Patty, Kathy and the Lori family are the people Behind the Bite P. 7
Forty Four Farm blooms In Your Neighborhood P. 11
Mix it up with DJ Rockin’ Reggie P. 45
John DeBoard provides a second chance for wolfdogs at the Southern Ohio Wolf Sanctuary P. 19
Afterspending nearly four years in the Athens area, I thought I had seen and heard most of what Southeast Ohio had to offer. Boy, was I wrong.
Taking this magazine course guided me to look further into the region, and I now find myself filled with gratitude. I’m grateful for this special place I got to call hOUme for four years now, grateful for the all-star staff from this class and grateful for my friends, faculty and locals who helped remind me why I chose journalism.
This issue encompasses all of that gratitude. You’ll read stories about some truly inspiring people, like Shannon Mayes and his Trout Unlimited Program on pg. 38, and learn about the somber realities of those like Vina Colley, who still fights against Piketon’s A-Plant, pg. 32.
You’ll be reminded of the region’s bounty, with stories about the flower-ful Forty Four Farms, pg. 14 and the best (and most beautiful) fishing spots around pg. 40.
John DeBoard and wolfdog Apache go nose-to-nose at the rehabilitation facility in Lawrence County. Photo by Kendall Wright.
Most importantly, you, too, will be experience gratitude for this remarkable place and its people. Happy reading.
-Jack Slemenda, Editor-in-Chief
“Sonder”
refers to the realization that even passing strangers have lives just as complex as your own. Our writers lived this concept, as they gathered pieces of Southeast Ohio’s mosaic that might otherwise fall outside our periphery, from the turntable wisdom of Reggie Robinson, pg. 46, to the advanced intellect behind the Hopewell earthworks, pg. 12.
It has been my utmost privilege to serve as the managing editor of such a dedicated staff and to support and be supported by such a lively team, such as my co-conspirators Jack and Alex, who have reminded me of the importance of alternative perspectives.
I find myself in the rare position of having no words to articulate how much fuller this magazine and its staffers have made the last few months for me, so I’ll let the rich quality of this issue speak for itself.
-Kirsten Abbey, Managing editor
It has been an honor to work as the digital director for Southeast Ohio magazine. We revitalized our website, pushed the boundaries with multimedia such as our Dan Hughes profile, and expanded out social media.
To those we featured, thank you for letting us into your lives. To every staff member, thank you for your dedication to this amazing piece of media. But you are so much more than classmates in my capstone. You are friends and now, family.
-Alex Michalec, Digital editor
Southeast Ohio strives to spotlight the culture and community within our 21-county region. The student-run magazine aims to inform, entertain and inspire readers with stories that hit close to home.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jack Slemenda
MANAGING EDITOR
Kirsten Abbey
COPY CHIEF
Brianna Tassiello
EDITORS
Connor Chomicki , Olivia Rohling, Kendall Wright, Paige Fisher
DIGITAL EDITORS
Alex Michalec, Jasper Greuel
PHOTO EDITOR
Kayla Eshbaugh
MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR
Ashley Pomplas
WRITERS
Raph Anglade, Shiloh Antonuccio, Madalyn Blair, McKenna Christy, Taylor Henninger, Kaylin Pickett, Sydney Lehmann, Mia Walsh
DESIGNER
Cecilia Roche
FACULTY ADVISOR
Dr. Elizabeth Hendrickson
Southeast Ohio Magazine
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism 1 Ohio University Athens, OH 45701-2979
SOCIALS
@southeastohiomagazine2609
SUMMER | FALL 2025
THE SCENE
4 | Fawning over fauna at Lake Hope State Park’s tree hugging competition
BEHIND THE BITE
6 | Knead some sugar? Try the Four Miles Bakery and General Store
8 | When it comes to Caldwell home cooking, good things come in threes
10 | Marietta eatery The Levee House is braised on the riverfront
IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
12 | Earthworks are an ancient accomplishment with UNESCO status
14 | Garden grit is what makes Forty Four Farms a blooming delight
17 | Marietta’s Peoples’ Bank Theatre earns this moment in the spotlight
FEATURE WELL
22 | HE GOT GAME
Coach Dan Hughes’ climb/journey from the hardwood to the Hall of Fame.
MANUFACTURING POWER PACKAGE
28 | IN OUR DEFENSE
The privately held defense technology unicorn Anduril Industries is a virtual reality to Pickaway County.
32 | CAN THE AMERICAN CENTRIFUGE PLANT EMERGE FROM A-PLANT’S SHADOW?
Centrus Energy operates cascading centrifuges that produce enriched uranium to power nuclear reactors. No biggie, right?
THE LURE OF FISHING PACKAGE
38 | HOOKED ON A FEELING
Cast of Gallia County’s Trout Unlimited Teens Program inspires camaraderie.
40 | SOUTHEAST OHIO’S FORECAST FOR FISHING
Come rain or shine, here are the best fishing spots in Southeast Ohio
TALKING POINTS
18 | Well pad fires are in the hot seat
19 | Wolfdogs get a second chance at the Southern Ohio Wolf Sanctuary
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
46 | Rockin’ Reggie gets real with SEO
4
Hughes and WNBA’s Sue Bird, P. 22
Story and photos by SHILOH ANTONUCCIO
It’s not common to see people clinging to trees in the forest, but at Lake Hope State Park in Vinton County, Ohio, it’s an annual tradition. For the third year in a row, Lake Hope State Park hosted the annual Tree Hugging Competiton .
The competition, this year on March 8, contains four main categories for contestants to participate in: speed hugging, biggest hug, most dedicated and freestyle.
Kaylin Callander, organizer of the event and a naturalist at Lake Hope State Park, became inspired to coordinate the event after hearing an interview on NPR about the World Tree Hugging Championship held in Lapland, Finland. “I think nature lends itself really well to that healing aspect of our spirit,” Callander says.
Callender emphasizes the importance nature plays in mental health, citing biophilia, the human affinity toward nature. The date for this year’s competition was originally Feb. 15 but was moved to March due to flooding in the area.
She notes that February is the month chosen for the competition because it’s a time when the park is not as busy, and those who are outside are the contest’s target market. “If you’re spending your time outside in February, in nature, at least a little part of you loves the outdoors,” Callander says. “For them to choose to come here to this state park and do this crazy activity with us, that just warms my heart.”
This year three participants, all from Cincinnati, took home the honors: Angie, dressed as a unicorn, won
the biggest hug event with a score of eight inches. James, dressed as a T. rex, won the most dedicated event with a score of 56 seconds and the speed hugging event with a score of 12. Mary, dressed warmly, won the freestyle competition with James and Angie after they completed a dance and prayer performance around a tree.
The three friends say they came to the competition
to show support for one of Ohio’s state parks in a time of political turmoil regarding cuts to government funding. “We believe there is a value to [state parks] that’s not just money, it shouldn’t be about how much they can bring in,” Angie says.
The fourth annual Tree Hugging Competition is set to take place next year on Valentine’s Day.
Four Mile Bakery & General Store offers homemade goodies and goods. (Plus, a doughnut buffet.)
Story by KAYLIN PICKETT | Photos by RAPH ANGLADE
Four Mile Bakery & General Store, named for the road it sits on in Jackson, is a hub of fresh baked doughnuts and homemade goods from different Amish communities in the area.
Jams, pickles, cheese, fudge and more stock the shelves before the doughnut buffet, where people can build their own dozen.
“It’s just always been a thing [the doughnut buffet} that we came out here almost every weekend,” says customer Paige McVeigh. “You can’t beat [their doughnuts], they’re the best.”
Doughnuts are self-serve with boxes and disposable gloves on hand. Once the difficult task of making your sweet choice is accomplished, there is plenty of indoor and outdoor space for you to sample your goods. On a cold morning, a family can sit by one of the two fireplaces inside. On a warm summer morning, they can take their doughnuts outside to sit on the bakery’s large porch.
Owners Shawn and Megan Richendollar first opened Four Mile Bakery with the help of their Amish neighbors as a place for their families to work together as their children grew up. As Mennonites, the Richendollars can use the electricity needed to run the bakery while the goods are supplied by local Amish farms.
“We were thinking of a business that we wanted to do, where our children could work with us in the business as they grew up,” Shawn says. “We worked out a plan where we could work together: we’d build a bakery.”
Two decades later, the bakery is a community staple, and word of their sweets, from cake doughnuts to Reese’s peanut but-
ter-filled doughnuts, has spread for miles. Regular customers travel from all around southeastern Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Fittingly, their most popular doughnut is the wagon wheel, which is a large, glazed doughnut that they sell individually or by half a dozen.
