPOINTS THREE PROMINENT BUSINESS LEADERS TO TRUSTEE BOARD

    Loveland, Ohio – CancerFree KIDS has appointed three new members to its Board of Trustees in a move to “grow more relationships with Greater Cincinnati’s business community and expand its impact in pediatric cancer research”.

    Tom Simpson, chief operating officer, Cincinnati Bell, Inc
    Javier Diaz, vice president, Cancer & Blood Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
    Rob Reifsnyder, chief executive officer (retired), United Way of Greater Cincinnati

    “We are strategically putting the pieces together to help take CancerFree KIDS to the next level,” says Al Early, vice president and principal of consulting services, CBTS, and incoming board chair for CancerFree KIDS. “With Javier, Rob, and Tom, we can stay closely aligned with emerging research opportunities while reaching more of Cincinnati’s business leaders and growing the support for vital pediatric cancer initiatives.”

    Diaz, Reifsnyder, and Simpson join a board that has also recently seen a change in leadership.

    Al Early replaces CancerFree KIDS Founder Ellen Flannery as the new board chair.

    In addition to Early’s new role, Kelly Holden, partner, DBL Law has been named vice-chair and Greg Carroll, director, technical support center office of ground water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been named treasurer.

    “CancerFree KIDS is a tremendous partner to Ohio cancer researchers,” says Diaz. “I’m excited to join a team that is so clear in its mission to apply revolutionary research to cure high-risk and relapsed cancer in children. Thanks to CancerFree KIDS and the research it has funded, there are kids who are right now enjoying longer, happy lives. I am grateful for this opportunity to help CancerFree KIDS grow these important efforts.”

    Founded in 2002, CancerFree KIDS has invested more than $7 million since its inception to fund high-risk, high- reward research initiatives at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. The studies intend to find cures and gentler treatments to help children better cope with the pains and challenges of fighting cancer. In most cases, this research would go unfunded without the support of CancerFree KIDS.

    Visit www.cancerfreekids.org to learn more about the organization’s mission and work to fight childhood cancer.

  • Loveland School Board: A homework Assignment

    Loveland School Board: A homework Assignment

    COMMENTARY

    David Miller is the Publisher and Editor of Loveland Magazine

    By David Miller

    Dear Loveland School Board.

    Given that COVID infections caused by the now predominant delta variant are likely to go undetected and children attending school with what appears to be a mild cold, what measures, if any, do you propose to use to prevent the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Tiger school community?

    The predominant delta variant is much more contagious than the version of COVID-19 Loveland school children faced last year.

    Here is a list of things to consider and do before your meeting on Tuesday, August 10 – eight days before classes begin for the school year. I have provided the resource materials below that you will need to complete your assignment.

    You know this but does it bear repeating? Loveland students eleven years old and younger cannot currently receive any benefit a vaccination will provide.

    Only approximately 18% of our students who are eligible for a vaccine are fully vaccinated.

    The tracking system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now moved Clermont and Warren Counties to the highest level of warning for the transmission of COVID 19. Hamilton County remains in the “Substantial” range.

    There will be no remote learning opportunities (Remote Academy) for Loveland teachers or students as all school buildings will return to full capacity in-person classes in August. Find out how many more students will be attending each building and riding buses as classes begin.

    Find out how many students, staff, and teachers became infected and how many were quarantined last school year when there were far fewer persons in the buildings and on buses than there will be this year.

    Review the comprehensive study ($66K “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” services) that you purchased before school began last year. Review which of the recommended COVID protocols were implemented and whether or not you are going to abandon them as school starts on August 18.

    Your current policy states that you will follow any “mandates” of a list of what you call your “Directing Entities”. Since none of these “Directing Entities” have mandated protocols and nothing in current Ohio law prevents you from adopting any recommendation you choose – review their recommendations and choose one.

    Below is a list of what your “Directing Entities” are currently recommending for K-12 schools.

    Also, below for your review, are the recommendations contained in the $66,000 report you purchased.

    With all due respect, none of you or your staff are smarter or have any greater insight as to what is the best way to start this school year than the medical and scientific community of your Directing Entities.

