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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 | CINCINNATI.COM | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

Holding on Stories on how we are making it through the year

hough it seemed at times it would never end, 2020 is in its ﬁ nal days. The year dragged us through a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster. And as the hours and days and weeks ran together, we lived from one crisis to the next. It felt never-ending. But in that time, we found ways to persevere, to make it through the

next hour and day and week. We did it by fi nding what matters most to us. The Enquirer staff spent the past nine months gathering the stories of those who found what they needed to navigate this most diffi cult year. For some, it was an object, a memento, a piece of jewelry. For others, it was a person, a friend or relative, or a cause that gave life purpose.

Their stories appear in a special section inside today’s paper.

CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

What happens when it arrives? Anne Saker Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

With the scheduled Dec. 15 arrival of dozens of dry-ice coolers, Ohio and Kentucky will deploy a new defense against the novel coronavirus – vials of vaccine invented, tested and put into service in record time. Here’s what we know about who is in line for the vaccines, as well as their distribution and storage.

First in line, and then ... For at least the fi rst three weeks of availability, the Ohio Department of Health has directed that only people to be vaccinated are: h hospital caregivers. h residents and staff at nursing homes. h residents and staff at assisted-living homes. h residents and staff of psychiatric

facilities. h residents and staﬀ at Ohio veterans homes. h residents and staﬀ of group homes or centers and EMS responders. Kentucky’s draft plan for distribution generally mirrors Ohio’s. Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear told the commonwealth’s school superintendents to prepare for vaccination campaigns for See VACCINE, Page 12A

Mary Burns, a UC pharmacist, prepares a dose on Aug. 24, the ﬁ rst day the Moderna vaccine was administered in a UC/UC Health trial. PROVIDED, COLLEEN KELLEY/UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

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‘Highway boondoggle’

Weather

Cincinnati’s Eastern Bypass makes list of nation’s worst projects. Local, 4A

High 45° ❚ Low 38° Blustery, colder Forecast, 2A

QEAJAB-20101u

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

WEATHER

Find interactive radar, storm warnings, live storm chaser video, school closings and global weather searchable by city or ZIP code at Cincinnati.com/weather.

After three consecutive days with high temperatures in the 60s, a fairly rare occurrence in Cincinnati, the weather is headed back to normal, or colder, until Saturday. A series of small storm systems will head our way out of the Four Corners region. The first will bring some cloudiness to most of the region Monday, but Monday morning, east of I-71, a light mix of rain and snow may fall. Wednesday morning, the second system could be a troublemaker for Cincinnati. It looks like the arrival of light snow will coincide with the morning commute. Air temperatures will be colder than freezing, and ground temperatures will be cold enough for the snow to stick. Accumulations will be 2 inches or less, but you know what snow does to Cincinnati traffic.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS The Enquirer is committed to accuracy and will correct all errors of substance. To reach us, contact reader representative Robin Buchanan at 513-768-8308 or email her at accuracy@enquirer.com. Please include whether you are responding to content online, in social media or in the newspaper.

LOTTERIES OHIO

THE NATION

U.S. FORECAST

w- weather: s- sunny, pc- partly cloudy, sh- showers, t- thunderstorms, r- rain, sf- snow flurries, sn- snow, i- ice. CITY

TODAY HI LO W

Akron 41 Albany !Albany, N.Y.49 Albuquerque 41 Amarillo 34 Anchorage 27 Asheville 62 Atlanta 66 Atlantic City 64 Austin 73 Baltimore 63 Baton Rouge 71 Birmingham 65 Bismarck 23 Boise 34 Boston 58 Buffalo 40 Burlington, Vt. 49 Charleston, S.C. 75 Charleston, W.Va. 51 Charlotte, N.C. 68 Cheyenne 32 Chicago 37 Cleveland 39 Columbia, S.C. 71 Columbus 43 Concord, N.H. 50 Dallas-Ft. Worth 46 Daytona Beach 77 Denver 37 Des Moines 33 Detroit 38 El Paso 52 Evansville 45 Fairbanks 1 Fort Lauderdale 82 Fort Myers 82 Fort Wayne 40 Grand Rapids 37 Great Falls 23 Hartford 58 Honolulu 85 Houston 70 Indianapolis 41 Jackson, Miss. 63 Jacksonville 77 Kansas City 42 Key West 79 Knoxville 60 Las Vegas 49

32 c 30 c 24 s 20 pc 22 c 43 pc 50 pc 41 pc 36 pc 42 pc 46 r 44 c 0 pc 25 c 35 pc 32 sf 29 r 59 c 37 c 53 pc 18 s 25 pc 31 c 56 sh 33 c 27 c 32 sh 64 pc 20 s 16 s 29 c 27 pc 33 c -3 pc 68 pc 66 pc 27 c 29 c 16 c 32 pc 70 pc 41 r 29 c 41 r 61 pc 24 c 72 pc 42 c 35 pc

Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day

MON HI LO W

CITY

TODAY HI LO W

MON HI LO W

38 36 42 47 27 47 56 44 55 45 54 51 20 35 39 38 36 71 43 59 36 32 37 63 40 36 52 77 37 27 37 55 43 9 83 79 35 33 35 38 85 53 36 50 75 41 79 48 57

Lexington Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Mobile Naples Nashville New Orleans New York City Norfolk, Va. Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland, Maine Portland, Ore. Providence Raleigh Reno Richmond Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe St. Ste. Marie Seattle Sioux Falls South Bend Springfield, Ill. Syracuse Tampa Toledo Traverse City Tucson Tulsa Washington, D.C. Wichita Wilmington, N.C.

48 44 66 49 31 50 81 35 33 69 80 54 72 59 67 35 36 79 61 63 44 47 44 60 66 48 68 54 40 38 73 69 59 59 37 29 45 36 39 39 47 77 41 34 63 38 63 40 72

42 49 66 45 26 47 84 30 22 58 78 46 56 43 58 42 29 78 43 63 38 37 47 40 60 41 48 57 41 34 59 65 57 58 38 28 48 25 33 37 39 76 38 30 67 42 46 41 71

25 pc 24 pc 24 s 23 s 21 pc 25 r 36 r 29 r 35 s 30 r 39 pc 33 pc 7c 20 pc 30 sn 25 pc 21 pc 42 t 24 pc 32 r 17 c 20 pc 25 pc 36 r 23 pc 24 pc 36 s 61 t 18 c 16 pc 20 pc 33 s 25 s -2 sn 68 pc 66 pc 22 pc 18 pc 24 sn 27 sn 73 t 42 pc 23 s 32 s 51 t 24 pc 71 pc 29 r 37 s

37 c 33 r 49 pc 38 c 19 pc 36 r 69 pc 24 pc 14 s 49 r 66 pc 38 c 51 r 40 pc 53 pc 20 sn 15 s 63 pc 41 pc 43 s 33 c 29 c 40 r 34 pc 53 pc 28 r 46 pc 42 r 29 c 27 c 36 sh 50 s 48 r 46 r 15 s 23 pc 41 r 12 s 27 c 25 c 31 sn 65 pc 29 c 27 c 39 s 23 sn 43 pc 18 sn 58 sh

24 pc 28 s 46 s 27 s 8 pc 31 s 69 pc 18 pc 11 c 38 pc 67 pc 29 pc 45 pc 31 r 38 r 29 s 18 pc 62 t 31 r 39 s 25 sn 26 pc 40 r 29 r 32 r 23 pc 31 r 34 pc 25 pc 21 sn 36 s 45 pc 44 pc 40 pc 18 s 9 sn 42 c 17 c 22 pc 20 pc 25 c 63 t 20 pc 20 sf 34 s 29 s 32 r 27 pc 38 r

IN THE SKY

NEW Dec. 14

FIRST Dec. 21

FULL Dec. 29

(Drawings: Dec. 12) Pick 3 (early): 0 6 0 Pick 4 (early): 4 4 4 5 Pick 5 (early): 4 4 9 9 1 (Drawings: Dec. 11) Pick 3 (late): 3 5 8 Pick 4 (late): 1 9 5 3 Pick 5 (late): 0 5 3 7 5 Rolling Cash 5: 7 9 15 25 29 Classic Lotto: Saturday’s jackpot was an estimated $1.7 million.

LAST Jan. 6

Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset

Today

Tomorrow

7:49 a.m. 5:16 p.m. 6:31 a.m. 4:31 p.m.

7:49 a.m. 5:16 p.m. 7:46 a.m. 5:21 p.m.

110s 100s 90s 80s 70s 60s 50s 40s 30s 20s 10s 0s -0s -10s

KENTUCKY (Drawings: Dec. 12) Pick 3 (early): 5 6 6 Pick 4 (early): 2 3 7 6 (Drawings: Dec. 11) Pick 3 (late): 2 5 5 Pick 4 (late): 3 4 4 3 Cash Ball: 3 4 8 25, 9

INDIANA Cold

Warm

Stationary Showers T-storms

RIVER LEVELS RIVER

Flurries

Snow

Previous level

25.4 12.0 33.5 12.0 12.0

27.50 17.30 33.80 17.10 17.40

Pool Level

Previous level

Flood Stage

2.80 5.60 6.20 3.00

28 17 18 20

Licking (Falmouth) Little Miami (Milford) Great Miami (Hamilton) Whitewater (Brookville)

Ice

Levels as of 7 a.m. Saturday. Sunday’s forecast is for 7 a.m. Pool levels reflect the normal river level.

Pool Level

Cincinnati Markland Dam Maysville Meldahl Dam Portsmouth

OTHER RIVERS

Rain

12.0 12.0 12.0 12.0

ALMANAC

Rising

From Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport through 5 p.m. yest.

TEMPERATURE High/low ........................... 62/52 Normal high/low ............... 42/27 Record high ................. 70 (2015) Record low .................. -3 (1962) HUMIDITY High .................................... 86% Low ..................................... 49% PRECIPITATION Last 24 hours ...................... 0.06” Month to date .................... 0.08” Normal month to date ........ 1.34” Year to date ...................... 45.91” Normal year to date ......... 40.59”

Flood Stage

52.0 51.0 50.0 51.0 55.0

Falling

Forecast

26.90 15.20 34.00 16.00 15.70 Forecast

2.80 5.50 6.20 3.20

MEGA MILLIONS (Drawings: Dec. 11) 19 31 37 55 67 Megaball: 25 Megaplier: 4X Tuesday’s jackpot is an estimated $291 million.

Unchanged

AIR QUALITY

POWERBALL

Pollution...................58/Moderate Main pollutant ............ Particulates

Saturday’s jackpot was an an estimated $277 million.

Pollen data will return in the spring. Source: Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services

EXTREMES Saturday for the 48 contiguous states.

TODAY IN HISTORY Today is Dec. 13. On this date in: 1769: Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter. 1918: President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office.

THE LOCAL BUZZ Cincy breweries show up big at U.S. Open Beer Championship The winners of the annual U.S. Open Beer Championship were announced Sunday, and Greater Cincinnati-area breweries made a statement with their strong showings this year. Most notable among the results: Loveland’s Narrow Path Brewing came in third place overall, behind only Deschutes Brewery (Bend, Oregon) and Monday Night Garage Brewing (Atlanta). Narrow Path racked up three gold medals in the competition. Winners included English Dissent (English mild ale), Tri-Kettle Tripel (Belgian Tripel) and Cerise Sauvage (barrel-aged sour). I’ve had the pleasure of drinking the lattermost of the three – it was one of the best sours I had all year. Big props to Narrow Path for this remarkable achievement. In a year in which adversity has been a constant, Narrow Path has handled it better than most. Some other eyebrow-raising highlights from this year’s U.S. Open Beer Championship: h Despite having been around for less than a year, Third Eye in Sharonville has continued to impress. Third Eye Higher Purpose won a gold medal for best cream stout. Its Groovy Baby! took second behind Narrow Path in the English

(Drawings: Dec. 12) Daily 3 (early): 07 01 01 (SB: 07) Daily 4 (early): 00 05 08 03 (SB: 07) (Drawings: Dec. 11) Daily 3 (late): 03 05 01 (SB: 06) Daily 4 (late): 02 05 02 01 (SB: 06) Hoosier Lottery: Saturday’s jackpot was an estimated $1.8 million.

Narrow Path Brewing Co. in Loveland is joining the All Together beer collaboration. PROVIDED

Download the app Want to keep up with the local buzz? Download the Cincinnati.com smartphone app for all the latest news, sports and information you need to stay informed.

mild ale category, while its Perfect Sight scored bronze for best brown ale. Municipal Brew Works in Hamilton racked up four medals in the competition, scoring gold in the English summer ale category for its Approachable Blonde Ale. The rest of those medals? All silver. h Listermann was the only other area brewery to score four medals, which included a gold medal for its ﬂ agship

Chickow! in the nut beer category. Listermann’s other core beer, Nutcase peanut butter porter, took silver for best peanut butter beer. h Fresh off its fi rst medal at the Great American Beer Festival, Fretboard followed up with two gold medals at the U.S. Open. Crazy Train, which had scored Fretboard silver at GABF, took gold for best Belgian pale ale, while its Bootsy IPA was the best brut IPA in this year’s fi eld. h One area brewery that had been fl ying under the radar for me is now squarely in my sights. The Common Beer Co. in Mason won gold in the herb and spice beer category with Fly Rod, while its Dark Cloud schwarzbier was good enough to take bronze in that category. h Other gold medalists included Streetside Raspberry Beret (berliner weisse), HighGrain Oost (Belgian strong style specialty ale), Big Ash Porter’s Porter (porter), Nine Giant Minor Swing (American-Belgo style ale), and Grainworks Scottish MISTS (Scottish Ale). h Brink, MadTree, March First, MPH, Northern Row and Rhinegeist also took home medals from the competition. The full list of winners can be found on the competition’s website, usopenbeer.com. – Matt Koesters, Special to The Enquirer

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1977: Air Indiana Flight 216, a DC-3 carrying the University of Evansville basketball team on a flight to Nashville, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 29 people on board. 1978: The Philadelphia Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar. 2000: Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida; Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity. 2001: The Pentagon publicly released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the September 11 attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations. 2002: Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Boston archbishop because of the priest sex abuse scandal. 2003: Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit. 2007: Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report was released, identifying 85 names to differing degrees in connection with the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Corrections and clarifications

Our goal is to promptly correct errors. Email us at accuracy@ enquirer.com to report a mistake or call 513-768-8308. Describe the error, where you saw it, the date, page number, or the URL.

Customer Service .......................................................................... 1-800-876-4500 Editor and Vice President ........................................Beryl Love | 513-768-8500 Advertising ................................................ Brandie B. Davisson | 513-768-8182 Obituaries ............................................................................................. 513-768-8400

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

COMMENTARY

Man who’s exposed City Hall corruption must stay on job 2. Three politicians have been from Cincinnati City Council. The incoming Biden administration should also consider putting politics aside when deciding what to do with the appointment of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. DeVillers has worked in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Many of the public corruption cases DeVillers is pursuing started during the Obama administration. DeVillers worked under Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney Ben Glassman to get the investigations started before succeeding the Cincinnati resident in November 2019. A New York native, DeVillers is an outsider with a backbone. He spent time in Iraq investigating terrorists and was part of a team of prosecutors that helped to convict Saddam Hussein on war crimes and genocide. DeVillers prosecuted a vicious Columbus street gang four years ago, work that required around-the-clock security at his Central Ohio home. It takes a fearless outsider to go against the political establishment and their big-money interests to indict a power player like Republican Larry Householder and party darling like Democrat P.G. Sittenfeld.