“It does take both of us, and it takes God in the mix too, because we feel very blessed that people come to the country like this, two or three hours away to drive here to get doughnuts,” Megan says.
The store is open Thursday to Saturday, and Shawn notes that about 100 dozen doughnuts are baked fresh every morning by Megan and a handful of employees. The doughnuts are entirely handmade in the back of the bakery; from rolling the shapes to spreading the icing on top with a butter knife.
BELOW | The glazed wagon wheel on the top shelf is the store’s best seller. All the doughnuts are handmade each morning.
“We mix the dough back here in a room where there’s a big mixer, and then it has to rise. It’s a yeast product, so from start to finish it’s three hours,” Shawn says. “Then she rolls it out and cuts the doughnuts and puts them on the rack to rise again. And then we immerse them in tallow to fry them.”
With their shared Anabaptist heritage, Amish and Mennonites will cooperate in different activities. Although they tend to live separately because of their differences, they may live near each other, according to academic website Amish Studies. They share many of the same beliefs and customs, but Mennonites allow themselves more access to modern technology, which is why they are often seen as business partners.
The general store portion of Four Mile Bakery & General Store is supplied by other Amish Mennonite businesses. The canned goods come from a cannery in Millersburg, a local Amish man supplies the maple syrup and the candies come from an Amish distributor in Pennsylvania.
ABOVE | Owner Shawn Richendollar, a Mennonite, manages the electricity needed to run the bakery, while many of the goods, such as those pictured below, are supplied by other Amish Mennonite
“We
-Shawn Richendollar, Owner
Thurs. through Sat. 7:30 am - 3 pm 6005 Four Mile Rd Jackson 45640 (740) 286-4950 www.fourmilebakery.com
From biscuits and gravy to homemade pies, Caldwell’s homecooking trifecta Kathy’s Kitchen, Lori’s Family Restaurant and Patty’s Place serve up delicious comfort
Story and photos by MCKENNA CHRISTY
Sometimes it’s completely worth exiting Interstate 77 to indulge in some homemade food, even if it means you’re late. A prime example is exit 28 in Caldwell, home to three family restaurants, Kathy’s Kitchen, Patty’s Place and Lori’s Family Restaurant, serving dishes from biscuits and gravy to spaetzle and cherry crumble pie.
Kathy’s Kitchen
An old beige building with the sign “Restaurant” sits facing the Noble County Courthouse. Nearly hidden on the building’s side is a sign with red letters, “Kathy’s Kitchen.” It’s an ordinary building with a seemingly normal entrance, but upon entering, it is clear customers go for comfort and comfort food.
Located at 426 Cumberland Street. in Caldwell, the family-owned restaurant is open Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the exception of Sundays, when the establishment is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The commitment to long hours and a menu that serves all-day breakfast, lunch and dinner is part of Kathy’s Kitchen’s tradition. Before it became Kathy’s Kitchen, the building saw multiple restaurants and businesses go through it.
Michael Smith, the owner of Kathy’s Kitchen, was born and raised in Caldwell. He played for Caldwell High School’s football team, and had plans to go into the oil industry until he was offered the chance to take over the restaurant after Sherm and Sherry Archer ran a restaurant in the same
building for 27 years. Smith says he was young “and dumb enough” to take over and own a restaurant named Kathy’s Kitchen, named after his mom.
“This has been a restaurant for 50 years,” Smith says. “We got some really awesome costumers.”
Naturally, there are crowd favorites on Kathy’s menu, such as “The Breakfast Mess.” It is made up of potatoes, cheese and sausage gravy, and costs $6.25 for a full order and $3.50 for half. The “Big, Tiny” burger is named after Kathy’s nickname for her son. The burger sits between two pieces of Texas toast and is topped with grilled onions, barbeque and mozzarella for a price of $5.95.
Beyond the food, Kathy’s Kitchen prides itself on serving the people of Caldwell through service and giving people quality company.
“I have a group of four men. They come in here, and I can tell you exactly when they’ll be here, what they order (and) everything,” Harriman says. “It’s awesome.”
Lori’s Family Restaurant
Inside the building located at 17020 McConnelsville Road, Judd and Roman Lori, brothers and owners of Lori’s Family Restaurant, can be found greeting customers and insisting that they make themselves at home.
The warmly lit restaurant was opened by Judd and Roman’s parents in 1987. The Lori family was born and raised in Caldwell, making the restaurant a community staple. In fact, Roman coached Smith of Kathy’s Kitchen when he played high school football.
As brothers, it could be assumed that Judd and Roman find themselves at odds when running Lori’s, but it is the opposite.
“A lot of families have people move away and go away, but I get to see my brother every day,” Judd says. “I see my mom and dad every day, and it’s awesome. (I’m) just very blessed in that way.”
Judd and Roman’s mom and dad eat at the restaurant every day just as the locals do. People come to Lori’s for meals that never grow old. When Judd and Roman go on vacation, they look forward to getting back to the restaurant for a meal.
For breakfast, no one can go wrong with the biscuits and gravy served with a side of home fries for $7.99 at Lori’s. The sausage gravy may hide any visibility of the biscuits, but it is a pleasant surprise to find them underneath. The real showstopper at the restaurant is the hot beef sandwich for $11.49,
which must be ordered with a side of mashed potatoes. The gravy and beef meet in the most comforting and tender of ways.
Open from Sunday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Lori’s provides a space for people to come hungry and leave full and fulfilled. For Roman and Judd’s favorite part about running Lori’s, it is all about the people.
“Whether it’s the people we work with or the people that come through the doors to eat, that’s what I like to do,” Roman says.
Patty Fraley has been working in the restaurant industry since she was 15 years old. Fraley, who was born and raised in Caldwell, started as a dishwasher at a restaurant her mom baked pies at. From there, Fraley worked her way up to managerial roles at various restaurants and eventually to owning and starting Pattys Place, located at 46855 Marietta Road, in October 2013.
Fraley worked at the restaurant formerly owned by the Archer’s and that is currently Kathy’s Kitchen. She also babysat Roman and Judd when they were younger. Fraley’s influence on Caldwell can be observed in her dedication to its community members, whether they need food, a friend or an expert restaurant owner.
Fraley’s husband, Allen Fraley, is a Noble County Commissioner and looks at his wife in complete awe of all the work she has done in developing Pattys.
“She has probably become the highest volume sit down family restaurant in all of Noble County,” Fraley says. “To say I’m proud of her would be an understatement.”
Patty’s specialty is her homemade pies. There are two whiteboards located around the restaurant that list the pies available for the day and when one sells out, the employees erase the flavor. The caramel apple delight pie, cherry crumb pie and a special fudge pie are just some of the pies available at Patty’s, costing $3.59 a slice.
“They are made from scratch, from the crust to the filling, and we make anywhere from 15 to 20 pies every day,” Patty says.
OPPOSITE PAGE AND THIS PAGE | A ham club sandwich is perfectly complemented by a slice of homemade lemon meringue pie at Patty’s Place.
All pies are cut into seven pieces and people can call in advance to pick them up. Other than pies, people cannot miss out on the club sandwiches served with french fries. And what kind of fries? Well, it is the costumer’s choice. A server will ask customers whether they want curly, crinkle-cut or standard-cut fries or even tater tots. Get a club sandwich with the typical ingredients of bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo. For additional meat, select either turkey or ham for only $7.89.
The majority of people at Patty’s, open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, all know each other and consider one another family members. It is easy to be remembered at Patty’s because Patty herself makes a mission out of creating a welcoming and comforting environment.
“It’s almost like a community within the community,” Allen says. “And if somebody doesn’t show up for a week, then everybody at the other tables start talking.”
KATHY’S KITCHEN 426 Cumberland St, Caldwell Mon-Fri: 7 am- 8 pm Sat.: 7 am-2 pm Sun.: 8 am-2 pm (740) 732-2090
LORI’S FAMILY RESTAURANT
17020 McConnellsville Rd, Caldwell Mon-Sun: 7 am-9 pm (740) 732-4711
PATTY’S PLACE
46855 Marietta Rd, Caldwell Mon-Sat: 7 am-8 pm Sun: 7 am-2pm (740) 732-4948
Boston-born chef Thomas Hickey brings a decadent dining experience to Marietta
Story and Photos by KIRSTEN ABBEY
Perched along the shore of the Ohio River is the last remaining building from Marietta’s Federalist era.
The Levee House has served many purposes since its founding nearly 200 years ago. From its simple beginning as a dry goods store to its stint as a saloon and even its time as a hotel, that spot has been a long-standing member of historical Marietta. Although its face has changed, its bones remain the same, and today that foundation brings a novel culinary experience to the community: The Levee House Bistro.
