BETHEL JOURNAL
Your Community Press newspaper serving Bethel and other East Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2020 | BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK ###
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No rent deals for UC students ‘Wish they would be a little bit more forgiving’ Madeline Mitchell Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Michael Daly and son Seth at the Starlite Drive-in ahead of the second world showing of the movie they wrote together, “Chance.” The movie, all shot in Brown County about 50 miles east of Cincinnati, tells the story of Chance Smith, a boy whom Daly coached in youth baseball for 10 years. Chance died of suicide in 2012, and the movie about his life became Daly’s singular purpose. ANNE SAKER/THE ENQUIRER
Taking a
‘Chance’
A small local movie tackles big topic of teen suicide
Anne Saker Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
AMELIA – They lined State Route 125 for half a mile on May 23 to pack the venerable Starlite Drive-In, but not for the usual early-summer blockbuster. They came for “Chance,” a small-budget, locally made independent fi lm with the sobering true story of a young baseball star, text messaging and suicide. The movie, featuring veteran actor Matthew Modine, was shot entirely in Brown County, about 50 miles east of Cincinnati, a rural stretch of southern Ohio where Chance Smith died at 16 in February 2012. Getting “Chance” to its world premiere at the Starlite Drive-In has been the singular mission of Michael Daly of Hamersville. On May 23, Daly and his family sat in the drive-in parking lot as cars crawled through the gate. They waved to friends who had supported “Chance,” some who even had small roles in the movie. Daly said he would like “Chance” one day to be shown widely because “I want parents and teachers and students to be able to talk about this subject. We want this movie to start conversations.”
A coach and his player A Cincinnati native, Daly has spent more than three decades as a successful insurance agent and estate planner, for years one of New York Life’s top producers. He bought 65 acres in Brown County for a house and a lifelong passion. He built a 10-diamond training facility to coach his Flash Youth Baseball program. For 10 years, Daly coached Chance Smith, a talented player and class clown with loads of friends whose suicide at 16 shocked the county. Haunted by what he may have missed, Daly got permission from the boy’s parents to investigate. Daly found that in the preceding months, Chance had become convinced on no evidence that his girlfriend was about to dump him. He launched a daily siege of bullying text messages at the imagined rival
Movie veteran Matthew Modine in “Chance.” Jake Hertzman, left, plays athlete Chance Smith at age 12. Jake is a sophomore at Sycamore High School and plays on the school’s baseball team. PROVIDED
How Matthew Modine got attached For years, Daly and his family divided their time between Hamersville and a home in Los Angeles. Daly’s See ‘CHANCE’, Page 8A
If you are feeling suicidal, or you know someone who is, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-8255 (TALK), and the Crisis Text Line: text “start” to 741741.
News: 513-903-6027, Retail advertising: 513-768-8404, Classified advertising: 513-242-4000, Delivery: 513-248-7113
See STUDENTS, Page 8A
until the other boy’s mother discovered the harassment, spoke to Chance herself and invited him over to talk. Fearful of exposure, Chance became more depressed and isolated from his family, his friends, his baseball coach. After disappearing for a day, he died in a backyard shed at his family’s home. Daly had Chance’s No. 7 painted on the outfi eld wall at the Flash Youth Baseball facility. One day, a friend asked about it. Daly told the story, and the friend replied that it sounded like a movie.
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A 20-year-old currently living in Fort Thomas says she will pay a summer lease in Clifton without ever stepping foot on the property. Libby Birkley, a second year student at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning signed a lease in December with four other students for a property “right across the street from campus.” She had signed up for a summer class that has since been moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Students who lived on campus in dorms were off ered partial refunds to be issued by UC at the end of the school year. Most students moved out, although others with nowhere to go had an option to fi ll out a waiver to petition to stay on campus. But students living just blocks away from campus that signed with local landlords say they have “no chance” of getting out of their leases. Emily Kiehl, 20, says she will pay six months of rent for her off -campus house while she stays quarantined at home in Loveland. “Our landlord isn’t really fl exible about much. And he wasn’t fl exible about this. So we just sort of have to wait it out until August,” Kiehl said. Birkley said she called her property manager as soon as classes went online; he told her while it was not his decision, some higher-ups had decided they were not doing any adjustments to contracts. The landlord also was going to keep the security deposit. “They’re basically going from the angle, like, the apartment is still available for you to occupy this summer so we’re not going to release you and all this stuff . But, the choice for me to move into that apartment isn’t there, really, because it’s kind of, it’s a safety issue to be moving into an apartment with four people that I currently don’t live with. So there’s, like, obviously no
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University of Cincinnati student Emily Kiehl, 20, poses on the front step over her parents' home in Loveland, Ohio, on Friday, May 1, 2020. Like many college students, the second-year Information Technology student is currently quarantined with her family while also paying rent on a leased home near campus-– one of the highest cost of rent areas in the city. SAM GREENE/THE ENQUIRER
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