Politics Extra Jason Williams Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Consider this column both praise and a plea. It’s an appreciation of federal prosecutor David DeVillers and his all-out crackdown on corrupt politicians in Cincinnati, Columbus and across Ohio’s southern hemisphere. It’s also a request to the incoming Biden administration and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to give serious consideration to retaining DeVillers, who’s proven to DeVillers be exactly what the public needs during his fi rst year as the region’s top federal law enforcement offi cial. It shouldn’t matter that Trump appointed DeVillers. He’s proven that he’s no political hack. DeVillers is a career prosecutor who’s shown no regard for political affi liation in his unrelenting pursuit of corrupt politicians. His elected offi cial indictment scoreboard reads: Republicans 2, Democrats

DeVillers’ biggest victory so far has been the indictment of Trumpbacking Householder, whose colleagues removed him as Ohio House Speaker after he was arrested on federal corruption charges last summer. In fact, DeVillers has busted more Republicans when factoring in all the non-elected associates who were supposedly involved in Householder’s alleged $61 million bribery scheme. The other three indicted elected offi cials have come from Cincinnati City Council, where Democrats P.G. Sittenfeld and Tamaya Dennard and Republican Jeff Pastor have all been arrested this year on payto-play charges. With a new president set to take offi ce next month, the jockeying for political appointments is well underway. As Ohio’s Democrat senator, Brown will lead the eff ort to vet and recommend a U.S. attorney candidate to the White House. Republican Rob Portman, Ohio’s junior U.S. senator, will also have input. Former Hamilton County Judge Fanon Rucker has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the region’s U.S. attorney. Rucker is respected and has a strong resume, but his – or anyone’s – appointment should at least be delayed for sev-

eral months. There’s no time to waste bringing a new prosecutor up to speed on the cases, let alone run the risk of a new U.S. attorney deemphasizing public corruption. The Sittenfeld and Pastor arrests were just last month. Only Dennard’s case has been closed, with her being recently sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison after she pleaded guilty to honest wire services fraud. DeVillers has left open the possibility that he’s not done investigating City Hall corruption. “The idea is to reverse course on this corruption,” DeVillers recently told The Enquirer’s That’s So Cincinnati podcast. “We as prosecutors ... it’s our job to make sure that culture changes.” Culture change takes time. The arrogant, Trump-like deﬁ ant public statements this week made by Dennard and Sittenfeld show some people aren’t getting it and there’s still much work to be done. Why stop DeVillers’ momentum now? He’s earned the right to ﬁ nish the job. Contact Enquirer political columnist Jason Williams by email at jwilliams@enquirer. com and on Twitter @jwilliamscincy. Catch Jason on 700 WLW from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.

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Cincinnati’s proposed Eastern Bypass is at the top of a new list of “highway boondoggles.” The list from the United States Public Interest Research Group and Frontier Group details “big projects” with “bigger price tags” and “limited beneﬁ ts.” The report says the proposed bypass – which does not seem to have gained much local traction, anyway – would “cause sprawling development and overwhelm the Ohio Department of Transportation’s construction budget.” The Eastern Bypass is a proposed outer loop around the current outer loop that would go roughly 70 miles, from Springboro to Crittenden in Grant County. The bypass is projected to cost between $5.3 billion and $7.3 billion, and it has failed to garner broad community support. “It’s just bad on its face, and it doesn’t even deserve study,” Derek Bauman, a transit proponent and Cincinnati City Council candidate, told The Enquirer in 2019. The boondoggle list notes the project’s high cost and says it would lead to more driving and more pollution.

It also notes, as The Enquirer reported in January, that an Ohio Department of Transportation study concluded the bypass is not a good solution to congestion. From the study: “It is ODOT’s opinion that no further expenditures of funding and staﬀ time be put toward the CEB (Cincinnati Eastern Bypass).” The U.S. Public Interest Research Group is a nonproﬁ t that bills itself as an advocate for the public. It was founded by former presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Frontier Group is a research group dedicated to health and sustainability. Other boondoggles on the list: h a loop 1604 expansion in Texas, h the I-57 interchange in Illinois, h the Birmingham Northern Beltline in Alabama, h the I-526 extension in South Carolina, h M-Cores in Florida, h and the Southeast Connector in Texas.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

BACKSTORY

Despite confession, 1989 slaying unsolved Newport chief will look at inmate’s allegations Amber Hunt Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

For the families of victims killed in unsolved murders, life has been at a standstill for a long time, even before the pandemic arrived. The Enquirer is highlighting a series of cold cases, summarized and analyzed by the journalists whose careers largely focus on unsolved murders: the creators of Cincinnati.com’s Accused podcast. If you have any information on any unsolved case, please reach out to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Suggestions for cases to highlight can be sent to accused@enquirer.com. The crime: Sherry Armstrong was on the cusp of a reinvention. The 33year-old former beauty queen had left Clear Lake, Wisconsin, after a divorce and had big plans for her next phase: She planned to enroll at Northern Kentucky University to get a degree in psychology, and she’d just taken a job in public relations at Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She’d also found new love, moving into a home on Putnam Street in Newport, Kentucky, with her boyfriend, Lance Ellinghausen. On Nov. 11, 1989, while Ellinghausen was at work at a Covington restaurant, Armstrong was brutally attacked. Her boyfriend came home to ﬁ nd her lifeless body inside a side door of his house. She’d been stabbed more than 20 times. Thirty-one years later, the case is unsolved – despite a convicted murderer repeatedly telling reporters that he is the killer. The confession: In a letter to The Enquirer, prison inmate Clifton Cousins said he needed to clear his conscience. He wrote: “Every night, I see her face. I can’t sleep. I’ve ask’d mental health to give me some meds that will make me sleep. I need to clear my conscious so I can obtain piece.” (Typos and misspellings

This Nov. 14, 1989, story ran in The Enquirer three days after Sherry Armstrong was fatally stabbed in her Newport, Kentucky, home. No one has ever been charged in the 33-year-old woman’s death, despite a convicted killer named Clifton Cousins confessing twice to Enquirer reporters over 25 years. FILE

are as written.) That letter reached me in November 2019. It mentioned that this wasn’t the fi rst time Cousins had written a reporter to confess this murder. Sure enough, an archive search shows that in 1994, Cousins had written the Enquirer saying: “Sir, I’d like to say that I want to clear my mind.” Sometimes attention seekers admit to crimes they didn’t commit, but it’s fairly rare that someone would persist with the same claim on the same victim for a quarter-century. The Enquirer covered Armstrong’s death initially with two briefs that ran inside the paper, followed by a short inside story quoting her boyfriend, Ellinghausen, and his mother, who’d had dinner with Armstrong the night of the stabbing. Though the now-defunct Cincinnati Post covered the case in more detail, it’s been decades since the last time I can fi nd it mentioned in the news. Why would Cousins have even remembered that case if he weren’t involved in it, much less confess to it? In his letter to me, Cousins described the attack and shared details I can’t fi nd reported in newspaper coverage of Armstrong’s death. I requested the case fi le from New-

port police last fall and at fi rst was refused. Following up this week, new-ish Newport Police Chief Chris Fangman (he started the job about a year ago) said he’d be eager to track down any new leads and said he’d dig up the case fi le to compare the details with the ones provided by Cousins. Just Friday, the department released some records, though they’re understandably holding back on ones they think might be key to someday getting a conviction. So who’s the convict? According to court records and his own letters, Clifton Cousins is a violent man. He’s serving up to life in Youngstown’s Ohio State Penitentiary on 1992 murder convictions in the slayings of two Cleveland women in 1988 and 1989. In 1996, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter while already in prison. For that, he was sentenced to another 10 to 25-year sentence. Cousins is also an erratic man. In 2005, he allegedly made threats against President Bush and his family, earning him a fi ve-year sentence in federal prison. Apparently, Cousins was unhappy that the federal stint was to be served concurrently with his state murder convictions. In 2006 he wrote U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. asking him

to change his state sentence so he could serve it in a federal prison or to allow him to serve the federal time immediately. The judge responded that he did not have the authority to do what Cousins asked, prompting Cousins to write back threatening to kill Dowd and behead Dowd’s “wife, dogs, kids,” as well as destroy federal buildings “by way of explosion.” Three years later, he allegedly sent the judge an envelope containing a white powder that he said was arsenic and warned him that he might soon be poisoned or killed by a pipe bomb, according to a 2010 indictment. Why hasn’t he been charged with killing Sherry Armstrong? It seems Newport police didn’t believe his 1994 confession because charges never followed. In 1997, Newport Police Lt. Pat Moore told an Enquirer reporter: “The fellow can confess, but if there is no evidence to support it, we cannot proceed with it.” They might well have good reason to discount the confession, but that reason’s never been reported, and the police offi cials in charge today weren’t in charge back when Cousins confessed the fi rst time. It seems odd that a confession elicited by police is often deemed enough evidence to charge someone with murder (and, very often, land a conviction), but this volunteered confession doesn’t seem to carry the same weight. It’s not a bad thing for investigators to be skeptical, though. So what now? Newport Chief Fangman says the department will take another look at Cousins’ allegations and compare details to see if Cousins’ description fi ts. Got tips? Newport Police’s criminal investigations section is at 859-2923626. Feel free to send info our way as well: accused@enquirer.com. Accused, reported by Enquirer journalists Amber Hunt and Amanda Rossmann, is an award-winning podcast investigating cold cases with three seasons available on all mainstream platforms such as Apple Podcasts and also at www.accusedpodcast.com.

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cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

STAY SAFE OHIO

PROTOCOL 1. STAY AT HOME. Home is the safest place. Only leave home for household essentials, medical care, work, and school. If possible, use drive-thru, curbside pick-up, or delivery services to limit face-to-face contact with others or shop online. 2. Wear your mask. Wear a mask whenever you are around anyone you don’t live with. 3. Keep interactions short and stay apart. The more people you interact with and the longer amount of time you spend together, the higher your risk of becoming infected or spreading the virus to others. 4. Wash your hands. Clean hands are a key to preventing the spread of COVID-19. 5. Work from home. Everyone who can work from home should work from home. All meetings should be virtual.

7. Don’t eat or drink with anyone outside of your household. Eating and drinking with others is risky because you can’t wear a mask while eating and drinking. Limiting meals to those within your own household is safest. Home delivery, curbside pick-up, drive-thru windows, and take-out services are the best options when getting meals out. 8. Limit travel. This is a holiday to stay close to home. Remember that spread happens only when you are in contact with others. 9. Keep weddings and funerals safe. Conduct weddings and funerals in a COVID-safe way. 10. Enjoy safe holiday activities! Stay connected with friends and family who don’t live in your home by calling, using video chat, or through social media. Choose drive-thru holiday light shows and virtual celebrations over in-person holiday activities.

6. Celebrate safe. Celebrate small. As people gather for the holidays, remember that older family members and those with medical conditions are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, so take extra measures to protect them.

coronavirus.ohio.gov

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Power lift recliner would oﬀ er independence Norwood woman needs help to move in residence John Johnston United Way of Greater Cincinnati

The Enquirer and United Way of Greater Cincinnati have joined forces for the 34th year to help families in need with the Wish List program. This is the third of eight stories that will run this month. Judy Roth lies in her bed in her Norwood apartment. The bespectacled 76year-old, propped up by a pillow, apologizes for not fi xing her gray hair for visitors. Outside, the sun is shining brightly, but the living room where Roth sleeps and spends most of her time is dim, save for the fl ickering light of a TV. Beside the bed is the walker that Roth uses to move around the apartment. But she cannot get out of bed by herself. Nor can she stand or sit down without help. She relies on assistance from her daughter Teri, who lives with her. For much of Roth’s life, she struggled with painful back and neck problems. But that didn’t stop her from earning a paycheck. “Except for a few months off after childbirth, I worked since I was in high school,” she says. For many years she held bookkeeping jobs at local companies, handling accounts payable and receivable or providing customer service. She married and had three children. After she and her husband divorced, they remained on friendly terms, she says. He died nearly 30 years ago. Her chronic pain persisted. In 1994, after nothing else she tried had worked, Roth decided to undergo surgery on two herniated discs in her neck. “I thought it would be an easy surgery,” her daughter Teri says. “A few days of recovery and she’d be home.” But when Roth awoke after the operation, “All I could do was open my eyes,” she says. “I’m looking at my mother and my sister, like, ‘What’s going on? Why can’t I move?’ ” Complications occurred during surgery. Roth’s spinal cord was damaged. Her arms and legs were paralyzed. Over time, she regained the use of her limbs. But despite extensive rehab, she has limited use of her hands. Her struggles also have included recurring bladder infections, pneumonia, neuropathy in both feet, osteoporosis and fi bromyalgia. In 2008, Roth suff ered a heart attack. She now wears a pacemaker. In 2016, she broke her right thigh bone. A year later, she broke bones in her left shin and calf, as well as in her left foot. Such setbacks resulted in lengthy hospitalizations and long rehabilitations. Now, in order to stand, Roth must be helped up by her daughter, who also has

Judy Roth, 76, of Norwood is primarily conﬁ ned to her bed and lives with her daughter Teri Roth, right. They would like an electric lift chair, which would greatly help Judy get in and out of bed. PHOTOS BY GLENN HARTONG FOR THE ENQUIRER

Judy Roth of Norwood is primarily conﬁ ned to her bed. Here, she shows the crippling effects of arthritis to her hands, which limits her ability to grasp and hold. “My family still needs me,” she says.

chronic back and shoulder issues. And so, Roth’s wish is for a power lift recliner chair, as recommended by the agency that assists her, Cincinnati Area Senior Services. The chair will provide “more stability when standing up, and more independence, because then I can get around using the walker,” she says. Despite her many challenges, Roth

Will Ohio lawmakers override Gov. DeWine? Jessie Balmert Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

COLUMBUS – Since March, Ohioans have debated the right balance of government restrictions and freedom of choice when responding to a once-in-acentury pandemic. So perhaps it’s no surprise that their legislators are having that same debate. Lawmakers in Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature have a choice: whether to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent veto of Senate Bill 311, which would limit Ohio Department of Health’s power to quarantine or isolate people. Only those directly exposed to COVID-19 or diagnosed with the disease could be forced to stay home. Some lawmakers are clamoring to override DeWine’s veto quickly, but that didn’t happen Wednesday. That override is a stick that lawmakers can use to negotiate with DeWine to get what they really want. What they really want might be eliminating criminal penalties on public health orders and imposing civil ﬁ nes instead. They could push to make sure small businesses aren’t closed when their competitors remain open. Negotiations between DeWine’s team and Republican lawmakers continue. The bill is one of several lawmakers have passed to limit DeWine’s authority to require masks, close certain businesses and enforce penalties on those who violate health orders. “We’re talking to them about possible alternatives because I think we all want the same thing,” Senate President Larry

Obhof said. “We all want people to be safe. We all want people to be healthy, but we also don’t want to have future shutdowns and we don’t want to have the impact on people’s economic wellbeing and on their liberty that they’ve had this year.” If those conversations break down, Obhof has said he would override DeWine’s veto. The Medina Republican says he has the 20 votes needed for an override. The ball would then be in the Ohio House of Representative’s court. It’s not clear whether the House would have the 60 votes needed to override DeWine’s veto, especially if the chamber’s number of positive COVID-19 cases rises. On Tuesday, more than a dozen lawmakers were absent after four legislators – two Republicans and two Democrats – tested positive for COVID-19. Any override must happen before the end of the year for the law to take eff ect, and Ohio lawmakers have just one more day of fl oor votes scheduled. When asked if the positive COVID-19 tests were aff ecting business in the House, Speaker Bob Cupp said lawmakers were getting their work done. “We’ve tried to make the post-election session this year a little more rational than some other sessions,” said Cupp, R-Lima. “We’re narrowing the things that we have to get done.” Cupp said House Republicans want Senate Bill 311 to become law, but the override process begins in the Ohio Senate. Negotiations about overrides and state health department restrictions largely haven’t included Democrats, said House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes.

says she has much to live for. She vows to not give up. “I can’t. I just can’t,” she says. In addition to her three adult children, she has ﬁ ve grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “My family still needs me. I’m the matriarch.” JUDY’S WISH: A power lift recliner chair.