Co-owned by couple Casey and Tom Hickey, The Levee House Bistro is a passion project that overcame several obstacles to open its doors. Tom, who grew up in Boston, originally moved to Marietta to begin working at the Lafayette Hotel and was resistant to operating his own restaurant. After working for other venues in the area, he finally acquiesced to Casey’s idea to start their own spot.
“I was just a little sneaky. Every time we would pass a building that had a for-sale sign, I’d be like, ‘We could put a restaurant there.’ And I just kept doing it,” Casey says.
The couple took over the riverfront establishment after the building had been vacant for three years. Although the interior was gutted and grimy, the structure for a restaurant was there.
“There was a lot of cleaning and a lot of preparing. The tables and chairs were already here because it was a restaurant, but we had to buy all different equipment,” Casey says.
Eventually ready for their soft opening in February of 2021, the Hickeys still had to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic and a missing liquor license. A business bereft of a bar left customers unsatisfied and unwilling to dine at The Levee House Bistro.
“It took us 11 and a half months to get our liquor license because the state lost the stuff they needed,” Tom says. “We had to tell customers we didn’t have beer, wine, alcohol, and our customers got mad at us.”
After The Levee House Bistro acquired its liquor license, it was easier to become established. Through community involvement and partnerships with other local businesses such as Mid-Ohio Valley Players, The Levee House integrated into Marietta civic life to become a local favorite. That, on top of its innovative menu, has allowed the restaurant to cultivate a steady rotation of regular diners.
Tom has years of culinary experience and specializes predominantly in seafood, an influence of his East Coast roots, so a location on the riverfront was ideal. “Any restaurant we owned, I would have done some sort of seafood,” Tom says. “We’re only right there [the riverfront], it makes perfect sense.”
Indeed, Tom’s creations offer the opportunity to sample food unusual to a Midwestern palette, “He’s brought in fish, and people are like, ‘I’ve never even heard of that,’” Casey says.
Tom consistently experiments and adapts his food, bringing patrons cuisine of all types, not just that from the deep blue sea. From escargot to fig bruschetta to duck breast, Tom offers the people of Marietta a deluxe fare at a reasonable price. That sentiment is reflected in their sign motto: classy but casual.
“What we consider ourselves is a casual restaurant with a little bit of the fine dining aspect. We want people to have the experience of the fine dining type of food, but you can come as you are,” Casey says.
That welcoming attitude is shared by their staff, who treat one another with playful familiarity. “Casey’s the boss of us, but we like to let Chef think he is,” General Manager Joy Delebreau jokes.
The warm atmosphere between patrons and staff can be attributed to the couple, whose affection for each other seeps into every corner of their business. “They’re like newlyweds,” Delebreau says. Devotion to each other and their staff defines the character of hospitality at The Levee House Bistro, a place that takes extra care of its guests.
“When me and Casey opened this restaurant, what I told her my vision was, I wanted a neighborhood bistro,” Tom says. “Some place where you can go have a good conversation, drink some good
wine, eat some good food. I just wanted a neighborhood bistro where people from this neighborhood can come here and experience things.”
To anyone who steps through the varnished wooden doors of The Levee House Bistro and takes a seat, it is soon evident that vision has come to fruition.
127 Ohio Street, Marietta
Summer Hours:
Lunch | Mon.-Sat.: 11 am-2 pm
Dinner | Mon.-Thurs.: 5-8 pm
Fri.-Sat. 5-9 pm; Sun.: Closed (740) 371-7035
BELOW, TOP | Levee crab cakes with roasted red pepper horseradish sauce. BELOW, BOTTOM | Fresh seared scallops over a soft bed of sweet pea risotto and drizzled with red pepper sauce and crème fraîche.
Story and photos by TAYLOR HENNINGER
Between 1 and 400 CE, Hopewell culture dominated southeastern Ohio and left behind evidence of its advanced intellect in the form of enormous and elaborate earthworks.
The earthworks, mounds made of soil, exhibit precise geometric enclosures replicated across hundreds of miles. Some align with annual sun cycles and the more complex 18.6-year lunar cycle. The earthworks tell a story of human genius that archeologists still study today.
“It is the most concentrated area of earthworks in the whole entire world. Yes, right here in Southern Ohio,” says Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau executive director Melody Young.
In 2023, the significance of eight Hopewell earthworks was recognized globally as Ohio’s first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage site. That is an honor shared with the Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal and 1,223 other sites across the globe.
“The people that we did remove from here, I hope now they know that we’re honoring them,” Young says.
The National Park Service manages five locations in Chillicothe: Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, Hopeton Earthworks and High Bank Earthworks. Ohio History Connection manages Octagon Earthworks and Great Circle Earthworks, located in Newark, and Fort Ancient Earthworks in Oregonia.
Young says there has been a 25% increase in attendance
at the Chillicothe sites since the UNESCO inscription. But Young notes the more significant change is the recent collaborations with organizations, government officials and developers to protect and enhance World Heritage.
For example, Young believes the designation was key in receiving $35 million from the Appalachian Grant Program in May 2024.
The grant money will fund construction of a visitor’s center that will honor the UNESCO designation and improve visitors’ experience at four of the Hopewell earthworks sites, including new signage, restrooms, construction of a pavilion and a bike trail extension, among other projects, according to the 2024 Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau Annual Report.
In January, the Octagon Earthworks site opened for full public access for the first time after Ohio History Connection purchased Moundbuilders Country Club’s lease on the property, which it held since 1910, according to its website.
Ohio History Connection initiated a court case in 2018 to acquire the lease, eventually making its way to the Supreme Court of Ohio in 2022, which upheld the decisions of the Fifth District Court of Appeals and Common Pleas Court.
Newark Earthworks historic site manager Sarah Hinkleman describes one part of the purchase, the golf course’s clubhouse, which will be the new visitor’s center, including interactive exhibit spaces, a retail store and meeting spaces for community meetings and lecture series.
In 2023, the significance of eight Hopewell earthworks was recognized globally as Ohio’s first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage site.
That is an honor shared with the Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal and 1,223 other sites across the globe.
Because of the golf course’s long-standing lease, archeological surveys of the Octagon Earthworks have been minimal. But with plans to remove sand traps, an old pool and dying trees, Hinkleman says a team will perform geophysical surveys, which show what’s under the ground without lifting a shovel.
“Our goal is to restore this property to what it would have looked like, or as close to as what it would have looked like 1,000, 2,000 years ago,” Hinkleman says, unable to contain her smile.
For Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the new preservation of Octagon Earthworks marks an end to her 18-year-old mission.
“For many, the highlight was 2023, when we went to Saudi Arabia, and we had eight of our ancestral mounds designated as World Heritage Sites, but that didn’t satisfy me because we still had that golf course on top of Newark Earthworks mounds,” Wallace says.
Wallace learned about the Newark earthworks in 2007 after traveling to Ohio to attend a lecture from “Tecumseh: A Life” author John Sugden at Ohio State University. The lecture also included a tour of the Newark Earthworks, a place that Wallace never knew existed.
And she was almost denied the opportunity to see the earthworks because of a golf tournament that day. After she insisted on seeing the mounds, her life was forever changed.
“I walked down the steps crying and thinking of the Scripture: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,’” Wallace says. “And I walk down those steps saying, ‘I cannot be silent about this.’”
True to her word, Wallace’s outspoken support for preserving those sacred mounds has helped reconnect the Eastern Shawnee with their Ohio roots and garnered greater inclusion in decision-making.
Hinkleman describes sites like the Great Circle and the Octagon earthworks as persistent places. “Places that are special, have a special quality and remain special, maybe in different ways, but people keep coming back to them, era after era, cultural period after cultural period,” Hinkleman says.
In this era, people will continue to visit the earthworks to appreciate their rich history. Though the sites are no longer in active use, the UNESCO designation and Ohio History Connection and National Park Service’s commitment to protecting the sites guarantees the Hopewell earthworks’ legacy will persist for years to come.
OPPOSITE PAGE | Newark’s Octagon Earthworks is made of a large circle enclosing 20 acres and an octagon enclosing 50 acres.
THIS PAGE | Flags from federally recognized Native American sovereign nations are on display at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.
Just up in the holler and around a bend, an old-fashioned, once-abandoned farm cart sits next to a driveway, its boards festooned with bouquets of homegrown flowers, beckoning passersby to stop and, well, smell them (and maybe even, purchase them).
