PRESS
The Brown County Press Sunday, March 18, 2012 • Volume 39 No. 32 Serving Brown County, Ohio since 1973
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THE BROWN COUNTY
Southwest Regional to close OB unit BY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press The Obstetrics Unit at Southwest Regional Medical Center is closing. A specific date for the closure had not been announced at press time. The private rooms on the OB unit will be put to general use for other patients staying in the hospital. More details are available from Southwest Regional Medical Center in the following press release: “(SWRMC) is expanding the number of rooms available to medical and surgical patients as the number of admissions at the hospital continues to grow. This will be accomplished by closing the labor and delivery unit in the near future. “This difficult, but strategic de-
cision to close Southwest Regional Medical Center’s OB unit will help us better serve both the community and the hospital,” says Joan Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Southwest Regional Medical Center can best fulfill its mission – caring for our community through stewardship and excellence – by focusing on those services most needed by the population in our area.” Phillips said the change will have an immediate and positive effect on patient care. “The eight best, most modern rooms in the hospital are the OB rooms. But we average, at best, one patient per day in these beds. Because they are part of OB, no other patients can utilize these beds, and we feel it’s in the best interest of the community to change the classification of these beds and make them
available to the general public.” Phillips said the action will result in an immediate and dramatic upgrade in the quality of medical and surgical services that the hospital will be able to offer to the residents of Brown County. As the OB unit winds down, Southwest Regional Medical Center will assist mothers scheduled to deliver at the hospital after the closure and their physicians in making alternate arrangements. For any OB patients in immediate need in the future, Southwest Regional Medical Center’s trained emergency room staff is equipped to handle emergency births. Southwest Regional Medical Center also plans to continue to provide women’s services, inCONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Wayne Gates/THE BROWN COUNTY PRESS
Southwest Regional Medical Center is opening more rooms for general patient use by closing its Obstetrics Department.
Disaster Recovery Loans are available from the Small Business Administration BY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press Brown County residents are now eligible to apply for disaster recovery loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The following information was released by the office of U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-
Wayne Gates/THE BROWN COUNTY PRESS
Attorneys for the five Division of Wildlife defendants prepare for a pre-trial hearing on March 12 in Brown County Common Pleas Court.
Case against Division of Wildlife officials on hold until Supreme Court decides on appeal ttBY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press The Brown County case against five current and former employees of the Ohio Division of Wildlife is on hold. pending a decision from the Ohio Supreme Court whether to hear the case. Common Pleas Judge Scott Gusweiler made that decision on March 12 during a pre-trial hearing. The five are Former Ohio Di-
vision of Wildlife Chief David Graham, Former ODOW Assistant Chief Randy Miller, ODOW Chief Law Enforcement Officer James Lehman, ODOW Human Resources Officer Michelle Ward-Tackett and ODOW Division Five Supervisor Todd Haines. Their case was appealed on Feb. 27 to the Ohio Supreme Court...and that court could take another three months just to decide if it will take the case.
If the court does decide to hear the matter, briefs will be required from both sides, oral arguments will be scheduled and then the court will deliberate before making a ruling. If this sequence of events happens, it could be well into 2013 before a ruling is made. If the state high court refuses to hear the case, the trial process for the five will proceed. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
Ohio): “Senator Portman said he welcomed the news that homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes affected by tornadoes and storms in southwest Ohio on March 2, 2012 will be able to apply for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) low-interest disaster
January jobless numbers take a leap upward
Appeals court denies a new trial to Joy Hoop BY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals has denied Joy Hoop a new trial. Hoop asked Judge Alan Corbin for a new trial in January of 2011. He ruled against her in June of last year. Hoop was convicted of complicity and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder in the death of her husband, Donald “Whitey” Hoop in 1997. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in 1998. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
loans. The SBA declaration is applicable to Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton and Warren counties. “This is hopeful news for southwest Ohio residents whose communities were devastated by the recent storms and tornadoes,” said Portman. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
B R O A D S H E E T
BY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press
Wayne Gates/ THE BROWN COUNTY PRESS
Joy Hoop listens to her attorney during her hearing for a new trial in January of 2011.
The unemployment rate in Brown County jumped .8 percent in January to 11.2 percent. There are a couple of pieces of good news in the jobless numbers, however. The increase was the lowest among the five counties surrounding Brown County...and the increase is the lowest jump from December to January since 1984. That year, the rate jumped from 11.2 percent to 11.4 percent. Since then, the increase
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By Martha Jacob The Brown County Press Thirty-five years ago, Gary Adkins and his wife Pam walked around a 12-acre plot of land in the Bethel area in Brown County and felt an instant love and appreciation for the piece of property. “This is God’s country, I told my husband,” said Pam with a big smile on her face. “We walked along the two streams on the property and knew it was just what we were looking for so
Index
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Classifieds...........22, 23 Court News................18 Death Notices..............7 Education ..........8, 9, 16 Legals ..........................6 Opinion ........................4 Social ...........................8 Sports ..................14, 15 219 South High St. Mt. Orab, OH 45154
we bought the property. We noticed right away that the streams were just thick with clay, really pretty clay.” But it wasn’t until after Gary retired in 2007, that one of the couple’s grandchildren asked if he could make something out of the clay in the streams. Gary dug up some of the clay and took it to a couple local pottery makers to find out if it was good enough to make pottery out of. He was told at that time that he could make anything out of the clay because it was the purest, cleanest clay they had ever seen. So Gary began a quest to learn as much as he could about the 6-feet deep strain of clay that ran across his property. He discovered at least one trick-of-the trade on identifying pure clay was to rub a tiny amount on your teeth and if it feels a smooth as toothpaste, it is pure. Nearly all clay is filled with tiny bits of rock, silt, iron, manganese and many other impurities. But the clay from his farm was deemed extremely unique in that it was absolutely pure. He learned this by taking
a sample of the clay to the University of Cincinnati where his clay was examined. Adkins also talked to Mark Wolfe, an Ohio Geological Survey geologist with ODNR. He told the couple that clay deposits can be found all over Ohio, which formed on the bottom of lakes and in streams. It is theorized that the clay on Adkins farm was formed by a glacier that pushed across Ohio and ended near his site. However, according to Adkins, he can pinpoint exactly where the clay ends on his property, which is exactly where the glacier ended. “The clay that we examined from the Adkins’ farm is the purest clay that we have ever seen,” explained Wolfe, “it doesn’t have any silt particles in it whatsoever. That makes it absolutely pure.” Adkins said the head of the University of Cincinnati Geology Department, Professor Paul Potter has visited his farm on three occasions and plans on bringing one of his classes to CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
The Brown County Press/MARTHA JACOB
Gary Adkins, A & K Clay Company in Bethel is shown here preparing to remove clay from one of his clay mines on his property. The clay has been deemed 100% pure.
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Rare Brown County clay draws attention from around the world