Sunday, September 30, 2007

Why can't cops do job? Oh, I'm charged

Uh, I don't know why this made it into the newspaper, and I don't know why this journalist has a job.
Why can't cops do job? Oh, I'm charged

Sept 20, 2007
The Enquirer

NORTHSIDE - A College Hill man who repeatedly insisted that the police weren't doing their jobs found one officer willing to do his.

About 2:45 p.m. Friday, Omar Armstrong, 22, was pulled over along Hamilton Avenue in Northside by Cincinnati Police Officer John Haynes. Armstrong had abruptly changed lanes right in front of the officer, forcing the officer to hit the cruiser's brakes, police said.

"No signal given, just an abrupt change of course," says the incident report.

"(I) advised why I stopped him and he stated he had been stopped back on the corner because the police weren't doing their jobs," Haynes wrote. The man "continued with (complaining about) the police not doing their jobs, even after being warned. At that time, I did my job."

Now Haynes faces four charges: driving under suspension, failure to wear a seat belt, failure to signal change of course, and no front license plate.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

UC dean has clear views

UC dean has clear views
BY CLIFF PEALE | CPEALE@ENQUIRER.COM
Sept 24, 2007

CORRYVILLE - Valerie Hardcastle is trained as a philosopher with a specialty in areas such as cognitive neuropsychology.

She's an amateur bodybuilder who says she has done her last show.

That might make her an unlikely candidate to be a college dean. Yet as Hardcastle says, here she is, the new dean of the University of Cincinnati's biggest academic unit, the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

"I always thought I'd just be a professor and teach my students," says Hardcastle, 43. "And here I am."

She came to UC from Virginia Tech, where she was associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Raised in Texas, she earned her doctoral degree in philosophy and cognitive science from the University of California at San Diego in 1994. She spent a year at UC in the late 1990s as a Taft Fellow.

Hardcastle sits now in one of the toughest spots at UC. The College of Arts and Sciences provides nearly 40 percent of the university's instructional load and touches virtually every undergraduate student during their stay. Overall enrollment included about 6,200 students last year.

UC started classes Wednesday with about 36,500 students and 4,150 freshmen on the main campus, both records.

With bigger and bigger classes expected during the next several years, the load carried by Arts and Sciences will only increase.

At the same time, Hardcastle is under the same budget-cutting mandate as every other UC department, making her job even more difficult.

"This increased enrollment this fall is putting immense demands on Arts and Sciences because those are the portal courses," UC President Nancy Zimpher says.

Hardcastle says every big university has budget constraints but controlling costs within a particular academic year doesn't allow smooth transitions.

"There's no fat here to cut," says Hardcastle, who receives $210,000 a year as dean.
"When you have large budgets to cut here in a short period of time, it's impossible to do it strategically."

The other theme of Hardcastle's first year at UC will be new interdisciplinary programs, another trend throughout the university. The college is planning a neuroscience major as soon as fall 2008.

The college is also expanding its journalism offerings and will start a Media Studies program in cooperation with the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, Hardcastle says.

Students also will find her in the campus recreation center working out. She says she won't do bodybuilding shows anymore but still works out nearly every day.

"I mainly just did it for a hobby," she says of the bodybuilding shows.


Hardcastle acknowledges becoming a dean is an unusual career path for philosophers.

"I think some of the traits of a good philosopher can make you a good dean," she said.

"What philosophers want to do is see the big picture. That's what deans want to do."

Man Saws House In Half In Title Dispute

Man Saws House In Half In Title Dispute
Rogers Charged With Vandalism, Aggravated Menacing

POSTED: 10:41 pm EDT September 24, 2007
UPDATED: 10:38 am EDT September 25, 2007
wlwt.com




CINCINNATI -- A man who became fed up with friends who had agreed to build him a house was arrested in connection with threats made against the homebuilders and destruction of property, police said.

Rodney Rogers, 66, had made an agreement with his friends, the Bowers, to buy a house the Bowers were building after it was completed.

Rogers was living in the home while the final renovations were being made, and he said he agreed to pay the Bowers with cash. After the house was completed, however, the Bowers wouldn’t give him the title and would not tell him for how much they were going to sell it, police said.

Rogers, who lost patience with the Bowers, according to his faimly, sawed the entire house, through siding, drywall and windows, in half, police said.