The business, Forty Four Farm, is a family-owned and operated flower farm that boasts roughly 20 different types of flowers and plants, goats and a herd of cows. Located five miles southeast of Zanesville, Forty Four Farms is blossoming already as it heads for its third year in the flower business.
Husband and wife duo, Chris and Anna Philip, along with their four kids, 10-year-old Elodie, 9-year-old Boone, 7-year-old Poesy and 6-year-old Huck, tend the fields and stock their flower stand every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. till dark.
“My brothers and I, we have always had land. [Anna’s] family has farmed her entire life,” Chris says. “We’ve lived here for over ten years and purchased the farm two or two and half years ago.”
Anna, originally from Malaga, works on the farm daily. Chris, born and raised in Zanesville, is a manager at SBA Communications for his day-to-day routine. Together, they handle the flower fields, 40 acres of cattle-grazing land and a barn full of goats.
The Zanesville family behind flower farm Forty Four Farms doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty. In fact, they’d have it no other way.
Story
by JACK SLEMENDA
Photos provided
“There was a greenhouse [in Malaga] and I used to go up there and help them in the summer, and I always loved it,” Anna says. “I went to conservation and horticulture camp and all that stuff, I’ve just always really liked it.”
The Philip family primarily sells their flowers from their home stand, choosing, for now, not to gear up and travel to farmers’ markets, as Chris runs a local baseball program.
“In the spring I have baseball as my second full-time job and this is our third full-time job and then we have kids too. Springtime is pretty busy but it’s worth every penny of it,” Chris says. “I’m sure one day we’ll look back and wonder where’d it all go and wish it was still that busy.”
The family farmers also offer a “U pick experience,” where customers can book time to scour select fields on the property to create their own bloom bouquet, as well as different “photo and picking sessions,” according to their website.
“We do dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers and all that in the U pick, people can pay and come out. We did a yoga night, where people came out and did yoga and then they picked flowers. We do big Halloween things for the kids, where they come out and we have a bunch of crafts and blow-ups and we dress our goats up,” Anna says.
Just like any business endeavor, the idea is always to succeed. But the couple’s true motivator is to spend time with
their kids and teach them lessons about using their hands and getting outdoors.
“I just think it is so important for the kids to just be outside and learn. My kids love it, they love to be able to plant seeds and watch things grow,” Anna says. “It is really important to me that they learn how to do things with their brain and their hands, and to have their own ideas.”
Although Anna and Chris lead the charge on all things around the farm, they readily delegate tasks to their offspring. So naturally, each of their kids has their own farm job that they think they are better at than their other siblings.
-Chris Philip, co-owner
“My favorite thing to do on the flower farm is doing all the dirty stuff with Dad, like pulling out the bulbs,” Boone says.
“I’m really good at sorting seeds and I like to plan how many seeds go where,” Elodie says. “I really like getting out there with my mom and growing the little plants.”
“[The community’s response] has been great. This year I am talking about going in and talking to the elementary school kids, where I can go in and teach them a lesson and have them work with flowers,” Anna says. Anna shared a note detailing plans for educational opportunities they want to offer at local schools, online dahlia tuber sales, a “U pick” subscription and workshops on how to work with dried flowers just to name a few things. “We have really honed in on what we are good at growing and what lasts long in a bouquet. We are trying to grow more of everything so we can sell to local wholesalers.”
With the positive response from the community and warmer weather ahead, the Philip family finds themselves ready to expand.
LEFT, TOP | Yoga night featured a flower picking session.
LEFT | The Philips offer their blooms at farmer’s markets and operate their own CSA.
Illuminated in the heart of Marietta, the Peoples Bank Theatre is not only a beloved landmark, but also a cultural beacon for the community.
From its early days showcasing silent films with live orchestras to its $7.5 million restoration completed in 2016, the theatre remains a cornerstone of Marietta’s arts scene. With stunning architecture and a rich history that spans more than a century, it still captivates audiences, providing a versatile platform for both legendary acts and local talent.
Although big names in country and folk music have performed here, above all Peoples Bank Theatre is a community gem, run and operated by the people of Marietta.
“My father was on the original restoration committee from 2004 until 2014, when he passed away,” says Miranda Duty, the current general manager. “He never got to see the venue open, but this was a passion of his.”
Originally the New Hippodrome Theatre in 1911, it was destroyed by fire, leading to its rebuilding in 1919. After decades of bright lights and showtimes, the theatre fell into disrepair, closing in 1985. However, thanks to the efforts of community members, the theatre was revived. “Mr. Dan Stephan stepped in and purchased the venue at that time and gave it back to the Historical Society,” Duty says.
The Washington County Historical society, founded in 1961, depends on the work of volunteers, support from its members, donations and the grants leading to major projects, such as the theatre restoration.
After her father’s passing, Duty took on the responsibility of managing the venue. “They were struggling a little bit, so I took the leap of faith and came over here because again, it was a part of my dad for a long time and he was gone, so I thought this would be another piece to get to keep him and it just kept going from there,” Duty says.
Today, Duty honors her father’s legacy while also making her mark, ensuring that the venue remains a dynamic part of Marietta’s entertainment scene. “I want to continue my father’s work, but I also want to bring in new ideas that keep the theatre relevant to the community,” she says.
Duty is also focused on growing the theatre’s community engagement, particularly through local events such as “First
The beautiful Peoples legacy of leadership and entertainment in Marietta
Story by CONNOR CHOMICKI and RAPHAELLE ANGLADE | Photo by RAPHAELLE ANGLADE
Fridays” during the summer. Those evenings, which close the streets to traffic, invite the community to enjoy music and performances in a relaxed, accessible setting.
Beyond those outdoor gatherings, the theatre also fosters inclusivity through its Sensory Friendly Film Series, held from May to October on the second Sunday of each month. Designed for individuals with autism or sensory sensitivities, the screenings feature dimmed lighting and adjusted sound levels, and admission is free.
The theatre’s year-end movie events, including The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Polar Express, offer families free hot cocoa, cookies and holiday fun.“We encourage families to dress up in their favorite pajamas and just come in and watch the movie,” Duty says.
Duty also cites the technological advances during the last couple of years, which allows them to showcase bigger shows, while keeping the small-venue feeling that the theatre is known for. “It’s an intimate setting,” Duty says. “It gets [the artists] away from the huge hustle and bustle of the big venues where everything’s so chaotic.”
For other members of the Peoples Bank Theatre staff, this homey feel takes on a more literal meaning. “I would live here if they would let me,” says Tyson Gillis, assistant manager. “I already spend as much time here as they let me.”
According to Gillis, this year’s headliners, such as Ben Folds’ Paper Airplane Request Tour, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Pink Floyd tribute band Dark Side of the Moon are all “must see performances.”
As for the theatre’s long term plans, Duty is committed to expanding its reach and ensuring that it remains a place where the community can gather and enjoy great performances. “This place is home to me,” Duty says. “If you haven’t come to our venue for a show, please do.”
222 Putnam Street | Marietta
Box Office: (740) 371-5152
Main Office: (740) 373-0894
IWhere there’s smoke...
A Guernsey County well pad fire reveals the potential risks of drilling
n a video taken on Jan. 2, 2025, by Donald Warnock, Antrim Community volunteer fire chief, tufts of black smoke rise above two white reservoirs as the sun has almost completely faded, only specks of light blue light peak through the dark clouds. A giant flame roars in between the reservoirs and illuminates the peaceful hillside in Guernsey County where the Groh well pad sits.
“There has been an explosion on, we presume at this time, an unoccupied well pad,” Warnock says in the video.
Well pads are permanent leveled areas where drilling and extraction for oil and gas production takes place. Pads allow for multiple wells to be drilled in a single location, so that moving equipment from location to location isn’t necessary.
The Antrim Community Volunteer Fire Department station is about a mile away from the Groh well pad, so Warnock heard the explosion even before receiving a dispatch call. “I felt it. It was like [the fire station] shook,” Warnock says.
Warnock says the department gets lots of calls to the well pads. People often see the flares and mistakenly think the well pad is on fire.
The Groh well pad fire isn’t the first oil well fire in Guernsey County. Antrim VFD responded to one other incident in 2018 at a well on Jasper Road in Londonderry township. The fire was contained to the pad and no one was injured.
Roxanne Groff, former Athens County Commissioner and Bern Township trustee, says the Groh well pad fire is an example of neglect by the state of Ohio. Groff says there have been other well pad fires outside of Southeastern Ohio, such as a 2012 well pad explosion in Bolivar that killed one worker. In Belmont County in 2018, a well pad explosion led to brine and natural gas pouring out of the well, resulting in a onemile radius mandatory evacuation.
