July 10, 2011
Hometown Inn demolition starts Monday By CARLA SMITH ThisWeek Community Newspapers For three years, Prairie Township has been trying to rid the area of a blighted property at the gateway of the community. The Hometown Inn, located at 4601 W. Broad St., will only be standing a few more hours. It is scheduled to be
demolished beginning at 8 a.m. July 11. The process, including clean-up, is expected to take about two to three weeks. “Removal of this structure will eliminate a blemish on the community, improve traffic safety in the vicinity and stimulate development in the area,” said Doug Stormont, Prairie Township trustee. The township has faced many chal-
lenges in getting rid of the Hometown Inn. Doing so has played a role in completing a major construction project along South Grener Avenue. “Acquiring property for a project like this is a challenge under the best of circumstances,” trustee Steve Kennedy said. “But when the property is a major nuisance, owes $400,000 in back taxes and will need to be acquired through a
short sale, it’s a huge challenge.” Kennedy said early efforts to purchase the property through a sheriff’s sale were stifled by red tape, leading to long delays. Acquisition of easements that had been granted to Waffle House and Home Depot further complicated the process, he said. The township executed a contract to purchase and demolish the Hometown
See HOMETOWN, page A2
Karnes to be remembered at Franklin County Fair
Bill to ban COOL KID texting while driving sent to Senate
By GARY BUDZAK ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Once again, a bill prohibiting texting while driving will go before the Ohio Senate for approval. The Ohio House passed the measure, House Bill 99, by a vote of 88-10. The legislation was co-sponsored by Rep. Nancy Garland (D-New Albany) and Rep. Rex Damschroder (R-Fremont). “This is about saving lives,” Garland said. H.B. 99 would ban entering or reading text messages on any device, including cellphones, personal digital assistants and laptop computers, while driving. It also would require driver-education courses to include instruction about the dangers of texting while driving. Drivers would be permitted to text only if their vehicles were not moving and were pulled off the road. The bill stipulates that textingwhile-driving violations would be considered minor misdemeanors, with possible fines up to $150. Garland said she introduced similar legislation last year, which the House also approved. However, the bill died in the Senate. “We’re hopeful we can get this bill introduced in the Senate this year,” she said, mentioning that she and other legislators are working to get senators interested in the bill. She said the legislature has one working day in July and will not meet again until September. Garland said the idea for the bill came from one of her constituents in Gahanna, Sharon Montgomery. Montgomery’s husband died after complications from an accident caused by a driver who was using a cellphone. Montgomery has spoken regularly at various government meetings in effort to get municipalities to pass texting-while-driving bans. “My role stays the same,” Montgomery said. “I’ll still be talking to anybody and everybody to try and convince them we need this.” Garland said it would be difficult to ban cellphone usage entirely in vehicles, but she called regulating texting “a step in the right direction.” H.B. 99 would exclude emergency personnel and public-safety forces; people using navigation devices; people receiving messages through radio air waves; and people receiving safety information, weather alerts or other “data used primarily by the motor vehicle;” people “reading, selecting, or entering a name or telephone number in an electronic wireless communications device for the purpose of making or receiving a telephone call;” people using a device that does not work manually; and people “operating a commercial truck while using a mobile data terminal that transmits and receives data.”
Inn in March. The purchase price of the 4.8 acre property was set at $1.3 million. The demolition of the structure is being paid for, in part, through OPWC (Ohio Public Works Commission) funds. “Each step that Prairie Township took to address these challenges had to be coordinated with our funding source and
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Carrie Furbee, 4, cools her heels—and her entire body—as she runs through the sprinkler during Water Day at the Grandview Public Library. It was the library’s second year for the event, part of its summer reading program.
