CAMPBELL COUNTY RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Campbell County
THIS WEEK AT
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Cincinnati landslides are bad. They might get worse. Hannah K. Sparling and Terry DeMio Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
When Tom Gerrein left for Mass on Easter Sunday in 2010, he had a fl at backyard. When he returned home, he did not. Tom and his wife, Kathy, walked behind their house in Bellevue and there it was. A landslide had cut their backyard in two, leaving a big crack through the middle and pulling the bottom half of the yard downhill. Tom was shocked. He had heard of his neighbors having trouble with landslides but didn’t think his own property was in any danger. It turned out his yard was one of 39 caught up in a landslide, spread among several Bellevue streets. One of Tom’s neighbors lost an addon room and part of a garage – “They just sort of crumbled,” Tom said. Another couple ended up walking away, abandoning their home and letting the bank foreclose. Tom and Kathy had their house reappraised, and it lost more than 40 percent of its value, dropping from $113,000 before the landslide was discovered to $65,000 after. “It’s like someone put a bomb in your yard,” Tom said.
Sorry, that’s not covered by insurance Cincinnati’s hills are majestic, off ering unparalleled views of sunrises, sunsets and the winding Ohio River. But all across this region, homeowners like the Gerreins are waking up to the realization that living among hills comes with risk. The landslides on Columbia Parkway make news when they snarl rush-hour traffi c for a day or two, but they represent just a fraction of the underlying problem and cost. Much of that cost falls on homeowners, who sometimes don’t realize until it’s too late that landslides generally are not insured. And, while landslides have always been a problem here, they’re a problem some scientists fear will get worse as climate change causes more weather extremes and dumps more rain onto hillsides in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. There is no comprehensive landslide database, but University of Kentucky
A recent landslide took out the backyard of a home on Clayton Court in Bellevue, Kentucky. A retaining wall was built on Anspaugh Avenue behind the home. PHOTOS BY THE ENQUIRER/MEG VOGEL
Geologist Matt Crawford has been mapping them for several years, and he has about 80,000 on his list so far. That’s just in Kentucky.
‘We have to be really careful’ Greater Cincinnati sits in part on what’s called the Kope shale formation, which breaks down easily and is highly prone to landslides. There is also lakebed clay, a remnant of the glaciers, scattered throughout this region. Lakebed clay shrinks when it’s dry and swells when it gets wet. Too much precipitation adds weight and pressure. The hillsides get oversaturated and, eventually, there’s a landslide. That geology alone would be enough, said Eric Russo, executive director of The Hillside Trust, a nonprofi t dedicated to protecting this region’s hills. But landslides here have been exacerbated See LANDSLIDES, Page 2A
Tom Gerrein stands in his backyard in Bellevue, Kentucky on Feb. 19. He and his wife moved into their home in the summer of 1969. On Easter morning in 2010, they came home from church to fi nd a landslide they have since learned is affecting more than 35 properties in Bellevue.
DOJ: Dayton landlord demanded sex acts for rent Chris Mayhew Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Federal prosecutors have accused Dayton, Kentuck, landlord Gus Crank of demanding women perform sex acts to help pay rent or keep their housing. The U.S. Department of Justice fi led a lawsuit March 6 accusing Crank of sexually harassed female tenants in
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violation of the federal Fair Housing Act, according to a news release. The residential rental property manager was accused of harassing female tenants from 2008 to 2016 with threats to evict them if his sexual advances were refused, according to the release. Off ers to reduce monthly rent payments in exchange for sex were reportedly made and there was unwelcome
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sexual touching, according to the release. Crank made intrusive and unannounced visits to women’s apartments to further his sexual advances, according to the release. He is accused of making unwelcome comments and advances too. See RENT, Page 2A
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