She says local and state elected officials have let the oil and gas industry run rampant, demonstrating the need for harsher regulations within the industry, which has occupied
the Appalachian region of Ohio for over a century.
Most of the state’s oil drilling occurs in Southeastern Ohio, which is one of the oldest oil-producing regions in the U.S. Scott Miller, associate dean of industry partnerships and outreach for the Russ College of Engineering at Ohio University, says the region’s geology is the reason for its vigorous oil-drilling industry.
For hundreds of millions of years, sedimentary rock and plants have been under immense pressure under the Earth’s surface, creating the oil and natural gas layers predominantly located in today’s Appalachian zone. “John Rockefeller, who made all of his money with Standard Oil was located in Ohio because of the abundant reserves down here,” Miller says.
Miller says well pad explosions are relatively rare, but because there are tens of thousands of cubic feet of gas, when problems occur, they are much more catastrophic.
He’s also noticed the energy sector allowing for consumer choice over the past 15-20 years. People are allowed to choose what side of the continuum they live on, whether that’s using renewable or non-renewable energy. “The more you dig into the [energy] system, it depends on your personal and your family ethic,” Miller says. “I think people have a right to demand something that aligns with their ethics.”
Groff says the region’s population hasn’t been given an opportunity to look at the effects of oil and gas extraction, even beyond the risk of explosions. She believes people are under-informed about opportunities for renewable energy.
“For chambers of commerce and local elected officials to not recognize that the region has opportunity besides extraction industry is woefully lacking,” Groff says.
Groff believes when people understand the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can have on their health and wellbeing, they can make an informed decision about how they get their energy. “As long as you’re digging deeper, you’re going to find the truth,” Groff says.
path to becoming a
John DeBoard bought his first wolfdog, Cheyenne, from Texas in 2014. A beautiful white puppy with 86% wolf DNA, DeBoard says Cheyenne soon became his best friend and was the start to a journey he says he never would have predicted.
“I bought Cheyenne, and that was it. That’s all I was supposed to have. Then they asked me if I would take Hinder,” DeBoard says. “From there it was just a domino effect. The next thing I knew, people had my number–animal control had my number.”
DeBoard had no idea adopting Cheyenne would result in nearly 30 wolfdogs living behind his house a decade later.
The Southern Ohio Wolf Sanctuary, a rehabilitation facility for neglected wolfdogs, began in 2014 with three enclosures behind DeBoard’s home in Lawrence County.
The sanctuary is a nonprofit that runs solely on donations, such as dog food and meat. DeBoard believes in educating the public about wolfdogs and the misconceptions people may have about the breed, such as myths regarding aggressive behavior or the differences between high-content and low-content dogs.
Sometimes, breeders of wolfdogs tell those looking for the animal that all of their dogs have high wolf content be-
fore selling. When the new owners find out that their dogs are not as much of a wolf as they thought, they neglect them.
That is exactly what happened to LoJack, a 4-year-old wolfdog currently living in the sanctuary.
When DeBoard rescued him in 2024, LoJack was missing a lot of hair and was extremely malnourished. After taking him to the vet, the original owner called and asked for the dog back, saying they had made a mistake.
“I was going to be a fool to give them their dog back,” DeBoard says. He declined.
A thorough adoption process is required before any of DeBoard’s dogs are adopted. He advises potential owners have an outdoor enclosure with the proper guards.
“There’s a lot to our adoption [process] for containment … not because we say you have to have it outside–we’re not against owning them in the house,” DeBoard says. “But when [your dog] decides to tear up four or five of your couches, you may want him outside.”
DeBoard also takes into account the lifestyle and workload of potential owners. If someone is looking for a high-content wolfdog, but works 10-12 hours a day, realistically, it is not the dog for them.
Belinda Wood, an Arizona resident, has adopted two
wolfdogs from DeBoard, Luna and Elsa, and is currently on the Southern Ohio Wolf Sanctuary Board.
In 2017, Wood’s husband and son drove out to Lawrence from Surprise, Arizona, to pick up Luna, who was three and a half months old at the time, from the sanctuary.
Two years later, in 2019, three-year-old Elsa was turned into animal control and sent back to DeBoard, underfed and neglected. DeBoard delivered Elsa to Arizona, where she now spends her days sleeping and stealing gummy candy.
Both of Wood’s dogs were diagnosed with glaucoma, Luna in 2017 and Elsa in 2019, causing them to lose their sight and have their eyes removed.
But Wood notes even if they weren’t blind, she says, the behavior of wolfdogs is much different than regular dogs.
“You have to earn [their respect], but once you do, they’ll never let it go,” Wood says. “You don’t just get to walk into their life like, ‘Hey, I’m your owner,’ it’s more like, ‘Hey, I’m going to work to become part of your family and you’re going to work to become part of mine.’”
Besides rehoming some of the pack, DeBoard enjoys being active in his community and including his dogs in the process. He has brought his dogs to birthday parties, local schools and has even heard that his dogs have helped veterans with PTSD symptoms.
“I’m glad that I’ve saved all [the dogs] that I’ve saved,” DeBoard says. “When you look at it, would you really want to do it? I didn’t want to have to know the stuff that people can do to dogs and how cruel people can really be to an animal.”
Looking to the future, DeBoard hopes he can focus more on socializing a lesser number of dogs and spend more time educating the public about the breed.
ABOVE | Hinder, DeBoard’s second dog, smiles for the camera as Cheyenne burrows below him.
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP | Lobo (left), Diesel (middle) and Tigo (right) sit comfortably in one of the sanctuary’s enclosures.
OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM | Apache enjoys a head scratch.
OHIO WOLF SANCTUARY 3416 County Road 124, Chesapeake 740-451-9653
Similarly to DeBoard, the Athens County Dog Shelter also asks about the home life of the adopter before allowing them to purchase a dog.
Although Athens County Sherrif’s Office Dog Warden Lt. Ryan Gillette has never seen a dog with high wolf content come through the shelter, any breed of dog has a chance of being brought back if lifestyles do not match up.
Gillette says an owner’s lifestyle should complement their dog’s lifestyle. For example, people with a more active lifestyle, such as those who work from home or jog a few miles a day, are more capable of providing for a highstrung dog.
“That’s what we mean by trying to match up the dog personality with the person personality, making sure that you know they’re able to coexist without driving each other crazy,” Gillette says.
Story by ASHLEY POMPLAS | Photos by KAYLA ESHBAUGH
Dan Hughes remembers being 7 years old watching Fort Frye High School basketball play in the state tournament, he knew he wanted to have a career in basketball, and he knew from an early age that he would become a basketball coach.
Throughout his adolescence, Hughes says there were only a few channels offered on television airing basketball games. Hughes would have to plan his schedule around when games would be televised, making any match exciting to watch.
Even when learning to read, instead of Dr. Suess books, the first thing Hughes remembers reading was the newspaper and the standings of different sports teams. Sports always played a central role in Hughes’s life, including playing them himself.
His game evolved from playing against his father at the homemade wooden backboard hanging outside the garage to the hardwood of the Fort Frye High School team. He says his parents were his inspiration when he accepted an offer to play at Muskingum University.
Being thrilled that someone wanted to have him as an athlete, Hughes would be a dual athlete playing basketball and baseball as an undergraduate. Believing to be better at baseball than basketball, Hughes felt inspired that a coach would talk to him and open the door for the basketball world.
“I wanted to make my mom and dad proud. For some reason, it became doing good in basketball,” Hughes says. “You grow up in Southeast Ohio, and you’re close enough to West Virginia, and if you’re growing up in my era, Jerry West was a huge kind of influence. None of my family had gone to college. My immediate family were businesspeople and great people, good-collar people. But going to college was a big deal. I was a little scared.”
As a senior at Muskingum in 1977, Hughes’s mentor, Coach Jim Burson, offered him the freshman team coaching job.
“He threw me right in,” Hughes says. “I mean, he allowed me to be around the varsity program, which was very, very good that year. But also, I got to coach and that was a pretty big step for him to trust me to do.”
After Muskingum, Hughes went on to pursue a master’s in education at Miami University, as it was preferred to have a master’s
“I wanted to make my mom and dad proud. For some reason, it became doing good in basketball.”
-Dan Hughes
degree to be hired as a collegiate coach. At the time, Hughes was engaged to his college sweetheart, Mary, who had one more year at Muskingum. He says his goal was to earn his master’s before they married.
As a graduate assistant to the Miami basketball team in 1978, Hughes helped the RedHawks win the Mid-American Conference championship and the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. With his master’s in education and coaching shops in hand, he took a job at Madison-Plains High School.