    And, with all due respect to the parents of the District, “parental choice” of your child wearing a mask or not – is not your decision to make. You can be the loudest voice in the classroom of social media, but just as the elected Board of this District relies on known experts to decide which textbooks teachers use or what is served in the cafeteria – providing a healthy classroom is in their job description.

    Board, please follow the latest advice from the health experts, your “Directing Entities” and from your own “consultant experts” that you hired in 2020.

    Let’s get back to school. Let’s do so in a way that fully protects our children, teachers, and our friends that work as District staff. Don’t allow any of them to be put in the potentially lethal classroom petri dish experiment of this new delta variant.

    Ohio Department of Health Releases Updated K-12 School Guidance

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 28, 2021

    COVID-19 Guidance for Safe Schools from American Academy of Pediatrics

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 28, 2021

    Cincinnati Children’s recommends all children wear masks at school

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 28, 2021

    Centers for Disease Control issues new guidance for return to school

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 28, 2021

    Ohio Department of Health Releases Updated K-12 School Guidance

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 28, 2021

    Hamilton County Public Health responds to request for back to school…

    Loveland Magazine –  Jul 29, 2021

    School Board gives go-ahead for $66K “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” services

    “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” report for Loveland Early Childhood Center

    Nov 9, 2020

    “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” report for Loveland High School

    Nov 9, 2020

    “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” report for Loveland Middle School

    Nov 2, 2020

    “Pandemic Preparedness and Planning” reports for Loveland Intermediate School

  • Loveland’s Historic Black Church an African American historic site is not insignificant.

    Loveland’s Historic Black Church an African American historic site is not insignificant.

    OPINION

    The places where significant African American history happened have been unrecognized for the important role they play in the fabric of Loveland society. Black history is our Loveland history. Though Loveland is rich in diverse history, our community pride has been absent when representing that history and in funding its protection.

    David Miller is the Editor and Publisher of Loveland Magazine

    by David Miller

    I made a proposal to City Hall in 2017 in the video below, with a vision of how the historic Predestinarian Baptist Church on Chestnut Street in the West Loveland Historic District could be restored. The vision received much support at the time, however, was not realized. In the last month, there has been a buzz around the community and beyond to revisit perspectives about the church’s future.

    Loveland taxpayers own the 120 plus-year-old church. City hall acquired the church for back taxes, assessments, and liens owed on the property. The Predestinarian Baptist Church is located in the heart of what was the African-American residential neighborhood of Loveland. Cobb’s Grocery Store, a center of business and social exchange, was located nearby.

    The historic Loveland landmark is at the end of Chestnut Street, behind the Loveland Artists Studios on Main Street and one block from the Loveland Post Office. The street address is 225 Chestnut Street.

    The plan was to restore this cultural asset that holds exceptional cultural value for Loveland.

    We’ve got to make sure our children know how they got here, and what this descendant community did to make a more excellent life for us all and how these earliest residents might inspire future ones.

    The struggle over the physical local record is part of a larger, long-overdue national movement to preserve African-American history. We can absorb a revolutionary spirit of the era, their ideas of independence that were never meant for them in what was then a segregated community not of north vs south, but East and West divided by the Little Miami River.

    Elizabeth Alexander, a poet and Mellon Foundation’s president, says, “That for a long time communities of color have had to ‘carry around knowledge and stories in our bodies,’ because resources were not devoted to preserving the spaces that held those stories.”

    The depiction you will see in this video will not now happen, however, perhaps another appropriate “adaptive reuse” of the church that respects and reflects its cultural significance to our community will become a viable means of its preservation. What plan can come forward and be approved that will lead to an afterlife?

    The building is currently being vandalized by the benign neglect of its owners and caretaker – us taxpayers and City Hall. There should be taken immediate and urgent steps to secure the historic site from any further ravages of weather and intruders – human, and rodents.

    The congregation of the Loveland Predestinarian Baptist Church in 1926

    What do you think it means to preserve it. Perhaps it means Loveland will experience as Brent Leggs phrases it in the New Yorker article The Fight to Preserve African-American History, a “powerful collision of culture, heritage, and public space”

    Can we think in terms of the audacity – the bold risk of the arc of history and centuries? Do we need this place?