"(He's the) nicest guy you ever met -- real good guy. (He) treated me well," Rogers' neighbor Zyndall Russell said.

Rogers then showed police what he had done and told them he was going to "take care of the Bowers."

Police said they found a loaded gun inside Rogers' home and arrested him on vandalism and aggravated menacing charges.

"I think he was just trying to throw that out there and maybe use some scare tactics to see if anything would get accomplished that way," Rogers' nephew, Mark Rogers, said. "He's just worked his butt off his whole life, and he's got nothing to show for it, and this home was his pride and joy up there. So I just want him to get out and enjoy the rest of his life."

Mark said Rodney Rogers is a diabetic and suffers from carbon monoxide poisoning to the degree that he was told he would not live past last August.

Mark said that he believes what Rodney Rogers did was wrong, but he said Rodney deserves what he paid for.

The Bowers said they would have sold the title to Rodney Rogers, but he never offered money to buy it.

Rodney Rogers' family said they want him to be treated fairly in regards to getting the rights to the home.

He is scheduled to be back in court Thursday.

Bengals: Let us cut the poop

Bengals: Let us cut the poop
BY JANE PRENDERGAST | JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM
The Enquirer
Sept 27, 2007

Operators of Paul Brown Stadium want permission from the city to shoot birds that have been pooping on Bengals fans.

At the request of Eric Brown, managing director of the county-owned stadium, city officials are looking into the legal issues surrounding possibly shooting the birds.

City ordinances prohibit the firing of guns in public, but City Manager Milton Dohoney can issue an exemption.


The stadium will take center stage again next week as the site for Monday Night Football, a time when the whole city tries to dress up downtown for its appearance on national television.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Truck Crash, Hot Dogs Shut Down I-471 For Hours

Truck Crash, Hot Dogs Shut Down I-471 For Hours
Highway Reopens After 3-Hour Closure

POSTED: 10:11 am EDT September 26, 2007
UPDATED: 2:12 pm EDT September 26, 2007
wlwt.com

Ky. -- A crash that left a smelly mess closed much of Interstate 471 in northern Kentucky for several hours.

Police said a car lost control and hit a truck near the 1.1 mile marker just before 10 a.m., causing the truck to hit the median wall and overturn.

Officials said the truck spilled animal byproducts across the road. Video from Sky 5 showed a bulldozer and men with shovels attempting to scrape the material off to the side of the road as a pair of tow trucks helped set the truck upright.

A News 5 photographer said the stench in the air was enough to make people sick.

The photographer said most of what was on the road appeared to be hot dogs.

There have been no reports of injuries so far.

Traffic was getting by briefly on the right shoulder, but all three lanes were closed, as were all ramps to southbound I-471.

Just after 11 a.m., officials began detouring vehicles trying to cross on the I-471 bridge over the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

The road reopened shortly after 1 p.m.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Mom: Thieves Took Urn With Son's Ashes

I don't like to make fun of dead people, but isn't Darrol Bingman the worst name you've ever heard?
Mom: Thieves Took Urn With Son's Ashes

Local12.com


A local mother asks for help to get back something she can't replace... her son's ashes.

Barbara Covia says the urn was stolen during a burglary. Local 12 reporter Jessica Donnellon talked with the Covington woman who said this is not the first time this has happened.

Covia says the urn is about the size of a phone book and on the front of it is a gold plate with her son's name, Darrold Bingman, engraved on it.

Barbara says the urn was one of several things taken from her home. However, she says the ashes are only valuable to her and she hopes the crook will bring them back.

The burglar broke in through a kitchen window on the backside of her apartment on Welsh Drive in Covington, just over a week ago. Covia says the thief took her social security card, her birth certificate, money, a diamond watch, several jewelry boxes and the urn.

Covia says this is not the first time her son's ashes have been stolen. She says her son was murdered about 14 years ago out in Phoenix, Arizona. Darrold was shot during a robbery at a gas station where he had stopped to cash a check. His ashes were stolen a few months later.

Barbara says she went to a television station out there to ask for help and she got the ashes back about three years later. She hopes someone will return them again.

If you have any information that could help police, call CrimeStoppers at 352-3040. Remember, you don't have to give your name to get cash for your clues.