ESTIMATED COST: $1,299.

How to help Donations can be made online at www.uwgc.org/wishlist. You can also mail donations to: The Wish List, P.O. Box 6207, Cincinnati, OH 45206. John Johnston is the content writer at United Way and a former Enquirer reporter.

Grant to boost Enquirer’s coverage in the suburbs Carl Weiser Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Residents of Butler, Warren and Clermont counties will be getting more coverage from The Enquirer thanks to a grant announced Tuesday. The Enquirer newsroom was awarded the grant by Report for America, a national service program that places emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities. The grant will help pay for a suburban Cincinnati watchdog reporter to scrutinize governments and institutions that aﬀ ect the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents in those three Southwest Ohio counties. The position will be modeled on a similar one for Northern Kentucky, created in 2019. Report for America corps member Julia Fair has exposed misbehavior by a local judge, erratic enforcement of local mask orders and a host of other stories that would otherwise never have come to light. Like all Report for America corps members, Fair also volunteers in the community, helping student journalists. “Our partnership with Report for America has been a huge success, yielding important stories for our readers in Northern Kentucky,” said Beryl Love, executive editor of The Enquirer. “I’m thrilled that in these challenging times for newsrooms across the country, we now can provide that same boost in coverage for Ohio readers outside of Hamilton County.” The Enquirer is seeking a local part-

Downtown Mason, Ohio. LIZ DUFOUR/ THE ENQUIRER

ner to help pay for the reporters, one of the requirements of the grant. If interested, contact Carl Weiser at cweiser@enquirer.com Launched in 2017 and donor-fi nanced, Report for America aims to create a new, sustainable system that provides Americans with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable and rebuild trust in the media. “With the local news system shrinking, it’s important that we both put more and more reporters in the fi eld – and that we help newsrooms that are working toward becoming more sustainable, and more grounded in the community,” said Steve Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an awardwinning nonprofi t media organization with an established track record of training and supporting teams of emerging journalists around the world. Applications are available at Report for America.

cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

Vaccine distribution a reminder of 1960 Lines formed on ‘Sabin Sunday’ to avoid polio Jeff Suess Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

The ﬁ rst shipment of coronavirus vaccines may start arriving next week, pending emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration. A committee of leading U.S. vaccine scientists recommended Thursday that the FDA authorize the ﬁ rst COVID-19 vaccine for Americans. For many Americans, this vaccine roll-out may seem unprecedented, but folks with longer memories have gone through this before with the polio vaccine. The poliovirus was a constant threat through the mid-1950s. Every summer, thousands of children were stricken with the highly infectious virus that often caused infantile paralysis. Children placed into iron lungs – tank respirators shaped like torpedoes that helped them breathe – was a nightmare for parents and children. Then, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was widely released in 1955, with the doses given by injection. The cases of polio went down considerably, but the virus

Parents and children lined up for the Sabin oral polio vaccine at Stratford Manor Clinic in Madisonville on April 26, 1960. THE ENQUIRER FILE PHOTO

was not eliminated. “The Salk vaccine protected individuals from disease, but did not stop them from being silent transmitters of the poliovirus,” Thomas Abraham wrote in

“Polio: The Odyssey of Eradication.” Dr. Albert B. Sabin, a researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, developed the oral polio vaccine and administered the ﬁ rst mass dosage in the U.S.

here in Cincinnati. On April 24, 1960, a day known as “Sabin Sunday,” 20,000 local preschool-age children lined up at the offi ces of 300 doctors all across Cincinnati to take the free vaccine in the form of a spoonful of cherry-fl avored syrup. This was a milder way of taking the vaccine than Salk’s polio vaccine injection. For some kids, this made a big difference. “Beats a needle, any day of the week,” read a caption in The Enquirer the next day. Jeff rey Sherman, son of songwriter Robert Sherman, tweeted this week how his experience with the oral polio vaccine, which went into wide distribution in 1962, inspired a classic Disney song: “When I was a kid we got the polio vaccine. My dad, working on Mary Poppins, asked how my day was. I told him about the vaccine. ‘Didn’t it hurt?’ I said they put it on a sugar cube and you ate it. He called my uncle Dick and the next day they wrote ‘A Spoonful of Sugar.’” Sabin’s oral vaccine induced the body to create antibodies that would attack the wild virus, so the poliovirus was unable to reproduce and be transmitted. It took both the Salk and Sabin vaccines to nearly eradicate polio across the world.

94% of retail shoppers, workers follow mask order Jackie Borchardt Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

COLUMBUS – About 94% of retail store employees and customers were complying with the state’s mask mandate when state inspectors made the rounds last week. Inspectors from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation visited 230 stores in 32 counties last week. They cited only one for failing to comply with rules: Cairo Quick Mart in Lima. From Nov. 23 to 29, inspectors witnessed 7,321 customers – 94.4% were

wearing a face covering over their chin and nose. Of the 2,347 employees observed, 94.6% were correctly wearing masks. Of the stores visited last week, 93% had signs notifying customers of the mask requirement. Inspection results will be posted each Thursday on the state’s coronavirus website. A team of 100 BWC inspectors will review protocols at retail stores, but not bars and restaurants, statewide. The increased enforcement is one tool Gov. Mike DeWine announced in mid-November to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The goal is to increase compliance with the state’s mask mandate, which has been in place since late July. Employees have been required to wear face coverings, with exceptions, since May. The stricter enforcement order requires stores to: h post a sign at the entrance indicating masks are required, h post a maximum capacity limit to ensure 6 feet of physical distance can be maintained throughout the store, h place markers on the ﬂ oor to distance customers standing in lines, and h designate an on-site compliance oﬃ cer for each business location.

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The order says employees are “not required to put themselves in jeopardy or risk harm” enforcing the order. Inspectors have visited 693 stores and found, overall, 93.2% of customers and 93.7% of employees were properly wearing masks. About 94% of businesses, overall, were observed following social distancing rules – 97% of the businesses inspected last week were following the guidelines. Stores can receive a warning on fi rst off ense. For subsequent off enses, a store will be forced to close for up to 24 hours “to allow any airborne COVID-19 droplets to dissipate.”

10A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

cincinnati.com

THE ENQUIRER

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

11A

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12A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Vaccine Continued from Page 1A

teachers. All vaccination will be voluntary. It’s not clear yet the order of vaccination after Phase 1A. The states are waiting for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is developing the guidance, to recommend who is next, but the Ohio Department of Health has a draft plan that lists priorities. Phase 1B would vaccinate older adults living in congregate or overcrowded settings and people at signifi cantly higher risk for COVID-19 because they have underlying health conditions. Phase 2 is where the jockeying comes in. This expansion of vaccination would include: h Critical risk workers essential to society (e.g., healthcare and public health operations and human services operations) and at high risk of exposure. h Teachers and school staff . h People of all ages with underlying health conditions. h Older adults not included in Phase 1. h People in homeless shelters. h People and staff in prisons, jails and detention centers. h People in group homes for individuals with physical or mental disabilities or in recovery. Phase 3 would cover young adults, children, workers in essential industries and occupations not included in phases 1 and 2. Phase 4 is everyone else. Because quantities of vaccine will be limited, public health offi cials urge maintaining vigilance about maskwearing, hand-washing and social distancing. It could be at least a year before enough people are vaccinated to ease the health safeguards. The clinical research has shown that the vaccine candidates do not generate serious side eff ects two months after the second injection. A side eff ect, such as a sore arm or lethargy, is a signal that the vaccine successfully triggered an immune reaction for the virus to be blocked. CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens will be delivering and administering the vaccinations to nursing homes. What we don’t know: Who’s precisely next in line for the vaccine. Teachers, unions for grocery workers and other organizations for essential workers are jostling for the chance. Greg Kesterman, Hamilton County health commissioner, said the federal government has to lead on developing an order for vaccines “because the goal to is to stop the virus, and you can’t do that if in one community, they give it to one group fi rst, and in another community, they give it to another.” What we won’t know for quite a while: How long immunity from the vaccine will last. The vaccines were invented, put through clinical trials and brought to market inside a year. We don’t have enough information about the longevity of their eff ects.

A long, cold ride for vaccines What we know: Right now, two vaccine makers await a ruling from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that their products are safe and eﬀ ective and can go to market under emergency authorization. But public health agencies and hospitals, with long experience in planning vaccination campaigns, didn’t wait for FDA approval to get ready. The delivery system is set up and ready to receive the doses. The two leading candidate vaccines each pack slightly diﬀ erent pieces of ge-

Jorge Ruiz of Cincinnati, in blue vest, is a participant in the trial for a coronavirus vaccine at UC Health. Ruiz spoke with Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor for the federal Operation Warp Speed, the umbrella program for developing a vaccine. Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, right, an infectious disease expert, is overseeing the UC Health clinical trial PROVIDED

netic material from the virus. When injected, the messenger RNA makes the human immune system familiar enough with the virus to ﬁ ght it oﬀ . The vaccines don’t prevent infection. But they stop it from progressing into the disease COVID-19, which has killed at least 283,000 Americans, including more than 6,600 Ohioans and more than 2,000 in Kentucky.

“We’ve been told to expect weekly deliveries. It’s unclear how much volume will come, but it will be a good logistics problem to have.” Greg Kesterman

health commissioner of Hamilton County

The vaccines are taken in two doses, like the two-shot series for shingles. The coronavirus vaccines, because they carry genetic material, require super-cold temperatures from the factory to distribution. The vials are packed in dry-ice coolers, a huge boost to Cold Jet of Loveland. For more than 30 years, the company has built dry-ice makers, and in 2020, sales have exploded more than 200% over 2019, said spokeswoman Lauren McNutt. Strong demand is expected well into 2021. The vaccine manufacturers are the New York giant Pfi zer, working with the German company BioNTech, and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based fi rm Moderna. Both companies ran Cincinnati test sites for the fi nal clinical trials. Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the delivery schedule for Ohio. On Dec. 15, Pfi zer delivers 9,750 doses to 10 Ohio hospitals, including the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and 88,725 doses to Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy across the state, which will supply nursing homes. On Dec. 22, Pfi zer delivers another 123,000 doses for nursing homes and staff . Moderna delivers 201,000 doses to 98 hospitals for health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients and 108 health departments for emergency medical service workers and fi rst responders. The next week, the exact date is not certain, as Pfi zer delivers another 148,000 doses and Moderna another

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89,000 for workers and patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Kentucky is expecting 12,000 vaccine doses from Pfi zer-BioNTech in the fi rst delivery, perhaps as soon as the FDA grants emergency authorization, Gov. Andy Beshear said earlier this month. St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood will be among 11 hospitals to receive the shipment of Pfi zer vaccine, all for hospi-

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tal workers. Beshear said he expects another 26,000 Pﬁ zer doses before the end of the year, and 77,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine. The ﬁ rst Moderna shipment is expected Dec. 20 and the rest ahead of New Year’s Day. Two-thirds of the doses in the later deliveries will go to Kentucky’s nursing homes for workers and residents. What we don’t know: These delivery totals are for the whole state. It’s not clear yet how the shipments will be further divided for each of Ohio’s 88 counties, a decision that rests with the Ohio Department of Health. Federal and state authorities have not released information on vaccine shipments past the end of December. But, “We’ve been told to expect weekly deliveries,” said Greg Kesterman, health com-

missioner of Hamilton County. “It’s unclear how much volume will come, but it will be a good logistics problem to have.”

The really cold spots around the region What we know: The cold chain doesn’t stop at delivery. Pfi zer’s vaccine candidate must be shipped and stored at minus-94. Once transferred to refrigeration to thaw for injection, it must be used within fi ve days. Moderna’s candidate must be shipped and stored at -4 but can be stored for six months. Once in refrigeration, it keeps for up to 30 days. Ohio hospital offi cials say they have the storage capacity for their doses of vaccine. Hamilton County has already purchased a 25.7 cubic-foot ultra-cold freezer, and another is ordered, said Nick Crossley, the county’s emergency management director. He said each unit could hold about 60,000 doses. The county also has two walk-in coolers and one walk-in freezer. “We’re fi nishing getting everything powered up,” Crossley said. Then his team is ready to receive the deliveries and store them. When ODH decides on how to apportion the doses as they arrive at county facilities, local public health offi cials from other jurisdictions can collect their shares. Crossley said the county also is storing masks, gloves, gowns and other personal protective equipment for people handling and distributing the vaccines. What we don’t know: The location of the county’s vaccine supply isn’t being disclosed to protect people, equipment and the doses, Crossley said.