    To paraphrase a question Leggs asks, “Can the Predestinarian Baptist Church on Chestnut Street be a place where the truth of history is told, visitors reflect, and where reconciliation and new history can happen.”

    Can it be our predestination?

    FOR MORE BACKGROUND ABOUT PAST EFFORTS TO SAVE THE CHURCH FROM BULLDOZERS READ THESE ARCHIVED STORIES FROM LOVELAND MAGAZINE

    My History is Your History: Save Historic Black Church

    Pastor Tom Stroeh concerned that historic Black church might be demolished

    Church Preservation Group Reports Progress

    Another $1,500 raised to save historic black church

    Historic Review of Chestnut Street Church

    Another Loveland Church Set for Demolition

    Meet four local authors this Saturday and help preserve historic Loveland Church

  • It’s that time to “Stuff a Cruiser” again

    It’s that time to “Stuff a Cruiser” again

    David Miller

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – There is no better time than now to give back to your local community and that’s just what the Loveland Police Department and the Loveland Citizens Police Academy Alumni invite you to do this Saturday!

    On Saturday, July 17th at the Loveland Madeira Kroger the two local organizations invite all area residents to their 9thannual Annual “Stuff-a-Cruiser” Food Drive, in order to benefit Loveland’s LIFE Food Pantry.

    The event will be held from 9 AM until to 1 PM at the Loveland Kroger, 800 Loveland-Madeira Road.

    You can clean out your own pantry and drop off non-perishable food donations or while in the store, purchase some extra items to put in the cruiser on your way home – to literally stuff a police cruiser full! Actually as you go in, ask what items they would like you to shop for and buy a whole bunch!

    During the Summer months, the LIFE Food Pantry tends to get very low on food supplies because there are so many families that are at home (school is out which means no school lunch programs to fall back on) and in need of nutrition. This is why both the LPD and Loveland Citizens Police Academy sponsor the Annual “Stuff-a-Cruiser” specifically in the Summer.

    Last year Peggy Goodwin, a member of the Loveland Citizens Police Academy, spent most of her day at the Food Drive event helping organize donations and couldn’t express enough how kind the community of Loveland is for the number of donations brought in!

    Please enjoy the video interview below with Peggy Goodwin and Lt. Amy Campbell as well as the photo album from the Food Drive as I and Cassie Mattia did a little “stuffing” last Summer!

    Keep in mind that the Pantry is now in their new location next to the Loveland Library, not in their previous location that Goodwin describes in this video. (541 Loveland-Madeira Road, Loveland, Ohio 45140 (513) 583-8222)

    If you would like to donate food items or learn how you can get access to food benefits for you and your family go to http://www.lifefoodpantry.org/. Thank you once again Loveland for being a community filled with LOVE!

  • Zoning Commission to Continue Case for Car Dealership on JC Penny site

    Zoning Commission to Continue Case for Car Dealership on JC Penny site

    Symmes Township, Ohio – The Township Zoning Commission will meet on Wednesday, July 21st at 7 PM at the Safety Service Center to review a request for a zone change to allow the demolition of an existing strip retail building and renovation and expansion of an existing big-box retail building for a proposed car dealership at 9365 Fields Ertel Road. This meeting was continued from last month.

    The Zoning Commission will review a major revision to an existing “E” Planned Residence district and a zone change from “OO” Planned Residence (with subservient office) to “EE” Planned Residence (with subservient retail) received by Randall Merrill, MSP, representing SSC Governors Plaza WM LLC, to demolish an existing strip retail building and renovate and expand an existing big box retail building to allow for a proposed car dealership use on the property, with associated parking lot modifications and access points onto Fields Ertel Road, Union Cemetery Road and Montgomery Road at 9365 Fields Ertel Road, located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Fields Ertel Road and Union Cemetery Road (Parcel #620-0190-0573/0574).  This hearing will be held via Zoom.  A link will be provided shortly.To view the plans please click here.