“I took over a team that had not done good but had aspirations of being good,” Hughes says. “I don’t think I was a very veteran coach at that moment, so it had a lot to do with the players, and the players really gave me an experience that inspired me probably the rest of my career.”
Mike Wilson, the captain of the Madison-Plains Golden Eagles, says Hughes introduced discipline that they really needed. Wilson says he thinks coaching at Madison-Plains was win-win.
“It was just fortunate that he came in with the talent that he had,” Wilson says. “The coaching knowledge that he had, and saw what talent we had to work with … But that was what kicked off his career.”
Having the range of coaching experiences, Hughes knew he wanted to be a college coach at minimum. In short order, he was an assistant coach at the University of Mount Union and Baldwin Wallace University, before an auspicious meeting with Larry Gibson while at a tournament in Ohio University’s Convocation Center, Gibson would go on to offer Hughes a coaching job at the University of Toledo.
“It was like a third assistant, where you had a ceiling on what you could earn, but it gave me my foot into Toledo, and then he advanced me to be a full-time assistant,” Hughes says.
He worked for the men’s team 1991-96, the kismet came calling in 1996 when he was offered the assistant coach of the women’s basketball team.
After discussing the opportunity with his wife, they thought the job felt right.
The year he coached the women’s team, they won the MAC Championship, and they went on to the NCAA Tournament. Hughes’ banner year at Toledo coincided with the same year the WNBA played its first game.
Hughes’s father, who ran a restaurant and owned a furniture store in Lowell, knew his son wanted to become a coach someday. When the opportunity to coach for the Charlotte Sting, one of the eight WNBA teams, opened, his father told Hughes that it would be the ticket for him. So, Hughes began to educate himself about the WNBA because it was very new at the time and just starting up.
Tapes were the lifeline for Hughes to learn and see what the vision was for the women’s team. Hughes says the basketball part of learning was fine, but learning the women’s game, the people and the players he had to learn quickly. All things considered, Hughes was proud of the work he invested in the women’s game.
Marynell Meadors was the head coach of the Charlotte Sting at the time, and when Hughes first interviewed with her, she did not offer him the job.
“I said to her, you’ll be sorry if you don’t talk to me,” Hughes says. “Now that’s a pretty bold statement. So, she did, but she didn’t give me the job. But then about a year later, it didn’t work out with the person, she retired, and she came back, and I interviewed again.”
As a part of the learning experience of interviewing for the assistant coaching position, Hughes says that if he could give something to a male or female player, he wouldn’t give them talent but would give them persistence. He says persistence is what can separate players.
About halfway through the 1999 season at Charlotte, the team was not doing very well. The Sting was in last place,
and coaching changes were made, offering Hughes the position to be the interim head coach. In a nutshell, that was his trial period.
Now, what was interesting about Charlotte was that the point guard on that team was Dawn Staley, the current South Carolina Gamecocks head coach, and Hughes says that was a pretty good place to start.
During the 1999 season in Charlotte, Hughes kept his home back in Toledo, where his family stayed behind while he coached. So, when the opportunity to be a head coach the Cleveland Rockers opened, Hughes took the job to be close to home. It gave him the chance to not move his daughter from the opportunities offered to her for her volleyball career. Always a Cleveland guy at heart, the opportunity was too good for Hughes to pass up.
Tricia Binford, a former player for the Rockers and the current head coach of the Montana State Bobcats, says Hughes helped change the culture and always saw the potential in all the players.
“He was super positive. Even though he was intense, he just wanted the best for everybody. It’s really unique to have a coach tell you that you could be a star, you could be a role player for the Rockers, but his respect was throughout, across the board,” Binford says. “You could be in any role, and you still had just tremendous respect, because he was just so good to people he cared about. He cared about the journey, cared about your success and he’s been one of my greatest mentors ever since.”
Binford says when she played for the Rockers, she was picked mid-season when the team was at its lowest point. A team culture had not been brought in at that point, and she says it felt like the team was just going through the motions.
However, when Hughes took over, the team adopted a bond that allowed them to lock in and even win the ECC. Hughes served as an inspiration to everyone, maintaining relationships even long after the team disbanded.
Binford says she maintained contact because she respected him and his mind for the game.
“It’s one of those things that is, (when) I got into the profession, he was the first person I actually contacted when I was considering retiring,” Binford says. “… He’s got a lot of great information, but he also has just the understanding of the stressors, the pressures of a college coach and what that needs to look like from a life balance standpoint. Spiritually, I think we align really similarly there, as well as our culture and our values. He’s just been a great friend, a great mentor, and I will always reach out to him for just supporting getting better at what I do.”
The three seasons Hughes spent with Cleveland before the team disbanded in 2003 were when his brand was established, as to what kind of coach he was and what the culture would look like if he were the coach. According to the Sports Business Journal, Cleveland may likely get a WNBA again by 2028.
“I was head coach, and we were the rockers,” Hughes says. “I’m a rock and roll guy, and we did things with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I met a lot of people there, and I just identified, and I still do identify with Cleveland. So that broke my heart when you know [they disbanded], and then you’re kind of at a crossroads, what do you do? Right? And then San Antonio stepped in.”
The San Silver Antonio Stars called Hughes a year before Cleveland’s final season. At the time, taking the job did not seem like the right fit, and Hughes believed that he would not have been hired anyway. A year later, after San Antonio made staff changes, they were getting serious about the program. After talking to them, it felt right then for Hughes to take the job and move to San Antonio.
Something important to Hughes was for both of his children to start and finish school in one place, so moving to San Antonio allowed his son to have that opportunity. Moving to Texas was tough, being a deep-seated Ohioan, but San Antonio was very welcoming to him, his wife and his two children, Bryce and Sara when he began his first season in 2005.
After spending 12 years with San Antonio and going to the championship once, toward the end of his time with the Stars, multiple players were retiring, and the team was suffering from a rebuild. Transitioning from coaching players in their prime to retiring to starting it up again, Hughes watched the franchise become the Las Vegas Aces in 2018.
In 2016, Hughes decided it was time to pass the baton and to step away from San Antonio. He spent a year away
from the WNBA before taking on the head coaching position for the Seattle Storm. Something that drew him to Seattle were players like Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird. Each one of them was a player Hughes had dreamed of coaching.
Something that Hughes had succeeded at yet, which he had never done before his coaching career in Seattle, was win a championship. He would go on to win not one, but two titles in 2018 and 2020 with the Seattle Storm. After winning the first championship, he couldn’t help but think of the hard work of the players and the support of those around him.
“I went through a series of emotions. I knew we were good, and the coach in a lot of cases kind of has the best gauge. I also knew we were the best team,” Hughes says. “I tried for 15 years to win a championship. I kind of kept reaching for that in my confidence. Winning that was an absolute testament to the players that I had believed in. It was also a testament to being persistent. I just remember wanting to find my wife. She was the person I wanted to see.”
After spending time in Seattle and winning two championships, it was time for Hughes to retire from the WNBA in 2021. He had gone through COVID-19, battled cancer and had the Olympics coming up. The groundwork had been laid for the next Storm coach, and everyone thought it would be the best timing for the transition.
In 2019, his former point guard and USA Women’s Basketball National Team head coach, Dawn Staley, selected Hughes to serve as an assistant coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where the team would achieve a gold medal.
“I had coached Dawn, and so that was a wonderful
honor,” Hughes says. “So, then I spent the last five years with USA basketball as a coach.”
After the team beat Japan and won the gold, Hughes knew it was the last time he was going to be an active coach, on a staff or with a team. He knew that was it, and he was overwhelmed with emotions. He couldn’t help but think of the people that were really important in his life.
“I thought of my mom and dad, and my mom was still alive,” Hughes says. “My dad had passed, and I just thought of how great would that have been for him, who served in the Air Force, who was very much my biggest supporter. But you think of people like that, people that really had invested in your journey.”
Retirement
Currently, Hughes works as a chief basketball advisor for a software company called VReps Basketball, which revolutionizes basketball training and strategy with innovative technology. According to the company’s site, it enhances the game by combining traditional coaching and interactive digital tools. Hughes also did some broadcasting for ESPN up until 2024.
Hughes was also inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2024, which was a really special moment in his life. A two-time WNBA Champion and Gold Medal-winning coach, Hughes is the only coach in WNBA history to take four different franchises to the playoffs and advance all four teams. With a record of 281-311, he claims the third-most wins all-time in the league. He was also twice named WNBA Coach of the Year, first in 2001 and again in 2007.