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS FOR COMMISSIONER PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Nominating Council (Nominating Council) is seeking applications for the position of commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (Commission) to fill a vacancy for the term commencing on April 11, 2021, and ending on April 10, 2026. This is a full-time position with a salary range of $73,715 to $195,728. While the Nominating Council seeks and evaluates applicants, the appointment itself is made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and a commissioner’s actual salary will be determined by the Governor. The normal state of Ohio benefits package will be provided. The Commission is responsible for regulating investor-owned public utilities in the state of Ohio. Section 4901.02(D) of the Ohio Revised Code requires that a commissioner have a minimum of three years’ experience in one or more of the following fields: economics, law, finance, accounting, engineering, physical or natural sciences, natural resources, or environmental studies. No person employed by a public utility subject to regulation by the Commission or holding stocks or bonds of a regulated public utility may be appointed a commissioner. A commissioner must be a resident of Ohio. The Revised Code also specifies that the Commission may consist of no more than three members of the same political affiliation. Political affiliation is based upon one’s vote in the last primary election as defined under Sections 3513.19 and 3513.05 of the Ohio Revised Code. Based upon the present composition of the Commission, this position may be filled by an applicant of any political affiliation. Appointments are subject to a background check by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Applicants are required to send a current resume with a one-page cover letter attached. In the cover letter, the applicant must (1) indicate the applicant’s expertise in the areas of energy, transportation, or communications technology, if any; (2) explain why the applicant’s prior experience makes him or her qualified to be a commissioner or why the applicant is otherwise qualified to be a commissioner; and (3) state his or her political party affiliation or independent status. Due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, applications including the required resume and cover letter must be 1) sent or delivered to: Public Utilities Commission Nominating Council, c/o Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 180 E. Broad Street, 11th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215-3793; or 2) emailed to PUCNominatingCouncil@puco.ohio.gov. Hand deliveries must be made by appointment by contacting the PUCO Docketing Division (614) 466-4095 or Docketing@puco.ohio.gov to schedule an appointment, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. To be considered, applications must be received by the Nominating Council by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 7, 2021. Faxed applications will not be considered. For further information, contact the Nominating Council coordinator, Angela Hawkins, at (614) 466-0122. Information regarding the position and application requirements may be found at the Commission’s website: www.puco.ohio.gov The members of the Nominating Council will review the applications and select individuals to be interviewed for this position. Interested persons may submit comments to the members of the Nominating Council regarding any of the applicants. Comments should be submitted to the Nominating Council coordinator. Persons interested in receiving a list of the names of persons submitting applications or selected to be interviewed should notify the Nominating Council coordinator at the above address or telephone number. The Nominating Council will determine the four most qualified persons for the position and submit those names to Governor DeWine who will then select the commissioner.

CE-GCI0545922-01

cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

13A

Reform measures in new police contract Arbitration process to change in 3-year contract Cameron Knight Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

A new proposed contract between the city and police aims to make it easier to discipline offi cers – and provides raises. Cincinnati city offi cials announced Friday they have reached a new threeyear tentative contract deal with the Fraternal Order of Police, Queen City Lodge #69. In October, City Council unanimously passed Mayor John Cranley’s motion to make offi cer discipline a priority in negotiating the new contract. Cranley said he wanted to “make it easier, not harder, for the Chief to appropriately discipline offi cers.” City Manager Paula Boggs Muething outlined three changes to the discipline process, which come in the wake of national protests this summer over police behavior.

Arbitration reform Cranley said he believes Cincinnati is the fi rst major city to change its arbitration process in response to calls for police reform. State law requires that offi cer discipline goes through an arbitration process, if necessary, rather than the traditional court system. This process is supposed to be cheaper and quicker than the court process. In the past, the police union and the city have received a random list of 10 arbitrators and taken turns crossing off people until only one remains. A 2020 Report on Police Reform and Racial Justice co-authored by Cranley and other mayors say, for arbitrators, “their livelihood depends on being acceptable to the union.” The new process will use a panel of three arbitrators who will issue an anonymous decision, so no one arbitrator can be pinpointed as pro-police or pro-management. Cincinnati police union president Dan Hils said he understood the perception the current arbitration process cre-

ates. He added that not every oﬃ cer wanted to give this concession. “We wanted to work on this problem together. It’s a balance, it’s a negotiation,” Hils said. “If that gives the public more trust in their police force, I think it’s a win across the board.” Of the eight resolved arbitration cases between the city and police since 2018, Boggs Muething said arbitrators have reduced or reversed the discipline in seven of those cases. Cranley said he’s not sure if the changes will shift decisions toward management or not, but that it’s a worthwhile experiment. “Trying something new and innovative, once again, is what Cincinnati is doing today,” Cranley said. “Only time will tell.”

Peer review of discipline is gone Under the current contract, low-level discipline is subject to peer review by other offi cers. That peer-review system, which often overturns punishments for offi cers, will no longer be used, Boggs Muething said. The city administration said over the past three years 79 offi cerdiscipline cases have gone through the peer-review process. In only 23 of the cases did the peer reviewer “sustain” the discipline. “It is human nature for offi cers to be more sympathetic to their peers than a supervisor or neutral arbiter might be,” Boggs Muething said. “Peer review’s impact on sustained disciplines makes it increasingly diffi cult for the police chief and city manager to appropriately discipline offi cers.” Police union president Dan Hils said many cities do have a peer-review process Cranley said the process disrupts the chain of command, exacerbates racial tension and creates a perception that offi cers are never held accountable.

Expunging discipline records Discipline actions are expunged from an offi cer’s personnel fi le after a certain period of time, either three to fi ve years depending on the severity of the punishment. Once an action is cleared from an offi cer’s record, it can no longer be consid-

Cincinnati Police Department badge. CARA OWSLEY/THE ENQUIRER

“Trying something new and innovative, once again, is what Cincinnati is doing today. Only time will tell.” Mayor John Cranley

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ered in further discipline cases. Repeat off enders may not face steeper punishments under this system. The new contract lowers the bar for disciplinary action to remain on an offi cer’s record for fi ve years instead of three, and serious off enses will remain on the offi cer’s record for seven years. The Cincinnati Black United Front and other reform organizations have called for abandoning expungement altogether. Cranley said the administration asked for an off ense to remain on records for even longer and the fi nal terms were arrived at through negotiation.

The tentative contract was been approved by the police union, which allowed voting over the course of three days. Hils said it was “overwhelmingly” supported by the member. City Council must also vote to approve the contract. Boggs Muething said City Council will be asked to vote on the contract Wednesday. She said the ongoing work of the Collaborative Agreement puts Cincinnati in better position than many cities when it comes to instituting and addressing the concerns of the millions of people calling for police reform across the country. The Cincinnati Police Department and city administration have been asked to review and evaluate the city’s policing policies to see if they are in line with the recommendations in this year’s Report on Police Reform and Racial Justice issued by the Council of Mayors. That evaluation has not yet been completed, but oﬃ cials said Friday the process is near completion.

Raises for officers Police offi cers will receive a 5% raise next year, a 4% raise in 2022 and a 3% raise in 2023. There are about 1,000 offi cers on the force. Once those offi cers are out of the police academy, they start at $61,500 a year and can make up to $75,000 as their base rate with extra pay for overtime and

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details. Averaging the starting and top pay rate shows that an average offi cer will get a $3,412.50 raise next year, which will cost the city about $3.4 million more in police wages. Boggs Muething said police and city workers have been on the frontlines of the pandemic and summer protests. “They deserve it. They have been through a lot this year,” Cranley said. He added police have been subjected to “outrageous rhetoric” prompting even progressive police chiefs to quit and retention rates to fall across the country. At the same time, gun violence has spiked. “We need our police offi cers more than ever,” Cranley said. “We can reward our offi cers for their hard work and bravery...and not be ashamed of it. And we can say like any organization, it has to have the ability to eff ectuate a chain of command.” The mayor said he is confi dent of the offi ce of budget and fi nance will fi nd the funds needed for the raises. He said cuts made earlier in the year in preparation for COVID-19 turned out to be larger than what was needed.

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14A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

House GOP member ignored guidelines Hambley didn’t inform others of positive test Jake Zuckerman OhioCapitalJournal.com

A Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives who contracted COVID-19 skirted public health guidance, potentially exposing fellow lawmakers and staff to the new coronavirus that causes the disease. Democratic members and staff , meanwhile, say they were never informed of Rep. Stephen Hambley’s positive diagnosis, despite his appearances at fl oor sessions and committee hearings after testing positive. At least four lawmakers (two Democrats and two Republicans) who attended a Dec. 2 House Finance Committee hearing alongside Hambley have since contracted COVID-19. The defi nitive source of their infections is not known. Hambley received positive results from two tests taken on Nov. 22 and Nov. 28, he said in an interview Wednesday. Nine Democratic lawmakers in total are currently either sick or awaiting test results, according to a Democratic spokeswoman. A House Republican spokeswoman did not answer questions about other cases among Republicans. On Nov. 17, Hambley says he spent about 90 minutes in close contact with an aide. That aide received a positive COVID-19 test result Nov. 19, Hambley said. Hambley publicly announced word of the aide’s test results to the House Civil Justice Committee, which he runs, that day. “Before we start, I do need to announce that one of our staff members was diagnosed this morning with covid,” he said. “I’m asking all members and staff to please take the abundant amount of caution — masking, distance, sanitation, so forth. The administration as well as the leadership has been informed of this and we’re following the necessary safety protocols.” However, the committee continued its work regardless of CDC guidelines recommending those exposed to the vi-

CE-GCI0481335-01

rus to isolate from others. Sometime after the announcement, Hambley left the room to attend a House State and Local Government Committee hearing, which was set to fi eld testimony and vote on Senate Bill 311, which restricts the ability of the Ohio Department of Health to issue quarantine and isolation orders related to the pandemic. Committee footage shows a masked Hambley sitting a short distance from Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff , chief medical offi cer for ODH. Vanderhoff attended to testify against the bill, making the case that the legislation would hinder ODH’s ability to respond to COVID-19 and keep Ohio healthy. Hambley can be seen intermittently for about 45 minutes before voting for the bill, later vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine. An ODH spokeswoman said Vanderhoff was masked the entire time and consistently far more than 6 feet from the representative. He is also now well outside his quarantine period and did not show any symptoms. According to CDC guidance, if you have been exposed to the coronavirus, you should quarantine for 10 days, or seven days if you test negative. People can spread the virus up to 72 hours before exhibiting symptoms. In an interview, Hambley said he began to experience fl u-like symptoms Nov. 21. He was tested the next day and later learned he indeed contracted COVID-19. Hambley said he informed the offi ce of House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, and House administrative staff . Democrats, however, say they were never warned of Hambley’s situation and have expressed outrage regarding the absence of contact tracing or information sharing as cases emerge. “It’s indefensible that he would show up with COVID,” said House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, in a statement. Many House Republicans refuse to wear masks, which peer–reviewed scientifi c research suggests reduces the risk of spreading the new coronavirus. House Republicans have repeatedly voted down eff orts from Democrats to mandate mask wearing among members and staff .

Rep. Stephen Hambley, R-Brunswick, at left. He learned a staffer tested positive for COVID-19. Despite having spent 90 minutes with the staffer two days prior, he attended a committee hearing to ﬁ eld testimony from Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, at right. THE OHIO CHANNEL

Taylor Jach, a Cupp spokeswoman, did not respond to written inquiries including whether Democrats were warned of the positive cases, whether anyone is conducting any contact tracing, and others. “I don’t know what the policy is, all I can say is they handle it within the staff s,” Hambley said. Hambley was tested again Nov. 28 and the results came back positive. Regardless, he attended the House Finance meeting the morning of Dec. 2. He has not tested negative since becoming infected. According to the CDC, people who had symptomatic COVID-19 can be with others at least 10 days after symptoms fi rst appeared if they don’t have a fever and other symptoms are improving. Hambley attended the hearing 11 days after he says symptoms fi rst appeared. He denied that he could have transmitted the virus at that hearing. “There’s no doubt in my mind it was well outside that window,” he said. Dr. Mark Cameron, an immunologist at Case Western Reserve University, disagreed. He said while a positive test could be picking up on dead virus, it could also indicate that Hambley was still shedding and spreading coronavirus. The clock should have restarted after Hambley’s second positive test, Camer-

on said. “If he had a positive test several days before those meetings, he was still shedding virus, regardless of how long he had been infected,” Cameron said. The precise source of the four lawmakers’ infections is unclear. Jach, without presenting any evidence, claimed to another media outlet that the infections occurred outside the Statehouse. What’s clearer, however, is how basic infection control protocols that public health experts advise could have reduced the risk of viral spread. For instance, many Republicans still refuse to wear masks, even as the House outbreak continues. Contact tracing could prevent one case from turning into four cases — a reporter who attended the Dec. 2 hearing has not been contacted by any health department or House staff about the exposure. “You could take full issue with anyone that does not take an exposure or a positive test seriously, and basically sound the alarm in terms of people they met with, worked with, and who should know about this risk,” Cameron said. The House outbreak comes as the pandemic hits new highs in Ohio on a daily basis. ODH announced more than 10,000 new cases and 84 new deaths on Wednesday. All told, at least 520,000 Ohioans have contracted COVID-19, though health offi cials say this is likely an underestimation. Nearly 7,200 have died, and more than 31,000 have been hospitalized. Hambley insisted in an interview that he followed the CDC and ODH’s guidance and makes sure to wear a mask. However, footage from recent House fl oor sessions show Hambley giving fl oor speeches and meandering about the House fl oor, not wearing a mask. Hambley is not seeking reelection. On Dec. 2, he gave a farewell speech, about 15 minutes in duration, to the chamber. He was maskless the whole time. Tyler Buchanan contributed to this report. This story was updated at 11:40 a.m. Thursday with comment from the Ohio Department of Health.

cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

15A

Outdoors organization helps veterans heal Activities ‘therapeutic’ for wounded Ohioans Sheridan Hendrix Columbus Dispatch USA TODAY NETWORK

Things changed for Ron Leach when he came back from Iraq the second time. Leach served two tours in the Army – Operation Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom – and he saw things that no man should, he said. His experiences made him angry and stressed. “I was a raving (jerk) when I got home,” said Leach, 51, of Marshallville in Wayne County. One thing he didn’t expect to change though was his feelings towards hunting. Leach always considered himself an outdoorsman, and he loved the feeling of being in nature, away from the world for a while. But hunting, he said, is still a dirty thing. “The blood and guts part kind of got to me and made me remember things I didn’t want to,” Leach said. “I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ “ It wasn’t until his wife found Ohio Veterans Outdoors, a volunteer-run organization that promotes wounded veterans’ wellness through the outdoors and education, that Leach learned how to cope. Ohio Veterans Outdoors was founded in June 2016 by Brian Luce, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who was injured in a plane crash in Afghanistan in 2010. Luce said the crash not only left him with physical injuries – a traumatic brain injury, a broken back and broken leg – but he also dealing with the mental and emotional eﬀ ects of trauma. In 2013, Luce went on a whitetail deer hunt in Florida through the Wounded Warrior Project. The weekend was a chance for Luce to escape reality for a while and meet other veterans who were seeking the same camaraderie and peace that he was. Coming home at the end of the trip, Luce said he snapped back to the real world and kept working through the trauma of the crash. Luce said he wanted to create a similar space for veterans to connect with the outdoors to help the transition back to civilian life and to learn to cope with whatever struggles they might be experienc-

A buck hides in a thicket of brush at Jeffrey Park in Bexley on Nov. 10. BARBARA J. PERENIC/COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ing. What was going to just be a small, annual deer hunt grew because of support and donations Luce received. Ohio Veterans Outdoors puts on about a dozen events a year. About four to eight veterans participate in each event. It’s a group large enough that everyone should be able to ﬁ nd someone they can connect with and small enough that no one gets lost in the mix, Luce said. The organization has hunting and ﬁ shing trips planned for each season. In the fall, there’s a duck hunt and a squirrel hunt. There are also hunts during both deer-archery and deer-gun seasons. This year’s deer-gun season begins today and runs through Dec. 6, with a bonus weekend Dec. 19-20. In the winter, there’s pheasant hunting, and in the spring they do a turkey hunt. Fishing weekends are planned throughout the spring and summer. Luce said they’ve even tried activities such as intro to scuba and hiking trips to make sure there’s something for everyone. They also put on a shooting sport event for those who aren’t interested in hunting but still like to shoot. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been a little harder to get people together for events, Luce said. The annual archery deer-hunting trip, for example, had a few last-minute can-

cellations because of COVID-19 exposures. But thanks to the solitary nature of hunting, Luce said they’ve still be able to get together with some social-distancing considerations. This year’s deer-gun week hunt is still on, scheduled for the season’s bonus weekend in mid-December. But Ohio Veterans Outdoors is so much more than just getting the biggest buck or ﬁ sh, Luce said. “We focus less on the harvest and focus more on the experience that the vets have,” he said. “That they are comfortable, that they feel they can relax, that they can speak their mind and talk to whoever they’re with.” There’s something disarming about sitting in a tree stand with a guy you’ve never met before, Luce said. Before long, you’re getting to know one another, when you served, and building a bond. “Brotherhood and sisterhood, that bond doesn’t go away,” Leach said. “They’ve gone through what you’re trying to go through by yourself. You think you can get through it alone and you won’t.” The group also raises awareness about veteran health issues in Ohio’s rural communities. In the United States, about 18 veterans die by suicide daily, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Aﬀ airs (though some groups estimate that number is higher.)