    READ BACKGROUND STORY PUBLISHED BY LOVELAND MAGAZINE…

    Automotive retail proposed for old JC Penney site

    Below are photos of the outlet stores…

  • DeWine on sending troops to southern border: ‘It’s in Ohio’s interest’

    DeWine on sending troops to southern border: ‘It’s in Ohio’s interest’

    The Ohio National Guard stands post in downtown Columbus last year. Photo by Marty Schladen

    By Tyler Buchanan and Ohio Capital Journal

    Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday it is in the state’s best interest to send more Ohio National Guard troops and other law enforcement officials to help protect the southern border with Mexico.

    The decision reflects Ohio’s broader effort to aid fellow states — or the federal government — when help is requested, the governor said.

    DeWine recently announced Ohio will send 185 troops later this year to assist with the “Southwest Border mission.” They will provide “non-law enforcement support” to the U.S. Custom and Border Protection agency.

    These troops join the 115 Ohio National Guard members who were deployed to the southern border in 2020 and remain on active duty.

    The federal government will be paying for these ONG deployments, a spokesperson for the governor told the Ohio Capital Journal.

    The governor separately approved a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to send about a dozen Ohio State Highway Patrol officials to help law enforcement there with border surveillance. They will not be making arrests during this two-week assignment set to begin this month. 

    A spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed this mission to Texas will be paid for using state funds.

    “The Patrol will not know the exact cost until after the detail is complete,” they wrote to the Ohio Capital Journal in an email.

    DeWine defended his decision in a Tuesday press conference.

    “What happens at the southern border of the United States impacts Ohio,” DeWine said. “I can tell you, from eight years as the attorney general of this state, that the vast majority, almost all the drugs that are coming into the state of Ohio come across the southern border. So we have a real interest in securing the southern border.”

    DeWine said his administration makes a decision on each deployment request based on the circumstances.

    “When we are requested to send support by another state or by the federal government, it is something that does not occur very often … we have to weigh what detriment it might be to the state of Ohio versus the benefit,” he said.

    In the case of the southern border mission, DeWine said it was worth it to approve these requests.

    “We were asked to play a small part in (securing the border), and I said yes,” he said. “I think it’s in Ohio’s interest to do that. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

    The Ohio National Guard and State Highway Patrol have had a busy few years since DeWine took office in 2019.

    Ohio agreed in April to send 100 state troopers to Minnesota when the verdict was announced in the Derek Chauvin murder trial.

    DeWine also sent around 1,000 troops to protect the nation’s capital in the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. Troops stayed to provide security for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

    There was an earlier deployment of Ohio National Guard troops to Washington D.C. to help with protest security following Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd. An Ohio service member was reportedly sent home after it was learned they expressed white supremacist ideology online prior to the 2020 mission.

  • DeWine signs bill blocking Ohio cities from banning natural gas

    DeWine signs bill blocking Ohio cities from banning natural gas

    By Jake Zuckerman and Ohio Capital Journal

    Gov. Mike DeWine signed into state law Thursday legislation that blocks cities or counties from banning natural gas or propane hookups to decarbonize new buildings.

    This makes Ohio one of 19 states that have either passed what’s known as a natural gas “preemption” bill into law or will do so soon upon gubernatorial approval, according to a running count from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

    The legislation, backed by fossil industries like the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council, would block any city or county from issuing any law or zoning code that “limits, prohibits, or prevents” people and businesses from obtaining natural gas or propane service.

    A small but growing list of progressive cities around the country have passed legislation banning new buildings from obtaining natural gas hookups in an effort to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

    However, no Ohio cities have yet done so. House Bill 201 locks this dynamic into state law.

    The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, passed the House largely along party lines with Democrats in opposition. It passed the Senate on a party-line vote.

    State Rep. Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill

    Supporters of the legislation argued consumers should have a choice as to what kind of energy they wish to purchase. They also argued a patchwork approach to energy policy by city or county would be unworkable.

    “It will ensure that each of our constituents with natural gas service now, will continue to have access to natural gas service in the future,” Stephens said.

    Opponents, namely environmental advocates, argued the bill is just an industry-backed maneuver to guarantee demand for natural gas, despite its contributions to climate change. Associations representing local governments also said the bill infringes on their rights to self-governance established in the “home rule” provision in the state constitution.