Eight of the players on one of his first teams, Madison-Plains, even came to support Hughes when he was inducted. It was amazing for Hughes to see them all those
He’s got a lot of great information, but he also has just the understanding of the stressors, the pressures of a college coach and what that needs to look like from a life balance standpoint.
-Tricia Binford, former Rockers player and current head coach of the Montana State Bobcats
years later. Wilson says he was the one who spearheaded getting the group together to support Hughes’s success.
“Everybody had a great time,” Wilson says. “I know Dan was happy to have everybody there, but that was quite an honor for us that were there to get to see that. He’s done well for himself. I mean, he’s made it, and it all started at little Madison-Plains.”
Someone that Hughes made known in the life he has led; it could not get done without the support of his wife. She
was the most influential person and his greatest assistance, consistently in his life through everything.
“We were a team, and she played a role that it’s hard to deny I would not have been nearly as good without her she did it all,” Hughes says. “She did it all and she was honest with me. The things that my kids and my wife gave me were a reflection of myself. That was when they would tell me when I was wrong, and that you need someone like that in your life.”
As home to both a cutting-edge military defense manufacturing plant Anduril and Centrus Energy’s uranium enrichment facility, Southeast Ohio appears to be all-systems-go when it comes to flex.
Story by MCKENNA CHRISTY | Image renderings by JobsOhio
Just south of the Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus sits the future construction site of Anduril Industries’ new 5 million square foot facility.But the site marks much more than buildings, it symbolizes new jobs in Ohio and advancement in military defense manufacturing.
Anduril, an American defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems and products used by the military, is landing in Pickaway County.
The $14 billion defense company is based in Costa Mesa, California, and was founded by Palmer Luckey. Luckey is an entrepreneur mostly known as the founder of Oculus VR, which is now owned by Meta, and as the designer of Oculus Rift, a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets.
Both pages: A compositie image of Anduril’s Fury aircraft.
LEFT | A rendering of Arsenal 1.
By 2035, Ohio will experience its largest job creation in the state’s history as Anduril plans to hire over 4,000 production and service workers,, according to JobsOhio.
The facility was dubbed “Arsenal-1” and is considered Anduril’s “first hyperscale manufacturing facility,” according to the corporation’s website. The entire facility will stretch 5 million square feet and be responsible for manufacturing “cutting-edge military drones,” according to JobsOhio.
Connor Brogan runs Anduril’s business operations and strategic real estate team and was project lead for Arsenal-1. He says Ohio was chosen by Anduril because it could provide workforce resources, project timeliness and the necessary “site component.”
“It becomes a pretty obvious choice,” Brogan says.
“Every single phone call, every single person we met with [in Ohio] was extremely helpful. These are really hard deals to negotiate, and it’s as much quantitative fact-based as it is qualitative.”
Construction of the facility will begin immediately after state and local officials give their approval, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Anduril plans to start production in July 2026
Anduril plans to manufacture its Fury drones as its first product at the facility, which will happen in 2026. Fury drones, according to Anduril’s website, are “high-performance, multi-mission group 5 autonomous air” vehicles “delivering an unfair advantage for unrivaled deterrence.”
Brogan says as more factories are developed at Arsenal-1, more products will be developed such as Roadrunner, Anvil and Ghost. Roadrunner is another Autonomous Air Vehicle and has a variant known as Roadrunner-M: “built for ground-based air defense that can rapidly launch, identify, intercept, and destroy a wide variety of aerial threats,” according to Anduril’s website.
Similarly, Anvil “intercepts potential drone threats,” as written on Anduril’s website. Meanwhile, Ghost is an Unmanned Aircraft System in which Anduril’s website has labeled as “expeditionary, quiet, and modular.”
Because the facility will be near the Rickenbacker Airport, this “provides direct access to two 12,000-foot runways and a 75-acre private apron capable of supporting military-scale aircraft, ensuring rapid delivery of components and systems to our customers,” according to Anduril’s website.
Ohio and Anduril announced their partnership in January 2025. J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO, is an U.S. Air Force veteran who sees Anduril in Ohio as somewhat symbolic.
Nauseef says the work being done at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Greene County, along with other military development happening in the state, makes Pickaway County an important place for Anduril to be.
“The great thing about Ohio is that you have that work that’s happening there,” Nauseef says. “It’s been happening in the actual same location that the Wright Brothers learned how to fly.”
Anduril “invested $900 million in capital into the surrounding area,” according to JobsOhio, and the facility will bring over $2 billion in annual economic output, and over $1 billion will be generated from in-state labor income. Overall, Anduril is expected to add about $1 billion to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“We’re going to be opening a bunch of different types of roles,” Brogan says. “We’re going to have more of your bread-and-butter manufacturing roles, technicians, assemblers [and] fabricators. You’re going to have a ton of work that’s going to be needed on the supply chain side, warehouse management, inventory management.”
As Anduril settles in Ohio, Brogan says more job opportunities and types of roles will amerge. Brogan explains how Anduril, in order to support job development,wants to build training programs in the K-12 system, vocational schools and universities.
“You have engineering, mechanical engineers, electrical
engineers, you have world class organizations, universities [like] Ohio State and others,” Brogan says. “And we’re not going to be able to be successful unless we have partnerships in the community.”
However, more than just one region in Ohio will benefit from Anduril’s presence. “Southeast Ohio will have opportunities from that,” Nauseef says. “There’s going to be opportunities for capital investment and new companies that’ll be sprinkled around the state, but a lot of them in Southeast Ohio.”
While Anduril will bring in money for Ohio, the state is also providing incentives. On Jan. 27, Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik approved a 30-year Job Creation Tax Credit worth nearly $500 million to support Anduril’s manufacturing facility.
On Feb. 13, Gov. DeWine and Mihalik also announced that the state would use $92 million from the All Ohio Future Fund “to advance infrastructure at locations in Gallia, Guernsey, Muskingum, and Pickaway counties,” according to the press release. The funds will also be used to support Anduril, with $70 million being allocated to the manufacturing site.
Tim Colburn, the economic development director at Pickaway Progress Partnership, explains how the incentives given to Anduril are meant to ensure Pickaway County and surrounding areas receive benefits and are taken care of through the partnership.
“The jobs, high paying jobs, will take care of our community, but we’re going to make sure that Anduril will work with us in the negotiations to make sure we leave some dollars in the community to benefit the community,” Colburn says.
The average annual salary for Arsenal-1 employees is expected to be $132,000, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Regarding job recruitment, for the new facility, Colburn says during his visit to Anduril in California, he observed a commitment to developing within the company and hiring locally.
In recent years, Ohio has welcomed large manufacturing corporations Intel and Honda to create more jobs and economic growth.
Intel is developing two factories in New Albany while Honda seeks to make Ohio its electric vehicle hub in Marysville.
Ohio has become a state equipped to welcome large corporations, which Nauseef says is due to the state’s preparedness. “We have really figured out how to create a, not only welcoming and hospitable environment, which we’re known for, but we move quickly,” Nauseef says. “Like a business, we’re able to go from a global, state level perspective to a local perspective very quickly through our relationship with all of our partners.”
As Ohio prioritizes bringing jobs to the state by welcoming large manufacturing corporations, the true effects and projected benefits wait to be fully seen. The partnership between Anduril and Ohio is meant to facilitate mutual advantage, and both Nauseef and Colburn expect Anduril to fulfill their promises to the state.
“Optimism and success breed more optimism,” Nauseef says. “When there’s optimism and opportunity, capital tends to flow, and entrepreneurs tend to take risks and build things and drive things. That’s what you’re going to see happening, starting to flourish and starting to flower now.”
Today, Centrus Energy operates cascading centrifuges that produce enriched uranium to power nuclear reactors. But for some area residents, the facility will always be toxic.
Story by MADALYN BLAIR | Photos by BRIANNA TASSIELLO
Vina Colley started working as an electrician at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, known locally as “The A-Plant” or PORTS, 45 years ago when she was 34. She was healthy and energetic and passed every screening test from her doctor to make her an eligible worker. It wasn’t until three years later, in 1983, that she started getting sick and breaking out in rashes
Although the atomic energy plant closed in 2001, for the last 40 years Colley has demanded “The A-Plant” be properly cleaned up by workers who are told ahead of time that they will be exposed to harmful chemicals. Because of the risk those workers are taking, Colley wants them to receive hazardous pay.
“I’ve never asked them to shut it down … They wanted me to do [that] because they needed a scapegoat, but I wouldn’t ever say that,” Colley says.
The fight intensified when the American Centrifuge Plant, located just east of U.S. Highway 23 in Piketon, announced it would begin enriching uranium in 2023. Even today, many residents and former workers face ongoing health consequences because of those plants.