Living in a rural area means there are fewer mental health resources available than in metro areas, Luce said. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t resources available to those in need of help. “We don’t claim to be a therapy center, but through personal experience and feedback, we know being outdoors and sharing these hunting and fi shing experiences is actually very therapeutic,” Luce said. Leach doesn’t like to admit it (because he knows the others guys will give him a hard time,) but he says you can really feel the love walking around an Ohio Veterans Outdoors event. “The worst part is when it’s over. You get so much stress and agony relived just being with them, it hurts when I leave,” Leach said. On top of building new friendships, Leach said he’s learned to cope with some of his anger and post-traumatic stress disorder. He remembers one hunting trip a few years ago when another veteran asked Luce some inconsiderate questions around the campfi re. Leach said he would’ve punched the guy in the face right there if it had been him. But instead, he saw Luce respond with patience and restraint. “When I see myself in situations where people are jackasses, I remember Brian and how eloquently and maturely he handles people,” Leach said. “That was years ago and I still remember.” It’s not easy coming home from war, Leach said. But Ohio Veterans Outdoors – the camaraderie, the campfi res, the solitude in nature – has made him feel normal again, if only for a weekend. “For me, and I hate to say it, but it keeps a bullet out of my head,” Leach said. “Honest to God, they really do. It’s easy to think I’m not good for nothing, and at night the demons come to visit me. If you are in suicidal crisis, call 911 or go to an emergency room. Help also is available at Ohio’s 24/7 Crisis Text Line by texting 4HOPE to 741741. Or call the Franklin County Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614-221-5445; the Teen Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614-294-3300; the national Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1800-273-8255/TALK (1-888-628-9454 for Spanish speakers); or the Veterans’ Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255.

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16A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Why are immigrants more likely to get coronavirus? Are You Generally Healthy?

Danae King Columbus Dispatch USA TODAY NETWORK

Muhammed Omar discovered the impact of COVID-19 the hard way when his wife and two children tested positive. His 35-year-old wife, Amina Ali Abdullahi, was hospitalized and put on a ventilator earlier this month and released two weeks later on Nov. 16. The scare prompted Omar to warn his relatives in Somalia and ask his children’s school to allow them to take classes online. Infection rates are higher for immigrants than native-born residents because of poverty and living and work conditions that make physical distancing diﬃ cult, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in France, which found rates as twice as high in some countries. In Columbus, Dr. Jamie Robinson, a family medicine physician and director of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center‘s immigrant and refugee clinic, has seen a higher incidence rate in her patients as well. “I think just like anything it’s probably multifactorial,” Robinson said. Many refugees lack education about the virus and live in multigenerational homes, work in essential jobs with low pay and don’t have the ability to stay home from work to reduce risk of exposure, experts said. Omar, 38, of the Northwest Side, said some immigrants don’t trust that the virus is real and said he’s seen local mosques stop social distancing and fail to require masks. He said he has talked to mosque leaders, but they told him that they don’t believe masks work. It’s even worse in his native country, he said. Omar said he was talking to his brother in Somalia while his wife was hospitalized. “I told him to be careful, I said ‘Don’t take this virus easily, you are in Somalia, you might not get the medical care you need,’” Omar said. “He was laughing.” Omar’s brother said people who wear masks in Somalia are made fun of and bullied. Amina Abdule, co-owner and a family nurse practitioner at the Medcare Clinic on the West Side, has seen similar false beliefs among her patients, 95% of whom are immigrants, many from Somalia like she is. “Someone will tell them this is created and then they believe it,” Abdule said. “So they ignore the truth and they ignore the symptoms and you will see a lot of people who will argue ‘COVID is a lie, there is no COVID.’ ” Within the local immigrant community, COVID-19 is taboo, Abdule said. “HIV used to be a taboo. I feel like COVID is becoming the same thing,” Abdule said. “If you tell them ‘You have symptoms of COVID, let me test you,’ they say ‘No, I don’t have COVID.’ ” There’s also a sense of mistrust between some immigrant communities and health care providers, Abdule said. “They think hospitals are killing people because nobody goes into the hospital and comes back healthy. They all die from COVID problems,” she said, which isn’t true. Immigrants are also more likely to be uninsured, which may mean they are concerned with costs associated with getting a COVID-19 test, said Samantha

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Artiga, vice president and director of racial equity and health policy with Kaiser Family Foundation, a Washington, D.C.based nonproﬁ t group focused on national health issues. They may also not have a regular doctor and face more barriers to care, she said. A lack of preventive health care is also pervasive among immigrants and refugees, said Yolanda Board, director of organizational development at North Community Counseling Centers in Columbus. Board works with the Bhutanese Nepali community in central Ohio and said she has seen COVID-19 disproportionately impact immigrants. She said if no one in a household is advocating for members to wear a mask, sanitize and distance, other members might not know they that they should. “I think the other challenge is it’s not something you can see … until someone gets sick,” Board said. The counseling center has done social media videos and posts to reach Bhutanese-Nepali immigrants and educate them about the virus. “We’re not trying to use fear but we’ve got to remain realistic.” she said. “You don’t want to make it out to be this big boogeyman … You don’t want people walking around in a constant state of fear, but we do have to be on our toes.” Some of Robinson’s patients are scared of the virus, so much so that they are scared to come to the clinic that she runs to receive care. Trusted messengers are key to educating immigrants about the virus, Artiga said. “That really means utilizing local leaders that have a shared background of the people you’re trying to reach,” she said. Abdule said she thinks the virus spreads so quickly among immigrants partly because many don’t know all the symptoms. “If they have a fever they don’t believe it’s COVID,” even if it could be, she said. Robinson said it’s harder to social distance if “maybe you live in a smaller home and there’s eight people there and two work in a factory and two get it and they bring it home to everybody.” It’s also nearly impossible to quarantine one member of a large household unless the person leaves the home, Board said. The nature of many immigrants’ work also doesn’t allow for working from home. “A lot of these people have essential jobs that might be putting them at risk,” Robinson said. Many immigrants and refugees work in warehouses, food service, construction, hospitality and other jobs that can’t be done remotely, according to the Pew Research Center.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

17A

18A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

OHIO

Internet access still diﬃ cult in Appalachia Problem persistent in region for decades Ceili Doyle Columbus Dispatch USA TODAY NETWORK

AMESVILLE, Ohio – Heather Mitchell is overwhelmed. The single mom of three boys struggles just to send a text message. She and her sons – Micah, 6, River, 4, and Wren, 2 — have been living without consistent internet access in Athens County for nearly eight years. The family moved to Amesville, a village about 80 miles southeast of Columbus and 13 miles northeast of Athens, about a year and a half ago. “Where we’re at, there’s no provider,” Mitchell said. Forget a Wi-Fi connection: If the 33year-old wants to send a text, she has to huddle in the corner of her house. Outside, what looks like a triangular cone is attached to a baking sheet from a toaster oven and tacked onto a skinny pole. The contraption, a Verizon Wireless LTE booster, strengthens the signal of Mitchell’s phone – one strained text message at a time. Her father added the extra scrap of metal from the toaster oven so they could get a better connection. The Mitchells are among hundreds of thousands of families challenged by modern economic, education and health-care systems while living without internet access in rural Ohio. COVID-19 has exacerbated the issue, but the problem has been persistent in Appalachia for decades. Sitting outside, with southeastern Ohio’s rolling hills in the backdrop, Mitchell said she is content to live an unplugged lifestyle. But lack of access is exhausting. Mitchell juggled her eldest son’s transition from in-person to remote learning this past spring while preparing for the upcoming school year, attempted to ﬁ le unemployment for the part-time job she lost, and managed clients in her other position at a nearby rape crisis center – all without steady, or barely any, access to the internet. She is constantly frustrated by everybody’s suggestion to just move closer in

Heather Mitchell sits on her front porch with her three sons, Wren, 2, right, River 4, center, and Micah, 6, left, on Aug. 31 in Amesville, Ohio. Mitchell, a single mother who works for a rape crisis center in Athens County, has struggled with the lack of affordable and consistent internet access at her rural home. JOSHUA A. BICKEL/COLUMBUS DISPATCH

town, where there’s better cellphone reception. Rent in town, Mitchell said, would cost at least twice as much as they pay for their three-bedroom, two-bath country home on Henry Road outside Amesville proper. “This is a low-income area, even as a professional … I don’t make enough to afford a house the size my family needs in town,” she said. “So my options are really limited.”

Defi ning the digital divide In 2018, advocates fi rst began discussing the problem in earnest, but no one really understood just how sweeping it was, Misty Crosby said. Crosby, director of the Buckeye Hills Regional Council, a southeastern Ohio coalition of local governments that serve eight Appalachian counties, explained that in order for the Federal Communication Commission to determine who has broadband service, internet carriers fi le mapping data with the agency twice a year. “A lot of reports were being fi led to the FCC, saying areas (in rural Ohio) were covered,” she said. “And yeah, it says we

have service, but we don’t actually have service.” So in 2019 Buckeye Hills applied for a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to conduct an eight-county study — in Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry and Washington counties — in partnership with Ohio University and the Athens County Economic Development Council. The results showed that 80% to 90% of households (in areas with 20 or fewer households per square mile) have no access to broadband. The council estimated that more than 340,000 households, approximately 1 million residents, in Ohio do not have any internet access. FCC spokeswoman Annie Veigle told The Dispatch that the number of rural Americans with service to the agency’s standard broadband speed, 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 megabits per second for uploads, or 25/3 Mbps, has more than tripled from 2016 to 2018. The agency also has set aside billions of dollars in federal programming to incentivize internet providers to expand rural America’s internet access. “Since taking oﬃ ce, Chairman (Ajit)

Pai’s singular focus on closing the digital divide has produced real results for Americans,” the FCC wrote in a statement. But Buckeye Hills’ broadband consultant, Tom Reid, said that FCC maps often overstate service coverage and that the agency does not independently verify the data provided by the internet carriers and used to compile the maps. According to an example from the study, internet carriers including Frontier Telecommunications can claim they serve 14 households in a single census block, spread out over 740 acres in Meigs County. But in reality, Frontier provides coverage to only one household in that census block, at a speed of 10/1 Mbps, signifi cantly lower than the FCC’s broadband standard. This overstatement can prevent certain regions from becoming eligible for the FCC’s connectivity programs because the agency will assume the area is covered, Reid said. In a statement, Frontier spokesman Javier Mendoza told The Dispatch the company “understands the unique challenges of serving rural communities,” but did not directly answer a question about the discrepancy between Buckeye Hill’s fi ndings and the data Frontier submits to the FCC about how many households it serves in a specifi c census block. “This problem is really this bad and vast,” Crosby said. “There’s a sense of urgency here ... every day, every day, we’re falling behind in rural Appalachian Ohio.”

Discrepancy in data In 2015, former FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler updated the agency’s deﬁ nition of broadband to 25/3 Mbps. But Crosby and Reid say 25/3 Mbps is not an appropriate benchmark for the 21st century. In Franklin County, almost 100% of households in Franklin County can access internet speeds of 100/10 Mbps. “We believe rural, Appalachian Ohioans deserve the same speeds and the same reliability as those that are in more-populous areas of the country,” Crosby said. Continued on next page

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Ohio

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It’s diffi cult to watch Netfl ix and also check your email or download a fi le using the FCC’s standard bandwidth connection, the Buckeye Hills director said. “So imagine a household that’s got four users, or fi ve users or children trying to go to school and parents trying to work from home,” Crosby said, “And they’re all trying to use a 25/3 Mbps bandwidth connection. It’s just not doable.” Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, who serves Appalachian Ohio in Ohio’s 6th congressional district, spanning from Columbiana to Scioto counties, agreed. “I daresay there is not a lawmaker or decision maker from the president all the way down to township commissioner that does not understand,” he said, “that in the 21st century, access to high-speed internet is as important to quality of life as plumbing, water and electricity are.” Without that access, Amesville Mayor Gary Goosman fears his village will fall behind. In Amesville, which recorded a population of 154 residents in the 2010 U.S. Census, there are two main internet providers according to the FCC: Frontier and Hughes Network Systems, a satellite company. But Frontier is basically “the only game in town.”