    “It’s clearly not a piece of legislation about what’s best for Ohio,” said Dan Sawmiller, Ohio energy policy director for the NRDC, in a previous interview. “It’s about what’s best for the fossil fuel industry.”

    Some also pointed to the seemingly contradictory Senate Bill 52, which lawmakers passed early Tuesday morning. It would allow county commissioners to kill potential wind and solar projects early in their development. DeWine has not yet signed the legislation.

    “This is a bill that’s telling local governments they can’t ban a particular energy source [gas], and we just had discussions on a bill that expressly tells governments you can ban an energy source [wind and solar],” noted Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, at a committee hearing on the gas bill.

    About two-thirds of Ohio households use natural gas for heat, far more than electricity (25%), propane (5%) or other sources, according to U.S. Census data compiled by the Legislative Service Commission, which conducts policy analysis for state lawmakers.

    Along with the preemption, the new law states that anyone who wants natural gas service has “the right to obtain any available distribution service or retail natural gas service from a natural gas company with capacity to provide” it. 

  • Ants and Canker disease fell Cobb Christmas Tree

    Ants and Canker disease fell Cobb Christmas Tree

    Loveland, Ohio – The Norway spruce that stood for so long at the exit of the Loveland Post Office was removed on the morning of July 4 by Symmes resident Brian Griffin, a certified Arborist who owns Griffin Tree Care. Griffin noticed the poor condition of the tree and knew it was dangerous and probably being eaten from the inside/out by ants, so he talked to the Postmaster. 

    Griffin said the tree was probably dying from a Canker disease caused by fungi that infect branches or the main stem of trees. He said not many spruce trees in our area will escape the infection and might soon be all gone.

    William (Bill) Cobb, a Black businessman owned a quite famous general store that was demolished when the current post office was built. The post office used to be at the corner of West Loveland Avenue and Loveland Maderia Road; the building now housing The Quilter’s Studio of Loveland & QSL Workshop.

    City Hall added Christmas lights to the tree and added a plaque in honor of Cobb. The tree became known as “Loveland’s Christmas Tree” but to many older residents, it was always Mr. Cobb’s Tree.

  • Unhealthy Air continues into Tuesday

    Unhealthy Air continues into Tuesday

    Loveland, Ohio – An Air Quality Alert has been issued for Tuesday, July 6 in anticipation of elevated ozone concentrations. The Air Quality Alert includes Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren counties in Ohio, as well as Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties in Kentucky, and Dearborn County in Indiana.

    Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups


    Active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.

    You can always check realtime air quality in Loveland by clicking on this link on our Home Page.

    • Take the bus, carpool, bike or walk instead of driving
    • Refuel your vehicle after 8 p.m.; do not top off when refueling and tighten the gas cap
    • Avoid idling your vehicle
    • Combine trips or eliminate unnecessary vehicle trips 
    • Keep your vehicle maintained with properly inflated tires and timely oil changes 
    • Avoid use of gasoline-powered lawn equipment on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Avoid use of oil-based paints and stains on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Never burn leaves or other yard trimmings 
    • Always burn clean, seasoned wood in outdoor fire pits, fireplaces and wood stoves
    • Do not use fire pits or fireplaces for non-essential home heating on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Conserve electricity

  • Unhealthy air for Monday

    Unhealthy air for Monday

    Loveland, Ohio – A(n) Air Quality Advisory has been declared for the Loveland, Ohio area, on Monday, July 5th.

    105 AQIUnhealthy for Sensitive GroupsOzone


    Active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.

    • Take the bus, carpool, bike or walk instead of driving
    • Refuel your vehicle after 8 p.m.; do not top off when refueling and tighten the gas cap
    • Avoid idling your vehicle
    • Combine trips or eliminate unnecessary vehicle trips 
    • Keep your vehicle maintained with properly inflated tires and timely oil changes 
    • Avoid use of gasoline-powered lawn equipment on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Avoid use of oil-based paints and stains on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Never burn leaves or other yard trimmings 
    • Always burn clean, seasoned wood in outdoor fire pits, fireplaces and wood stoves
    • Do not use fire pits or fireplaces for non-essential home heating on Air Quality Advisory days
    • Conserve electricity