020611_ThisWeek_West_Side by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

February 6, 2011

IRS investigation of Grove City’s financial records

State auditor might suggest safeguards By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers

will look into procedures in the Grove City finance department and might suggest improvements to prevent future tax errors from The Ohio auditor’s office is doing more being overlooked. than probing Grove City’s “This particular audit is designed to asfinancial records as it insess the situation and see what kind of safevestigates the city’s late guards there are and how the department is and unpaid federal payroll structured,” said Kevin Holtsberry, policy taxes. and public affairs analyst. A spokesman for state “We are looking specifically at the finance auditor Dave Yost’s office department, and address accountability and said a special audit team Dave Yost transparency.”

Ohio municipalities should have measures designed to prevent and catch abuses and mistakes, but Holtsberry said he didn’t have any specific examples of a city that does. Yost announced Jan. 18 that his office would join in the investigation into the more than $1.1-million in taxes Grove City owes to the state and federal governments. In December 2010, the Internal Revenue Service told the city it owed about $685,905

“

This particular audit is designed to assess the situation and see what kind of safeguards there are and how the department is structured. We are looking specifically at the finance department, and address accountability and transparency.

KEVIN HOLTSBERRY — policy and public affairs analyst

See STATE AUDITOR, page A2

”

Business, club join in charitable effort By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek

Dr. Craig Conard talks with South-Western City Schools health aide Chris Johnson, South-Western Career Academy ESL teacher Stacey Stevens and South-Western City Schools health aide Lisa Titus during an open house for the new Nationwide Children’s Hospital Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. The mobile unit will be at schools in the South-Western City Schools district on Fridays. The goal of the mobile unit is not to become a primary care facility but to be a bridge betweeen receiving no care to finding a primary care doctor.

Mobile clinic to visit schools By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers Help is on the way for South-Western City Schools students without a regular pediatrician. A new “clinic on wheels” will visit schools in the district every Friday. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will be staffed with doctors and nurses from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said Dr. Olivia Thomas, chief of ambulatory pediatrics for the hospital. “We function much like a doctor’s office, so we can do the usual well-child visits or sick care,” Thomas said. The mobile had its first South-Western visit Friday, Jan. 28, stopping at the South-West Career Academy and Finland Middle School. Students from two career academy classes toured the vehicle, as did administrators, teachers, school nurses and nurse aides. “We’ll be rotating between the schools, working loosely with the school nurses,” Thomas said. The mobile has two exam rooms and can offer vision and hearing screenings, as well as immunizations. “We could be seeing two families at the same

A closer look The Care Mobile provides services at little or no cost to the patient. All insurances including Medicaid are accepted. The mobile has two exam rooms and can offer vision and hearing screenings, as well as immunizations.

time,” Thomas said. “There is one pediatrician and one nurse, so the doctor could be in one room while the nurse is in the other doing some of the initial screening.” The mobile also has some lab capabilities, Thomas said. “We’ll be able to do some lab tests so we could, for instance, if a child had a sore throat we could check (for strep),” she said. The doctor also can provide prescription medications, if needed. Forty-three Mobiles operate around the country, district spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff said. The Care Mobile provides services at little or no cost to the patient.

All insurances including Medicaid are accepted. “It is not free, but no one is turned away because they cannot pay,” Nekoloff said. “If someone does not have health insurance, the staff in the Care Mobile will help them find out if they qualify for benefits from the U.S. government.” The new Care Mobile, a joint effort between Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio and Children’s Hospital, aims to serve Central and Southeastern Ohio communities, Thomas said. “We wanted … to expand our reach into south and southeast Franklin County as well as southeast Ohio. We know that there are many children who don’t have primary care providers. “We can identify those children and connect them with an ongoing source of primary care. Our goal is not to become the primary care provider, but to be the link to some ongoing care for these children.” Letters containing information about the Care Mobile are being sent home to parents, so they know what services the Care Mobile will provide and how to schedule appointments, Nekoloff said.

On Thursday nights, two Hilliard Kiwanis members leave their weekly meeting and head over to Panera Bread on Bethel Road before it closes. That doesn’t sound special, but what they do next is. Don Patterson and George Clark pick up the store’s unsold bread, bagels and pastry, load them into Clark’s pick-up truck and deliver it all to the Bell Center, a drug treatment center on the east side of Columbus on Bryden Road. “They ‘God bless us’ all over the place and we’ve gotten to know some of them by name and have a nice time,” Patterson said of their visits to the Bell Center. Patterson, 78, a member of the Hilliard Kiwanis for five years, said he came up with the idea two years ago, after learning that Panera donates its unsold baked goods nightly. He talked with the store manager, got the OK from Kiwanis, filled out a form online, and got approved. Patterson said his biggest problem was finding a suitable recipient. Several local food pantries wouldn’t take the entire delivery. “I had all kind of people want it, but they couldn’t take it as a package and I had no way of breaking it up. Most of the places, you pick it up at night, you have to wait until the next day to deliver it. I couldn’t find anybody who would take that much bread on Thursday night without having some place to store it.” Patterson said the amount of food they’ve picked up varies, but they’ve had as much as eight bags and two boxes. “The bagels are in the bags and they’re loose. The boxes are the good stuff — cookies and stuff that they put out and get rid of every night.” Bad weather has prevented the duo from making a delivery to the Bell Center only twice in the past two years. “It works out very well,” Patterson said. “I’m happy and they’re happy and Panera’s happy. I think we’re doing some good.” Patterson said he likes being part of the service organization, and working with the Panera staff. “I get free coffee while they package up,” he said. “They’re just good people.” “Our policy is that we definitely want to continue to give back to our communities,” said Crystal Bevins, marketing manager for Panera Bread. See KIWANIS, page A2

Area jugglers say hobby is worth all the effort By GARY SEMAN JR. ThisWeek Community Newspapers

They stand across from each other, pitching clubs back and forth at an almost hypnotic speed. Others toss bird seed-filled balls in the air, trying to keep them suspended before gravity and fatigue take their toll. Yet another one hops on a unicycle, attempting to incorporate

basketballs into his routine — without falling. This is just another day in the lives of the Jest Jugglers, a group that meets each Thursday night at the Schiller Park Recreation Center in German Village. Founded in the early 1980s, the outfit is the longest-running juggling group in central Ohio, according to Owen Smith, co-director of the organization. It ac-

cepts jugglers of all coordination levels and there is no cost to join. “We do have people from all walks of life,” said Smith, a mechanical engineer who lives in Powell. His son, Evan, an exercise enthusiast, said juggling is a good workout. “You can really work up a sweat,” he said. So what does it take to become

a good juggler? “Dedication,” the elder Smith said. Not to mention a few tools of the trade, such as clubs, balls and rings. It can be a fairly inexpensive prospect for beginners, but some of the more expensive equipment, such as the bowling pinshaped clubs, can run $45 each. Most practitioners consider juggling seven objects the pinnacle