Future of rural broadband in Ohio Ohio has 25 electric co-ops that serve 77 mostly rural counties under Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives (OEC). And while only one of those co-ops offers broadband, OEC’s Director of Government Aff airs Marc Armstrong said the members have asked them to expand services. In June, the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 13, which would designate $20 million for providers through the Residential Broadband Expansion program and enable electric cooperatives to apply as well. The senate must decide whether to pass the bill before the end of the year, Armstrong said. “We support the funding,” he added. “But we would like to see the state make an even greater investment.” One provision in House Bill 13, a rule regulating how much cooperatives charge telecommunication companies to rent their electrical poles, concerns OEC’s CEO Patrick O’Loughlin. That revenue allows cooperatives to provide utilities at a subsidized cost to their members. But in testimony to the Ohio House Finance Committee O’Loughlin warned the provision would ensure co-ops won’t be able to fully recover the rental cost from private carriers. “If given this handout,” he wrote, “There is nothing to suggest that cable/ telecom providers would then off er new internet access to any Ohioan.” If Ohio wants to expand access to those without any internet as well as those with 25/3 Mbps or less in a meaningful way, Buckeye Hills’ Reid said, House Bill 13 is just a start. “The state needs to run 45,000 miles of optic-fi ber cables to replace the decrepit copper wires lying throughout Appalachia Ohio,” he said. “It will take $2.3 billion to reach, but it will also create 9,000 jobs and provide a $1 billion increase in GDP.” In order to make a viable business model, $1.7 million would also need to be subsidized to rural residents, Reid added. Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted have made broadband connectivity a priority in their administration. They awarded nearly 1,000 school districts broadband education grants

last month, allowing schools to purchase mobile hot spots and internet-enabled devices. Husted is also the founder and director of InnovateOhio, a department dedicated to technological advancement. In December 2019 the administration released Ohio’s broadband strategy through InnovateOhio, acknowledging that access is a “critical barrier” for a million Ohioans. But money remains the number one obstacle to unfettered connectivity, Husted said in an interview with The Dispatch. “How do you provide services to all of the people who don’t have it and the private sector won’t provide it?” Husted asked. He said the state is considering a variety of options including bidding on federal grant money to provide rural residents subsidies. JobsOhio is also working with private sector partners on how they might expand coverage and InnovateOhio is working with new satellite technologies such as Starlink, a SpaceX initiative. They are aggressively pursuing everything because Husted wants to make sure tomorrow’s investment won’t end up inadequate fi ve years later. “In the dream world we would be able to work with USDA and the Economic Development Administration and FCC along with our state partners, public and private, to develop a plan and have laws and regulations that would make that easier to happen,” John Carey said. But Carey, director of the Ohio Governor’s Offi ce of Appalachia, said communities with accessibility plans are going to be able to reach federal funding fi rst. “We have to be realistic about what can and can’t happen,” the director added. Will that require the federal government to step in and provide broadband assistance to Appalachia, similar to how President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal-era programs brought electricity to the region nearly a 100 years ago? Husted said the answer is complicated. “The federal government’s going to have to be involved from the standpoint of providing regulatory relief,” Husted said. But he dismissed that a long-term solution in Ohio would require “a New Deal kind of thing.”

cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

19A

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Amesville’s horizon In September Heather Mitchell began loading jump drives onto the family computer for her preschooler and ﬁ rst-grader, squeezing in a couple hours for her boys to learn before bedtime. “Their teachers have lesson plans and videos on the jump drive,” she said. “They do an assignment and then I take a picture of it on my phone and email it to them when I go to work.” “There’s no version of this that’s not labor-intensive,” she added. Amesville Mayor Gary Goosman is still frustrated by the lack of state or federal attention his village receives. There are no plans he’s heard of to expand broadband out into the country or add towers that would increase cell service. He hasn’t talked much with Buckeye Hills about becoming eligible for the FCC’s spring auction — the second half of the agency’s $20.4 billion investment to provide subsidies to internet carriers. “At some point we’ll seriously decide,” he said. Mitchell wishes central Ohioans understood the constraints the lack of internet access puts on otherwise hardworking Appalachians. “I think it’s probably inevitable at some point that we’ll have to move,” she said.

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20A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

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cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

ARTS &LIFE

Arguably the ﬁ nest Tiger Eye still in existence, this 17 × 11 inch (43.2 × 27.9 cm) vase by Matthew Daly (1900) features the deep, spectacular Tiger Eye shimmer and two cranes painted under the glaze. This vase helped Rookwood Pottery gain acclaim at the 1900 Paris Exposition. PROVIDED

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ROOKWOOD POTTERY

Jeff Suess Cincinnati Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK

e think we know Rookwood Pottery. The tile mantle in our grandmother’s house. The ﬂ oor-to-ceiling tiles at the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor at Union Terminal. The decorative vases at the Cincinnati Art Museum. But do we really know Rookwood? In its heyday, from 1880 to 1941, Rookwood Pottery was renowned across the

globe, winning numerous awards for innovative designs and glazes and sparking the birth of American art pottery. That’s the story found in “Rookwood: The Rediscovery and Revival of an American Icon,” a glossy book by Bob Batchelor that features more than 300 photos of Rookwood’s history and artworks. The author of “The Bourbon King,” last year’s biography on local bootlegger George Remus, wanted to “bring Rookwood’s past back to light,” he told The

Enquirer. There has been a revival of Rookwood as the venerable brand returned to Cincinnati in 2006, opening a Race Street factory in Over-the-Rhine. “Even though Rookwood is a thriving local business, people didn’t know its history or its global importance,” Batchelor said. The history begins with Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, who founded See ROOKWOOD, Page 14AA

Get the crayons back out.

It’s time to Dress the Snowman Rasputin Todd Cincinnati Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK

We had so much fun paging through all your Dress the Turkey submissions this year that we decided to add a little more fun to the last month of this torrential 2020. Meet Toby, he’s a snowman. And he needs some clothes. We’re hoping you and your kiddos might be in the mood to draw some on him for us. Add whatever you want, give him some bling, slap a hat on his head, turn him into a Santa Snowman, give him an all-around 2020 theme ... It’s all up to you. When you’re done with your masterpiece, just take a picture of it (or scan it) and email it to rtodd@enquirer.com by Sunday, Dec. 20. (Get the most techy person in the house to help out, the higher resolution you can send, the more likely we are to love it.) Please include your name, age and neighborhood of residence in the email. We’ll print some of our favorites in The Enquirer on Christmas Day. Happy Holidays from Toby the Snowman!

Toby the Snowman CLAY SISK/GANNETT

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Gifts for the gardener on your list In the Garden Denny McKeown Guest columnist

As the holidays near, many of us fi nd ourselves scrambling to come up with gift ideas for some of our friends and relatives. Have you considered that they may be gardeners? Interest in gardening has been on the uptick for the last several years and has accelerated during the pandemic. There are many ways to garden, so there are many directions you can go to fi nd gifts for gardeners. You may know someone who has just become fi rst-time homeowner. There are certain tools that should be staples in the tool shed of every homeowner. Here is a list of tools needs for the basic maintenance of a home landscape. Pruning Shears: A good, sharp pair of pruning shears are needed for general pruning of all plants. You will want to get a pair that is large enough, and strong enough, to prune branches up to a half an inch in diameter. Pruning Saw: A pruning saw is used to remove larger branches that a pruner cannot handle. A saw would be useful in removing low branches from trees. It is also useful for cutting the large branches of shrubs you are radically pruning Shovel: A long handled shovel that has a blade that comes to a rounded point is just what is needed to dig larger holes for trees and shrubs. Spade: This is also for digging. It has a shorter handle that has a rectangular blade. This tool can also be used to dig holes. With the rectangular blade the edge can be sharpened. With a sharp blade it is the best tool to cut through

roots to remove or transplant existing plants. Hand Trowel: This is basically a handheld shovel used for planting small annuals and perennials. Besides tools, you can also give your favorite gardener the gift of knowledge. There are literally thousands of books written about gardening. When shopping for a gardening book, make sure you are buying one that is specifi c to our region and climate. You do not want to buy a book that has plants that will not grow in our area. You also do not want a book that suggest methods that do not apply to our gardens and landscapes. The last book I wrote, the revised edition of "The Gardening Book for Ohio" is the type of book I am recommending. It was published in 2000, and the information still applies to today’s gardens. Gardeners also like to experience nature outside of their own landscapes. A membership to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden would be a great gift. The zoo is much more than animals. They have one of the greatest displays of plants you will fi nd anywhere in the country. Many of the plants you buy from greenhouses and garden centers began in trial gardens at the zoo. The zoo also has programs you can participate in like its Plants for Pollinators program. The Cincinnati Zoo is a great place to enhance and embrace your knowledge of nature for the whole family. Like many businesses the zoo has suff ered fi nancially during the pandemic. Buying a membership will help support the many eff orts of the zoo that benefi t the entire community. There is always the one gift you can never go wrong with – a gift card. Almost every business sells them and that would certainly include garden centers and greenhouses.

Gardening tools and gift cards make great gifts for the gardeners in your list. GETTY IMAGES

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Two-way encryption only available with compatible SIX devices. GENERAL: For all offers, the form of payment must be by credit card or electronic charge to your checking or savings account, satisfactory credit history is required and termination fee applies. Certain packages require approved landline phone. Local permit fees may be required. Certain restrictions may apply. Additional monitoring fees required for some services. For example, Burglary, Fire, Carbon Monoxide and Emergency Alert monitoring requires purchase and/or activation of an ADT security system with monitored Burglary, Fire, Carbon Monoxide and Emergency Alert devices and are an additional charge. Additional equipment may be purchased for an additional charge. Additional charges may apply in areas that require guard response service for municipal alarm verification. Prices subject to change. Prices may vary by market. Some insurance companies offer discounts on Homeowner’s Insurance. 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THE AMISH COOK

Lemony chocolate cheesecake is a family favorite The Amish Cook ‘s Lemony Chocolate Cheesecake

Gloria Yoder Special to Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

This week I will introduce you to the most beautiful lady I spoke with on our trip to Ohio. Her name is Mary, she is 88 years old and a grandmother to my husband Daniel. True beauty shines through her entire being as she kindly and tenderly visits with those around her. Though her hearing isn’t the greatest – even with hearing aids – she is always there to lend a listening ear or oﬀ er words of encouragement. Traveling went relatively well, despite driving through rain, traﬃ c jams, and trying to quiet a teething Joshua in his car seat. Needless to say, we were all incredibly thankful to be ‘home’ with Daniel’s parents. On the evening of Thanksgiving, Grandma and Grandpa planned to join us at Daniel’s parents for supper and the evening. I looked forward to my time with them, especially Grandma. After supper, I happened to be just at the right spot at the right moment to hear a brother-in-law ask Grandma what Grandpa has done for her that she appreciates. After thinking a bit, she said, “What means the most to me are the times he gives me direction and encouragement spiritually.” Turning the clock of time back 60 years, she reminisced how he would help her by washing out the bucket full of cloth diapers in the morning. Turning to 87-year-old Grandpa, brother-in-law asked, “So what do you appreciate about Grandma?” He responded with, “All the meals she cooks for me, and for standing with me and supporting my leadership all these years.” Grandpa was ordained a minister 64 years ago and still takes his turn to preach. They are celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary. I wonder what will my and Daniel’s story be in 50 or 60 years? While the grown-ups chatted, the children played with playdough made by Daniel’s sister Mary. As Mary helped the children get started making playdough cookies, dolls, blankets and even

Ingredients: Crust: 11⁄ 4 cup flour 1 tsp. lemon peel 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar ⁄ 2 cup butter, chilled and cubed

Filling: 4 (8 oz. packages) cream cheese, softened 11⁄ 4 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. flour 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream ⁄ 2 cup sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla 4 eggs, well beaten 10 oz. white baking chocolate, melted and cooled 2 tsp. grated lemon peel

This lemony chocolate cheesecake is a hit with the Yoder family.

Instructions:

GLORIA YODER/PROVIDED

1. Place a 9-inch spring form pan on a double thickness of heavy duty foil (about 18 inch square) securely wrap foil around pan. Set aside. 2. In a small bowl combine crust ingredients until crumbly. Press onto the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

bottles, she told them how Grandma would make playdough for her and her cousins on Thanksgiving Day. They spent countless hours making all sorts of imaginary things. All too soon, it was time to settle down after a big day. That is, after I slipped into the pantry for a bite-sized piece of Mary’s most amazing cheesecake. I passed Mary on the way out and,

3. In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cream, sour cream and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low speed just until combined. Stir in white chocolate and lemon peel. 4. Pour mixture into crust. Place pan in a large baking pan and add 1 inch hot

chuckling, told her that I couldn’t do this every day. Of course, she didn’t care a bit. Bless her giving heart, she would do anything in her power for us, including serving her specialty, cheesecake, at all hours of the day. The next morning I was groggily waking up, listening to the murmur of voices in the kitchen under our bedroom when the door opened. Julia slipped in, hold-

water to the larger pan. Bake at 350 for 65-85 minutes or until center is just set and to appears dull. Remove the pan from water bath and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen sides. Cool one hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove from sides of pan before slicing. Yield: 12 servings

ing a plate with a slice of cheesecake. I blinked in surprise. “Mom, you’ve got to taste this cheesecake! It’s the best one Mary ever made.” After hugging her a thank you, she was oﬀ again. She knows my crush on cheesecakes, and bless her dearest heart; she even served it in bed. Is this what it feels like to have children growing up?

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BEER WORLD

It’s the most wonderful time ... for some beer Christmases of my childhood. If you’d prefer your winter beer hopped up, you could do a lot worse. But when I think of Rhinegeist and the holidays, the ﬁ rst thing I think of is Pure Fury, a pale ale brewed with Cascade, Amarillo and Mosaic hops. Although it hasn’t dropped yet this season, I’m certain I’ll be excited when I see those red, orange and yellow stripes back on the shelf.

Matt Koesters Special to Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

When I was approached to write about beer for The Enquirer back at the beginning of February, I had envisioned a column chock-full of event news. The early pieces I did on Cincy Winter Beerfest and Bockfest were the kind of stuff I expected to do pretty often. Needless to say, that hasn’t happened. Instead, 2020 happened. And therefore, virtually nothing has been happening, and the stuff that is happening is happening virtually – except for the stuff that we wish wasn’t happening at all. That’s all out in the real world. But there are a few things 2020 just can’t take away from us. December is still the holiday season; in the world of craft beer, this is when all of the fun Christmas ales and winter warmers hit the shelves. I consider beer just as big a part of the most wonderful time of the year as ugly sweaters and strings of LEDs. Christmas ales are a lot like Christmas music – once you’ve had your fi ll, it’s really easy to get sick of them. But for these next few weeks, these winter wonders will brighten your virtual family gatherings (or at least make them more tolerable).

Taft’s Let’s start local, and we’ll start with the brewery that has two diﬀ erent winter beers on shelves right now. First up: the ever-popular Santa’s Bribe Christmas Cookie Ale, a dark ale brewed with cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. Although there are some Taft’s fans that would prefer to see the return of Liquid Advent, Santa’s Bribe has become an annual tradition. Maybe it’s the excellent depiction of William Howard Taft-aClaus spreading Christmas cheer in his ﬂ ying bathtub. If you’re looking for something lighter, Nellies Winter Sweet Orange Ale has you covered. This wheat ale brewed with sweet orange peel and coriander screams to be served in the same way as

Great Lakes Of all the out-of-market breweries, I think Great Lakes has the area’s most popular Christmas ale. In fact, according to Cleveland.com, Great Lakes relies on its Christmas ale for 20% of its annual sales, despite being only available for eight weeks. Brewed with spices and honey, Great Lakes Christmas Ale is simply a classic.

Thirsty Dog

The apple streusel inspired ale from Sonder Brewing. MATT KOESTERS FOR THE ENQUIRER

Blue Moon: with an orange wedge along the top of the glass.

Sonder “This Beer is Named After the Band from a 1990s Christmas Movie” isn’t just a complete sentence. It’s the name Sonder has decided to give this year’s version of the brewery’s apple streusel-inspired ale. Unlike some of the other offerings on this list, Sonder’s apple streuse-ale has quite a strong chance of becoming the gateway for non-craft drinkers into the world of craft beer. It’s simply delicious.