Mathematician, not a soldier, served his country in WWII By ANDREW MILLER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Upper Arlington resident John Bergmann may have been “just a mathematician” during World War II, but his contributions were as great as any soldier’s on the front line. “I was in college in Pennsylvania studying to be a CPA, and just two weeks before I graduated, in May of 1941, six months before the Pearl Harbor attack, I was approached by the John U.S. Army,” said Bergmann, who is 89. Bergmann “They told me that they had an opportunity for me but couldn’t tell me what it was. It was secret, and they didn’t have time to wait. They needed an answer immediately. “I was hesitant about it,” Bergmann recalled. “I was about to graduate and wanted to go and make a living after all of that school, but ultimately, I agreed to go.” The army wanted him to become a code breaker, according to Bergmann. They scouted him based on his skills with Morse code from his 10 years in the Boy Scouts and the mathematical skills that he’d honed in school. “One week after graduation, I was given a second lieu-
tenant rank and shipped off to Fort Meade, Fla., along with 24 other guys who had similar backgrounds as me,” Bergmann said. “We were told that Churchill said to Roosevelt that (the U.S.) will be in this war soon and better have some good intelligence. But we didn’t, at that point.” The men were housed in an old stone farmhouse at the far end of the reservation at Fort Meade, Bergmann said, with only a cook, driver and housekeeper, along with a guard. “There was rarely ever a visitor,” Bergmann said. “I was told to tell people I was an accountant for Washington. My commanding officer told us that if (we) ever say anything of value, (we’d) be shot or sent to Leavenworth. I know he wasn’t kidding.” According to Bergmann, the 25 members of the unit, code-named “Ultra,” traveled around the globe training radio operators to pick up enemy transmissions, which then would be decoded. After only six weeks in service, Bergmann was sent to Burma to attempt to steal the everchanging code scrolls from a Japanese outpost. See MATHEMATICIAN, page A2
The 94th edition of the Franklin County Fair will feature some new events and will honor an old friend. Saturday, July 16, the fair’s opening day, is also Franklin County Sheriff Jim Karnes Day. Karnes, the longest-serving sheriff in Franklin County history, died last month of pancreatic cancer. He was 71. “He was a big fair supporter, and we want to show our respect and honor him for everything that he’s done for us,” said Allison Rushley, senior fair board member. Karnes was to have A closer look received a golden ticket from fair The Franklin County Fair will o f f i c i a l s , run from July 16-23 at the which would Franklin County Fairgrounds, have given 4100 Columbia St. in him free ad- Hilliard. Hours are 9 a.m. to mission to 11 p.m. July 16, July 22-23; the fair for- and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. July ever. His 17-21. Admission is $5 and wife, Sandy $6 (July 22-23); rides sepaKarnes, will rate. For more information, get that tick- visit www.fcfair.org. et. “He was always present at the fair several days throughout the week,” Rushley said of Karnes. “He bought animals from the Junior Fair kids at the livestock sale and he purchased goods from our Junior Fair kids at the creative baking auction. He also entered his fudge and apple pie into our senior fair board contests.” Also on opening day will be three new events at the entertainment tent: a cute baby contest at 3 p.m., when children 5 and younger will be wearing farm attire; a toddler trot at 4 p.m.; and a diaper dash contest at 4:30 p.m. There will be two new daily shows at the fair — bicycle stunts by Rise Above BMX Entertainment, and the Kidbuck$ Game Show, where children can win prizes by doing different activities. Another daily activity is barn tours, when Junior Fair members will talk about the various animals shown at the fair. An old-fashioned draft horse pull is another new event for the fair. “It’s kind of like a truck or tractor pull. You just don’t have the loud noises,” Rushley said. “They hook the horses up, and they see how far the horses pull the weight on the track.” For those interested in more horsepower, the fair will have a truck and tractor pull at 7:30 p.m. July 22. This year, for the first time, the National Tractor Pullers Association will bring a sanctioned event to the Franklin County Fairgrounds. “I like coming up with new and creative things to get people to come to the fair,” Rushley said. “I like seeing the enjoyment on people’s faces once they come to the fair and see everything that we have to offer.” Last year’s attendance was 47,000, Rushley said, and despite rainy or hot and humid days, it has gone up overall in recent years. The Franklin County Fair will run from July 16-23 at the Franklin County Fairgrounds, 4100 Columbia St. in Hilliard. Hours are 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. July 16, July 22-23; and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 17-21. Admission is $5 and $6 (July 22-23); rides separate. For more information, visit www.fcfair.org.
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