YARD OF THE WEEK B6
Your Community Press newspaper serving Delhi Township and Sayler Park We d n e s d a y, A u g u s t 2 5 , 2 0 1 0
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B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
‘Brazen’ scammers hit Delhi Township
Volume 83 Number 35 © 2010 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Good Sam opening soon
By Heidi Fallon
Construction of the new Good Samaritan Medical Center at Western Ridge is now finished. The new medical facility, located just north of the Interstate 74 interchange on Harrison Avenue, is scheduled to open Tuesday, Sept. 7. -FULL STORY A2
hfallon@communitypress.com
Columnists switch pages
To make room for our high school football preview this week we moved the columns by Father Lou Guntzelman and Rita Heikenfeld. You can find them starting on page A6 this week.
Online community
Visit Cincinnati.com/ community to find news, sports, photos, events and more from your community. You’ll find content from The Community Press, The Cincinnati Enquirer and your neighbors. While you’re there, check out Share, and submit stories and photos of your own.
By the river
Got a clue where this is? We didn’t think so. Time to go hunting in the neighborhood to see if you can find it. Send your best guess to delhipress@ community press.com or call 853-6287, along with your name. Deadline to call is noon Friday. If you’re correct, we’ll publish your name in next week’s newspaper along with the correct answer. See last week’s answer on B6.
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HEIDI FALLON/STAFF
Del-Fair Lanes bowling alley has closed after 54 years in business in Delhi Township.
Del-Fair Lanes closes after 54 years By Heidi Fallon hfallon@communitypress.com
With little warning to employees, the Del-Fair Lanes bowling alley has closed its doors. Bev Meece worked at the lanes for 40 years and was told simply not to come to work. She was one of about six bowling alley employees. “I’m still in shock,” Meece said. “The lanes have been there for 54 years and it was a wonderful place to work. All I know is that I was told it was reopening.”
Meece said the lanes closed in early August for what she thought was a summer break. It was supposed to reopen later this month. “Business has been bad, I know that, but this still comes as a complete surprise,” she said. “I am really going to miss all the wonderful people I’ve gotten to know over the years.” Attempts to contact Jack Michaels, who owns both the bowling alley and the Del-Fair Shopping Center, were unsuccessful. Mike Mierke, president of the
Delhi Business Association and bank manager of the PNC Bank several doors down from the bowling alley, said he only heard rumors about the lanes closing. “Anytime you lose a business, it’s sad to see it go,” Mierke said. “Especially a business with the history the bowling alley has. It’s been a staple for the township and it’s hard to see it close.” Mierke said he’s heard nothing about how the bowling alley closing might impact his bank and the other eight businesses in the shopping center.
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First glance at football
Elder High School football’s Ryan Buller, Ben Gramke and Josh Monk take part in a scrimmage against Fairfield High School Aug. 14. To read more about the Panthers and other area football teams, check out the Delhi Press football section, B1. To place an ad, call 242-4000.
Unlock your car-selling confidence.
Delhi Township residents are being told they’ve just won millions of dollars. They haven’t. Lt. Joe Macaluso said police have had four reports of what’s being called a Jamaican phone scam in the last week. He said the call will show an 876 area code. “The caller will tell the person they’ve won $2.5 million and need to send $500 to receive a check,” Macaluso said. “They also give a phone number for the resident to call them back. If they do that, they are incurring costly international phone charges.” Macaluso said while the scam isn’t a new idea, it’s more daring than police have dealt with before. “In one of the calls, when the resident refused to talk to the caller, the scam artist called the Hamilton County Communications Center and had a Delhi Township officer dispatched to the resident’s home to instruct the resident to return the call.” Macaluso said the scam artist told the dispatcher a family member was trying to reach his targeted victim and that the international phone number was for that family member. The officer went to the Greenwell Avenue home and the resident recognized the 876 number as being bogus, Macaluso said. “In another complaint, the scam caller actually called the resident’s daughter to try and convince her to have her mother return the call and send a check,” he said. “That’s how brazen these people are.” Macaluso called the 876 area code number himself, telling the person who answered that he had been called about winning the $2.5 million. “The man on the other end was very smart and had an answer for almost everything I questioned him about. When I told him I was a police officer, he used some profanity and hung up.” Macaluso said while there’s little police can do since the scam originates outside the U.S., he still wants anyone receiving those calls to alert police. “The main thing is keeping people from being victimized,” he said. “There are a lot of different types of scams like this out there and everyone should remember the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Macaluso said police also are investigating another con involving rental property. “A resident was putting his home on the market and people kept contacting him about it being for rent,” Macaluso said. “It turned out an Internet site had that property listed for rent and people had to pay a deposit to view the house.” Anyone who receives suspicious mail or phone calls should contact police at 922-0060.
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