MadTree Up until last week, I was worried I would never see snow in Cincinnati

again. Then I walked into a Kroger and saw it sitting at the end of the craft beer cooler. Thundersnow, as the name implies, is a pretty intense experience for a beer. At 8.5% ABV, this Scottish ale with ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and cinnamon is deﬁ nitely one of the stronger winter ales you’ll come across. It drinks even bigger – while I wouldn’t call it hot, Thundersnow can come across as fairly boozy. This isn’t a beer that will win over newcomers to the craft beer scene, but it’s certainly a fan favorite among seasoned Cincinnati craft fans.

Rhinegeist The city’s largest brewery calls Dad its hoppy holiday ale, which I think is a perfectly ﬁ ne red ale. The tartan pattern on the can even reminds me of the

A long time ago, a former Great Lakes brewer left for Akron to work at Thirsty Dog, and it wasn’t long after that rumors about the two breweries’ Christmas ales being based on the same recipe started to emerge. Point of order: Thirsty Dog’s 12 Dogs of Christmas is a very diﬀ erent beer from Great Lakes Christmas Ale. At 8.3% ABV, it’s nearly a full percentage point stronger than Great Lakes’ 7.5%, and if you go by IBUs – that’s International Bitterness Units to the uninitiated – 12 Dogs of Christmas is ever so slightly less hoppy. But it’s deﬁ nitely got a lot more of those holidays spices that make Christmas ales what they are. Which one is better? It depends on who you ask.

Troegs The only non-Ohio brewery I’m going to acknowledge here, the Pennsylvaniabased Troegs produces a couple of my favorite seasonal beers. Mad Elf, a Belgian strong dark ale with cherries and honey, is deﬁ nitely not for everyone. But for those who enjoy the ﬂ avors imparted by Belgian yeast, this is absolutely an annual must-buy.

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THINGS TO DO IN CINCY

END GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER! Motherfolk plays its annual holiday show at 20th Century Theatre. PROVIDED Luann Gibbs Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are constantly monitoring event cancellations, but please double check with venues and organizers to conﬁ rm events are still taking place.

Monday, Dec. 14 GAMES: Holiday Movie & Music Trivia, 6:30 p.m. The Pub at Rookwood, 2692 Madison Road, Norwood. Ugly sweater contest and trivia. Free. SHOPPING: Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market Virtual Storefront, now through Dec. 31. Searchable hub that connects holiday shoppers with more than 100 local and small business vendors. facebook.com/cincyholidaymarket. SHOPPING: Exchange Village, open daily, Newport on the Levee, One Levee Way, Newport. Indoors, sociallydistanced artisan market geared toward holiday shopping. Featuring 10 local businesses.

Tuesday, Dec. 15 FOOD: Holiday Beer and Donut Pairing, 5-8 p.m., Taft's Brewing Co., 4831 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village. Flight of four different beers paired with fresh donuts from Peace

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Love & Little Donuts. Self-guided pairing lasts one hour. $12. eventbrite. com. MUSIC: Live at Lunch, 12:10 p.m., Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. 4th St., Downtown. Buffalo Ridge Jazz Band. Free. 513-621-1817; cincinnaticathedral.com. SHOPPING: Off Ludlow Gallery, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, 2-6 p.m. FridaySaturday, 3408 Ormand St., Clifton. All-volunteer art gallery turns into holiday gift boutique with unique items created by local artists and craftsmen.

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Wednesday, Dec. 16 SHOPPING: Holiday Art Market, Kennedy Heights Art Center, 6546 Montgomery Road. Featuring 20 new local artist vendors. Masks required. Runs Wednesday-Saturday Nov. 14Dec. 23. Closed Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Free timed entry tickets available 513-631-4278; kennedyarts.org. THEATRE: The Drunk Santa X-mas Spectacular, 7:30 p.m., Esquire Theater, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. The saucy Aussie is back with a brand new holiday extravaganza. Beneﬁ ts Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. $20 per person. cincyshakes.com.

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Thursday, Dec. 17 ART ENDING SOON: Art North, 3-7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Westheimer Gallery at Sharonville Cultural Arts Center, 11165 Reading Road. 31 local artists display works in photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, fabric and more. Runs Nov. 6-Dec. 19. Closed Nov. 26-28. Information: sharonvillecac@gmail.com. CHARITY/MUSIC/VIRTUAL: Jim Brickman "Comfort & Joy at Home Live" Virtually, 7 p.m. Dec. 17. One-ofa-kind live, personal concert with piano sensation Jim Brickman. A portion of each ticket benefi ts Fairfi eld Community Arts Center. Tickets: jimbrickman.com/fairfi eld. CHARITY: Sustainable Suds Happy Hour, 4-7 p.m., High Grain Brewery, 6860 Plainfi eld Road, Silverton. Benefi ts Hamilton County Special Olympics Ohio. Runs Thursdays Dec. 3-17. highgrainbrewing.com. GAMES: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Trivia, 7 p.m., West Side Brewing, 3044 Harrison Ave., Westwood. Hosted by Trivia with a Twist. Free. GAMES: Holiday Movie Trivia, 7-9 p.m., 13 Below Brewery, 7391 Forbes Road, Sayler Park. Hosted by Last Call Trivia. Free. HOLIDAY/DANCE/VIRTUAL OPENING: Cincinnati Ballet's The Nutcracker. Runs Dec. 17-23. Recorded at Music Hall following strict health and safety protocols. cballet.org.

Friday, Dec. 18 ART OPENING: Frank Duveneck: American Master, 11-5 p.m., Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams. First comprehensive exhibition of the artist's work in more than 30 years. Features more than 90 from the museum's holdings, as well as 35 pieces on loan from collections across the country. Runs Dec. 18March 28. cincinnatiartmuseum.org. ART: Final Friday, 5-9 p.m., Pendleton Art Center, 1310 Pendleton St. Comprised of 4 buildings with over 250 artists. View and purchase art directly from artists. Free admission. $5 valet

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ART/VIRTUAL: Video Premiere, Intro to Artists and Exhibition Tour, 7 p.m. livestreamed on Wave Pool Gallery Facebook page. FOOD: Grinchmas Brunch, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Keystone Bar & Grill, 3384 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. Grinch mac and cheese, who-hash and roast beast. Themed cocktails. HOLIDAY/MUSIC: Holiday Music Series, 1-2 p.m. Dec. 5, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown. Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra performs holiday music. Included in museum admission. $8-$12. taftmuseum.org. MUSIC: Motherfolk, 8-10 p.m., 20th Century Theater, 3021 Madison Road, Oakley. Socially distanced Christmas show. Special guests Tedious & Brief. $18-$30. eventbrite.com. SHOPPING/HOLIDAY: Hippie Holiday Market, noon-6 p.m., Riverfront Live, 4343 Kellogg Ave., East End. 15 or more vendors sell wares.

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A Great Bath for an Active Lifestyle

CE-GCI0540481-03

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parking available. Artist of the month is Carol MacConnell, studio 709. Buyit-now $100 show on 8th floor. COMEDY: Preacher Lawson, 7 and 9:15 p.m. Friday, 6 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, Funny Bone Comedy Club, 7518 Bales St., Liberty Township. Ages 21-up. $32. liberty.funnybone.com. HOLIDAY: Black Santa Visits, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. Kids can have a ﬁ reside chat with Santa Claus through a plexiglass barrier. cincymuseum.com/holiday-junction. HOLIDAY/MUSIC: The 12 Dames of Christmas, 8-9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Playhouse in the Park, Marx Theatre, 962 Mount Adams Circle, Mount Adams. Socially distanced live performance by Emmy nominee Angela Ingersoll singing songs from a dozen yuletide divas including Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Janis Joplin and more. $39-$54. 513421-3888; cincyplay.com. MUSIC: Ed "Sax" Thomas Virtual Christmas Concert, 6:30-8:30 p.m., livestreaming on Facebook page. 20% of all tips beneﬁ t Cincinnati Youth Collaborative.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Famous Ohioans will make personalized videos for you (for a fee) trepreneur from Cincinnati who appeared on VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop,” $55. Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, owner of Candy Apple’s Dance Center in Canton and a star of the Lifetime series “Dance Moms,” $45. Angie Everhart, an Akron model and actress who appeared on “Celebrity Mole,” “The Real Gilligan’s Island” and “The Ex-Wives Club,” $30. Chris Jamison, a former Capital University student who appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” $30. Chelsie Webster, a Lexington native who was a contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelor,” $25.

3447731001 Akron Beacon Journal USA TODAY NETWORK

Locked down during the pandemic? Unable to go shopping for Christmas presents? This year, why not give the gift of celebrities? Personalized videos featuring “your favorite stars” can be ordered via Cameo , a Chicago-based website that allows fans access to more than 30,000 celebrities. Naturally, there’s a fee, and it varies from star to star. A video from Caitlyn Jenner, for example, costs $2,500 while Dick Van Dyke charges $1,000, Richard Dreyfuss wants $999, Snoop Dogg fetches $900 and Chaka Khan seeks $600. On Cameo, you can ﬁ nd everyone from Lindsay Lohan to Charlie Sheen to Fran Drescher to Billy Dee Williams to Bo Derek to Andrew Dice Clay.

Actors

How does Cameo work? Fans go to cameo.com, search for a celebrity and request a video or a chat. When a request is completed, usually within seven days, Cameo will email and text a link to a video to view, share or download. If for some reason the video isn’t completed, the hold on your credit card will be removed within ﬁ ve to seven business days. So if your wife adores Matthew Perry or your husband digs LeAnn Rimes or your daughter reveres Boosie Badazz or your son idolizes Troy Aikman, a personalized video might brighten their holidays. If you don’t wish to pay for the real thing, Cameo also lists many celebrity impersonators, clearly marked as such. Amuse your friends with fake Tom Cruise, Elvis Presley, Kim Jong-un, Lady Gaga, Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marilyn Monroe or Robert De Niro. There are also some names that stretch the deﬁ nition of celebrity. Some charge as little as $1. Caveat emptor. For this article, we scoured Cameo in search of stars with Ohio ties. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Cleveland native who hosts “The Dr. Oz Show,” requests $500 for a personalized video. Come-

“Family Feud” host Steve Harvey, a former Cleveland resident and Kent State alumnus, is among the celebrities featured on Cameo. PAUL R. GUINTA/INVISION/AP

dian and “Family Feud” host Steve Harvey, a former Clevelander and Kent State alum, suggests $450. Former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer seeks $250, with all proceeds going to charity. Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, a retired skater from Toledo, collects $100. Cleveland restaurateur and celebrity chef Michael Symon requests $95. Former Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu, a Medina County resident, asks $75. Gretchen Carlson, former Cleveland TV newscaster and former Fox News anchor, also seeks $75. Here are some of the other Ohio celebrities we found on Cameo. Prices are subject to change.

“The Apprentice” and served as an aide to President Trump, $99. Nina West, a drag queen from Greentown who appeared on VH1’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” $75. Hazel-E, a rapper, publicist and en-

Reality TV stars Donna Marie Lombardi, a tattoo artist, piercer and cosmetologist from Cleveland who appeared on VH1’s “Black Ink Crew,” $200. Omarosa Manigault Newman, a Youngstown native who appeared on

Omarosa Manigault Newman, a Youngstown native, appeared on “The Apprentice” and served as an aide to President Donald Trump. MARY ALTAFFER/AP

Gates McFadden, a Cuyahoga Falls native famous for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” $180. Beverly D’Angelo, a Columbus native best known for portraying Ellen Griswold in the “Vacation” movies, $150. Jake Abel, a Canton native who appeared in the “Supernatural” TV series and “Percy Jackson” ﬁ lm series, $150. Jamie Farr, a Toledo native who starred as Corporal Klinger on CBS-TV’s “M*A*S*H,” $125. John de Lancie, a Kent State alumnus who played Q in the “Star Trek” series “The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager,” $100. Miranda May, a Bowling Green native who stars on the Disney Channel series “Bunk’d,” $100. Adrianne Palicki, a Toledo native known for “Friday Night Lights,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “The Orville,” $75. Dana DeLorenzo, a Youngstown native featured on Starz’s “Ash Vs. Evil Dead,” $60. Eddie McClintock, a Canton native and character actor best known for Syfy’s “Warehouse 13,” $50. Kaitlyn Black, a Copley native who starred on the CW’s “Hart of Dixie,” $25.

Rough and tough Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini,” former lightweight boxing champion from See VIDEOS, Page 11AA

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Videos Youngstown, $125. Adrien Broner, a world champion boxer from Cincinnati, $100. Buster Douglas, a former heavyweight boxing champion from Columbus, $60. Ryan Nemeth, aka Briley Pierce, a former WWE wrestler from Cleveland, $35. Jessica Eye, a mixed martial artist from Akron who competes in Ultimate Fighting Championship, $25. Madman Fulton, a Toledo native and former WWE wrestler, $25.

Elder High School and Buﬀ alo Bills standout Eric Wood, $89.

Baseball stars

Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, $320. Former Browns players Bernie Kosar, $219; Joe Thomas, $173; Chris Spielman, $100; and Josh Cribbs, $75. Current Browns players David Njoku, $200; Mack Wilson, $51; and Terrance Mitchell, $25. Former Browns coach Hue Jackson, $60. Bengals Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz, $78. Former Bengals players Terrell Owens, $350; Chad Ochocinco, $200; and Ickey Woods, $150. Current Bengals players Trayveon Williams, $200; Khalid Kareem $20, Mason Schreck, $10; and Jordan Evans, $10.

11AA

Comedians

Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose played with his hometown team from 1963 to 1978, returned in 1984 and remained as manager until 1989. JOHN MINCHILLO/AP

Football stars

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

er who sang in Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Rising Force and other groups, $30. Mike Protich, Akron native and lead singer of Red Sun Rising, $25. Andy Black, nee Andy Biersack, former SCPA student-turned-frontman for the rock band Black Veil Brides, does Cameo videos, often with his wife, fellow singer Juliet Simms. The pair’s work costs $75 a pop.

Continued from Page 10AA

Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown led the team to glory from 1957 to 1965. AP FILE PHOTO

Former Cleveland Indians stars Joe Carter, $129; Jason Kipnis, $100; Kenny Lofton, $75; Carlos Baerga, $30; Omar Vizquel, $28; and Greg Allen, $20. Current Indians players: Daniel Johnson, $50; Oscar Mercardo, $30; Jordan Luplow, $20; and Logan Allen, $20. Cincinnati Reds legends Johnny Bench, $200, and Pete Rose, $150. Former Reds players Sean Casey, $100; Eric Davis, $99; Bronson Arroyo, $95; Jose Rijo, $69; Rob Dibble, $50; and George Foster, $49. Current Reds players Amir Garrett, $125; Hunter Greene, $75; Brandon Finnegan, $50; and Kyle Farmer, $25. Former Covington Latin High School and MLB star David Justice, $109.

Musicians Eddie Levert, Canton native and cofounder of the O’Jays, $135. Howard Hewett Jr., an Akron native and Grammy-winning R&B singer of Shalamar, $100. Richard Patrick, a former Clevelander who fronts the rock band Filter, $70. Slim Jesus, a Hamilton rapper known for the song “Drill Time,” $60. Tim “Ripper” Owens, the Akron rock-

John Caparulo, a stand-up comic from East Liverpool, $999. David Wain, a comedian and writer from Shaker Heights, $100. Gary Owen, Cincinnati-native comedian, $80. Alan Cox, afternoon host on WMMS in Cleveland, $30. Dave Hill, a Cleveland comedian and musician, $25. Luke Null, a Cincinnati native and former cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” $25.

Pageant winners Heather Haburg, former Miss Greater Akron, $25. Caroline Grace Williams, Miss Ohio 2019, $20. And remember: Celebrities are in lockdown, too. Your cash can help brighten their holidays. For more information, go to cameo.com.

Basketball stars Former Cleveland Cavaliers coaches Tyronn Lue, $216, and Mike Fratello, $75. Former Cavaliers players Ron Harper, $105; J.P. Macura, $55; Jeﬀ Green, $40; Jaron Blossomgame, $25; and Dhantay Jones Sr., $15. Current Cavaliers players Dylan Windler, $25, and Matt Mooney, $20.

Cleveland restaurateur Michael Symon is a celebrity chef and television personality. JEFFREY B. BOAN/AP

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

Listen to ‘Christmas Carol’ on the radio this year ‘A Christmas Carol’

David Lyman Special to Cincinnati Enquirer

When: Broadcast: 8 p.m. Dec. 23, 7 p.m. Dec. 24; streaming thereafter

USA TODAY NETWORK

For many of us, the holidays wouldn’t be the same without Bruce Cromer. Since 2005, he’s been the actor playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the Playhouse in the Park’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” But this is 2020. And along with all the other weirdness we have lived through, the Playhouse’s holiday show has undergone as many plot twists as one of Dickens’ deliciously convoluted novels. By late spring, “A Christmas Carol” looked like a goner. How could the Playhouse safely bring together 28 cast members, stage technicians, ushers and box offi ce personnel with an auditorium packed with 626 patrons? In mid-July, artistic director Blake Robison off ered a solution. “A Christmas Carol” would be back. But it would look very diff erent. Audiences would be limited to 190. And instead of 28 actors, there would be just one. And that person would not be Cromer. Three months later, things changed again. The show was canceled, along with the rest of the Playhouse’s 2020-2021 mainstage season. But again, it’s 2020. Expect the unexpected. So a couple of weeks ago, the Playhouse announced that it had cut a deal with WVXU and WMUB to broadcast and stream a one-person version of “A Christmas Carol.” The star? The inestimable Mr. Cromer. “I’m so happy about this,” said Cromer, speaking by phone while walking his dog in Yellow Springs, where he lives. “It’s such beautiful writing.” Interestingly, even though Cromer is the quintessential man of the stage, he admits to a passion for radio plays. “They give your imagination such a workout,” he said. “And I think Dickens is especially great for radio. Some people think he’s overwritten. But he is so descriptive that most of the time, all you really have to do is read him clearly and it’s all there.” A simple thing for an actor of Cromer’s caliber, perhaps. But most actors would be stumped by the demands of creating dozens of characters using only

Where: WVXU (91.7 FM), WMUB (88.6 FM) Information: www.wvxu.org, cincyplay.com

you probably wouldn’t think about,” said Nielson, speaking from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. “What does the room ‘sound’ like. You know – is there a fi re in the corner? Do we hear the sounds of people walking by the window outside? Is it windy enough outside that we hear it at the window? I love doing those sorts of things.” Because of Cromer’s long relationship with the story, Robison commissioned him to prepare the script for the 60-minute production. As his starting point, he had the pared-down version of the story that Dickens himself read during his speaking tours. Fortunately, “A Christmas Carol” is quite short in comparison with Dickens’ other novels. Still, there are dozens of characters. And Cromer had to fi nd a distinctive voice for every one of them. “It would be easier if you could combine characters, I guess,” said Cromer. “But why would you do that? Dickens’ characters are all so interesting.” And funny, too. Aside from his fellow actors, Cromer admits that it’s the audience response that he’ll miss most. “I’m a laugh whore, I admit it. I’ll do anything to get people chuckling. I’m begging for it. At the end of the play, though, when Scrooge is absolutely giddy with joy ...” Cromer is scrambling to fi nd words to describe the scene. It’s understandable. That fi nal scene is what “A Christmas Carol” is all about. It’s the scene in which Scrooge, described by Dickens as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner” fi nds redemption. “It’s such a glorious scene, isn’t it?” said Cromer, recalling the words that he wrote in the script he sent to Nielson – “Take us home with gladsome noise. Make us cry with joy to the world, my friend.”

CINCINNATI

the voice. “To me, the most fun about the radio broadcast is hearing Bruce’s virtuosity as a vocal actor,” said Playhouse artistic director Blake Robison. “I suspect this was a challenge for him. He is the most athletic, acrobatic Scrooge I’ve ever seen in my life. Take away that opportunity to be physical and you see what talent he still has.” Robison recruited a longtime col-

league, noted sound designer Matthew M. Nielson, to add a full soundscape to the play: everything from street sounds and the clinking of Marley’s chains to a small suite of incidental music. In truth, you’re unlikely to notice much of Nielson’s work. With most work of this sort, the sounds aren’t meant to stand out. They are, by their very nature, background. “I make all kinds of decisions that

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SHOPPING/HOLIDAY: Winter Market Final Weekend, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Runs Sat.Sun. through Dec. 20. Featuring regional artisans and crafters. Vendors vary each weekend. washington park.org.

Sunday, Dec. 20 FOOD: Christmas in the 90s Brunch, noon-3 p.m., Tin Roof, 160 E. Freedom Way, Downtown. Reserve table. tinroofcincinnati.com. GAMES: A Christmas Story Trivia, 6 p.m., Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., East End. Trivia with a Twist quizmaster Ryan B hosts. Free. HOLIDAY: Black Santa, noon-4 p.m., Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Black Santa visits every Sunday Nov. 29-Dec. 20 for socially distanced photos with your camera. HOLIDAY: Photos with Santa, 4-6

p.m., Fifty West Brewing Co., 7668 Wooster Pike, Columbia Township. Socially distanced photo with Santa. Tickets include one physical photo and one digital copy. Ticket covers one group and includes free hot cocoa for the kids. ﬁ ftywestbrew.com/event/ photos-with-santa. HOLIDAY/MUSIC: Outdoor Festival of Carols, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Wyoming Village Green, 400 Wyoming Ave. Socially distanced and masked outdoor event. Holiday sweater contest, free refreshments, candlelight singing. friendshipwyomming.com/christmas. MUSIC: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, 5 p.m., Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. Fourth St., Downtown. Based on beloved service offered at King's College in Cambridge, England. 513-621-1817; cincinnaticathedral.com. SHOPPING: Winter Market, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., MadTree Brewing, 3301 Madison Road, Oakley. Runs Sundays Nov. 1-May 10. Hyde Park farmers market moves indoors for the winter. Patrons required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing. Temperatures taken at the door.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

THE ENQUIRER

“Rookwood: The Rediscovery and Revival of an American Icon” by Bob Batchelor. PROVIDED

Rookwood Continued from Page 1AA

Rookwood Pottery in 1880. She was the ﬁ rst woman in America to found and manage a large manufacturing company, something largely unnoticed. Maria (pronounced ma-RYE-ah) was the granddaughter of Cincinnati millionaire Nicholas Longworth, and the family fortune did supply the early funding, but Rookwood’s success was due to her artistic vision and tenacity to pursue her goals, all done 40 years before women were allowed to vote. “I think that Maria’s story would resonate with people today in an important way because she is a female leader and a female hero but is almost wholly unknown outside of 50 miles around Cincinnati,” Batchelor said. Storer was a decorative artist herself, favoring grotesque subjects like spiders and crabs on her vases. She hired local artists, many of them society women. In fact, it was the women of the time that were helping to form Cincinnati’s burgeoning arts scene. “The women in Cincinnati were not only willing to support the arts, but they were willing to create the art,” Batchelor said. Storer’s vision for Rookwood was a marriage of art and industry, to make practical ceramic goods that were pretty. Rookwood ended up virtually creating the notion of home art. Batchelor likened Rookwood to a 19th-century high-tech start-up, depending on technical advances and recruiting the most talented artists and craftsmen. And a little luck. Rookwood’s acclaimed Tiger Eye glaze with gold striations and ﬂ ecks that shimmer in the light was reportedly a happy accident. Within a few years, Rookwood was turning heads. Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain paid visits to the Rookwood factory on Eastern Avenue. Just nine years after its founding, Rookwood took the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition in 1889, followed by the Grand Prix in 1900, and Rookwood’s reputation soared. Batchelor recounts the entire history of Rookwood, giving credit where its due to the other leaders behind the scenes, like William Watts Taylor, who transformed Rookwood into an interna-

The Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor was cleaned during the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal restoration project. It will be open and serving ice cream once again. MEG VOGEL/THE ENQUIRER

“The women in Cincinnati were not only willing to support the arts, but they were willing to create the art.” Bob Batchelor

Maria Longworth Nichols Storer founded Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati in 1880. PROVIDED

Maria Longworth Nichols Storer in the Rookwood Pottery design studio with the ﬁ rst two decorators she hired: Matt Daly, at left, and Albert Valentien, seated.

tionally acclaimed business enterprise. He also highlights many notable Rookwood artists, including Sara Sax, E.T. Hurley, William Hentschel and the venerated Japanese artist Kitaro Shirayamadani, who was the only Japanese man in Cincinnati when Stor- Shirayamadani er recruited him in 1887. He created exquisite pieces for Rookwood for more than 50 years. We forget that Rookwood isn’t solely

a Cincinnati story. Rookwood art tiles were coveted all over and found in fi ne hotels and offi ces in New York, Pittsburgh and St. Louis as well as Cincinnati. The Carew Tower arcade has a magnifi cent Rookwood arch, but the Rathskeller in Louisville’s Seelbach Hotel “is like nirvana for Rookwood afi cionados,” Batchelor said. With the double whammy of the Great Depression and American tastes turning to mass-produced goods, Rookwood fi led for bankruptcy in 1941. The company and trademark changed

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hands many times, ending up in the stewardship of Michigan pottery collector Arthur Townley, who agreed to sell the brand and historic molds to Cincinnati investors in 2006. The heritage of Rookwood is ingrained into Cincinnati history, with its roots – and decorative tiles – found all over the city. “Rookwood put the crown jewel in the ‘Queen City of the West’ moniker,” Batchelor said. That’s something we should all know.

This Gold Medal was awarded to Rookwood Pottery at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1889. PROVIDED

Kitaro Shirayamadani’s photo-realistic style is accentuated by the Black Iris Glaze used as background in this vase (1907). PROVIDED

Two Rookwood employees work in the large kiln at the Mount Adams factory. PROVIDED

cincinnati.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020

15AA

Mushroom has made it to the ﬁ nal three on “The Masked Singer.” MICHAEL BECKER/FOX

TV’S BEST BETS Mike Hughes Special to Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Sunday, Dec. 13 “Your Honor” – 10 p.m., Showtime. Last week, this mini-series opened with ﬁ erce jolts. After a fatal accident, a teen panicked and fled. His father (Bryan Cranston) started to go to police … until learning that the victim was the son of a mob boss. Now the judge starts a cover-up; he’s clever … except when he needs an excuse for why he called a cop. That propels compelling events tonight. If you prefer a holiday show? PBS has the delightful “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at 7:30; cable has ﬁ ve new holiday movies.

Monday, Dec. 14 “iHeartRadio Jingle Ball” and “Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir” – 8 p.m., CW, 9 p.m., PBS. What a difference a year makes, when it comes to TV events. The Tabernacle concert was taped a year ago, with mega-size – 360-voice choir, 100-piece orchestra, 20,000 people in the audience – all backing Kelli O’Hara, who sings magniﬁ cently, plus readings from Richard Thomas. The “Ball” was produced this year, under social-distance standards. We get at-home music from Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, Doja Cat, Shawn Mendes, Lewis Capaldi and The Weeknd.

Tuesday, Dec. 15 “Play On” – 8 p.m., CBS. Originally scheduled for a Saturday, this special – a fundraiser for WhyHunger and the NAACP Legal Fund – has been moved to a better night and beefed up. Packed into one hour will be music from Los Angeles (Andra Day, Ziggy Marley, Gary Clark Jr.), Nashville (Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, Yola) and Los Angeles (Bon Jovi and Machine Gun Kelly, plus an all-star collaboration). “NCIS” slides to 9 p.m. for a rerun; at 10, switch to ABC for the “mid-season ﬁ nale” of “Big Sky.”

Wednesday, Dec. 16 “The Masked Singer” ﬁ nale – 8-10 p.m., Fox. Only three singers remain, hiding under the masks of Crocodile, Mushroom and Sun. They’ve already outlasted some strong music talent (Tori Kelly, Taylor Dane, Paul Anka, Clint Black and “singing surgeon” Dr. Elvis Francois), plus athletes (Chloe Kim, Lonzo Ball, Mark Sanchez) and more. This night – after much commotion – all three ﬁ nalists will be unmasked and we’ll have a winner. Two weeks later, the timeslot will temporarily go to “The Masked Dancer,” while this show re-masks.

Thursday, Dec. 17 “A Christmas Carol” (1999) – 8 and 10 p.m., TNT. This remains timely, as long as the world has warmth, joy and greed. Here is one of the best versions, perfectly played by Patrick Stewart as Scrooge. It arrives on a three-Carol day. At 3:45 p.m., Freeform has the Jim Carrey version (2009); at 8 and 11:30 p.m., FX has a long (and often quite dreary) 2019 version with Guy Pearce. But if you want long and dark, catch “The Stand” on CBS All Access. Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic tale begins a richly crafted, nine week mini-series.

Friday, Dec. 18 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” – 7 and 7:30 p.m., TNT. Speaking of Christmas classics, this is one of the best. Chuck Jones did the clever animation; Dr. Seuss wrote the witty story and the clever song. You can make this part of an all-cartoon night. ABC has “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” at 8 and “Shrek the Halls” at 8:30; both have so-so stories, but lush, movie-style animation. Freeform has the movie-length “Grinch” cartoon (2018) at 9. “The Star” at 11 and “Simpsons reruns at 1 and 1:30 a.m. And FX has animated movies the entire day.

Saturday, Dec. 19 Football – 8 p.m., ABC. Cincinnati ﬁ nally gets its primetime moment, after spending most of the season in the top-10. Barring a late change, the Bearcats and Tulsa will wrap up a day of conference championships on ABC. It’s the Big 12 at noon (Oklahoma-Iowa State) and the ACC at 4 p.m. (Clemson-Notre Dame). There are four more championship games Saturday, including the Big Ten at noon on Fox and the SEC (Alabama-Florida) at 8 p.m, on CBS. And there are three Friday, including Pac-12 at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Dec 13

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