Colley says it was “heartbreaking” to learn that the American Centrifuge was coming to the region. It was going to be yet another health and environmental battle she and many Piketon residents would have to navigate.
Centrus Energy partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop the uranium enrichment gas centrifuge technology. The American Centrifuge could restore America’s domestic uranium enrichment for national security and commercial purposes, according to Centrus’ website. The formation of centrifuges would put the U.S. at the top of uranium enrichment technology.
Before the American Centrifuge Plant, the U.S. had to rely on other countries, primarily Russia, to supply enriched uranium. Although, a subsidiary of Urenco -- an international supplier of enrichment services and fuel cycle
products for the civil nuclear industry – has enriched uranium in New Mexico since 2010, it’s owned by foreign government conglomerates and European-based businesses; the New Mexico plant is the only operating commercial uranium enrichment facility in North America.
The American Centrifuge Plant is the first U.S.-owned technology enrichment plant to start production since 1954. The facility occupies about as much space as the U.S. Pentagon building, equaling about 29 acres. However, the process inside the plant is most crucial, as it is the key to producing nuclear power.
In May 2024, former President Joe Biden signed H.R. 1042, a law banning the import of Russian-enriched uranium into the U.S. until 2040 if the DOE concludes there is a threat to U.S. national interests or a risk of supply disruption. The Bellona Environmental Foundation reported that Russian centrifuge-based uranium enrichment plants supply 40% of the world’s enrichment capacity. In the last 30 years, the U.S. has purchased 25% of the enriched uranium product it needs from Russia.
For the U.S. to achieve its clean energy goals, the DOE announced it needs new nuclear energy, and to create nuclear fuel, a key process is enrichment. For 10 years, the U.S. did not have an American-owned source of enriched uranium. The Paducah GDP, located in Paducah, Kentucky, was the most recent uranium enriching facility plant active from 1952 to 2013. The plant was the last government-owned uranium enrichment facility operating in the U.S. Now, Centrifuge is cued to bridge that gap with its Piketon plant.
The A-Plant’s dark history of health crises
“I believe [the government] had in their intentions to make us a nuclear dump all this time,” Colley says.
When Colley worked at PORTS, she was exposed to harmful chemicals. She was in confined spaces cleaning off radioactively contaminated oil from the electric equipment while never having to wear hazardous suits.She knew nothing else, she says.
“I thought it was the best job I ever had,” she says. “And I thought it was really safe because they wanted me to wear hard hats and safety glasses.”
Unfortunately, Colley is hardly an isolated case. Her family members from the area have their own stories to share. She lost a brother to pancreatic cancer, another brother to cell cancer, her husband to melanoma cancer, a brother-inlaw to hand nodules that developed into cancer,his son to kidney cancer and his wife to breast cancer.
According to the 2023 Ohio Annual Cancer Report, between 2016-2020 Pike County had a 509.5 per 100,000 cancer incidence rate. Comparatively, between 2015-2019, the average Ohio rate was 465.3 and the national rate is 449.4, meaning there were roughly 60 more cancer incidents in Pike County than the national average.
As a full-time employee at “The A-Plant,” Colley hardly missed any shifts, but as time passed, she noticed she was getting sick. Her coworkers were experiencing similar symptoms and respiratory issues as well. Although she didn’t know exactly how, Colley was convinced she was being exposed to radiation. Her hair was falling out, she started having thyroid problems and she’d break out in rashes when she was handling the oil.
“Why are you guys all sitting there working on that? That’s contaminated,” Colley recalls human resources saying to her. “And I said, ‘Oh, really? Nobody told us.’ How would [I] know?”
Behind a white tarp in her garage, she holds newspaper clippings, legal documents, press releases, medical records and people’s stories inside plastic containers that tower toward the ceiling. Colley is well known around the county for trying to help others who have experienced the harmful side effects of working at the plant. She is the president of Portsmouth Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security (PRESS) and the co-founder of the National Nuclear Workers for Justice (NNWJ).
On Feb. 6, situated next to Colley on Colley’s living room couch is Paula Spears, who is gripping a picture frame of her since-passed mother. Spears’ mother worked at “The A-Plant” for 10 years, starting as a janitor and then moving up to be the first female janitorial foreman in the plant.
It was one year ago that Spears started to open about her mother’s passing. She says Colley was graciously there to talk with her when she was ready to discuss her mother’s health and “The A-Plant.” Now, Spears works with Colley on efforts to create educational exposure about the health effects the plant causes.
Paula Spears recounts how she watched her mother get increasingly ill the longer she worked at “The A-Plant.” Her mother was first diagnosed with gynecologic cancer, underwent surgery, and one year later was admitted back to the hospital for a complete hysterectomy. After 10 years with “The A-Plant,” she decided to quit.
“I’d asked her before, ‘Mom, what do you guys really do
up there?’ ‘Oh, it just has to do with rubber stuff, you know this and that.’ It wasn’t nothing she was going to reveal what was really happening,” Spears says.
Both Spears’ mother and Colley both started developing rashes on their calves and hands. Their infected areas became extremely red, crusty and itchy. Colley recalls a time when she was working and oil spilled and a mist filled the area; she says she immediately started breaking out in rashes. However, someone still had to clean up the spill, which was Colley’s job. She says she crawled to where the oil spill was and cleaned the area, directly exposing her.
When Spears’ mother’s condition worsened, she got an allergy test, which showed she was allergic to petroleum. She was sick on and off again for the remainder of her life. Spears says her mother’s illness would clear up whenever she was away from the plant, but in 2010 she noticed her mother was not herself – she was fatigued and had pain underneath her right rib area to her back. After years of doctor visits and hospital trips, practitioners finally noticed there was a problem with her mother’s kidneys and liver.
“She was in everything up there,” Spears says. “There’s nothing there that she wasn’t around or exposed to.”
Spears’ mother passed when she was nearly 73 years old, a premature death. Her mother was never diagnosed with beryllium disease, but Spears was convinced otherwise. Beryllium is a metal that is used to produce many products, including cars, computers, golf clubs and electrical equipment. This type of metal is common because it’s light, non-magnetic and a conductor of heat and electricity. Although the disease is rare today, according to the Cleveland Clinic, it has a rapid onset and progresses quickly; people can get the disease by breathing it in. Beryllium exposure can also cause a skin rash called contact dermatitis.
“She had suffered some horrible health problems all these years, on and off, and they’re to blame for it,” Spears says. “She was denied and deprived of health, income and enjoying being retired.”
Between 1985 and 1987, Colley took a leave of absence from “The A-Plant” because she was too sick to work. During her absence, Colley never thought anything was wrong with the chemicals she worked with until the DOE came knocking at her door questioning what she knew about the plant’s oil. Afterthat interaction, she knew some-
“Why are you guys all sitting there working on that? That’s contaminated,” Colley recalls human resources saying to her. “And I said, ‘Oh, really? Nobody told us.’ How would [I] know?”
thing was wrong at work.
If a worker takes a leave of absence from “The A-Plant,” then they were supposed to keep their ranking, but that wasn’t the case for Colley, who lost her seniority as an electrician. The plant sent her to a doctor in Portsmouth, but wouldn’t pay him to examine her, so the doctor cleared Colley to go back to work. But she knew she was not healthy enough to work. Due to her inadequate health and lack of care, she made the decision not to return.
“I lost my seniority, I lost my job, I lost my benefits and I’m still sick, [and] I ended up having beryllium disease,” she says.
Colley says the area’s job opportunities with the most funding relate to the DOE. She says the government conducts community feedback surveys about the nuclear plants, but the list of people who are included in the interviews is exclusionary. No one in the area wants nuclear power near their homes, she says; the only peopleinvited to the meetings are plant workers and businesspeople.
In 1989, the DOE established the Environmental Cleanup Program for “The A-Plant” site. Six years later, the land was turned over to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), which DOE designated to be the Community Reuse Organization for the site. The SODI is a community reuse organization the DOE initiated to serve Pike, Ross, Scioto and Jackson counties. The organization’s goal is to bolster the economy, utilize land and facilities and support local industry. So far, the group has given 300 acres of the site’s 3,777 acres, which includes the surrounding land, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Other parts of the land were sold off to companies such as Trillium and Oklo, which are interested in building a hydrogen-fueled power plant and two nuclear power plant reactors on the site, according to the Dispatch article
Oklo Chief of Staff John Hanson told the Chillicothe Gazette in 2024 that Piketon residents understand and approve of nuclear power.
This sentiment could be linked to an initiative to create more job opportunities in the area, which has an above poverty
rate. A 2020 Ohio Poverty Report documenting 2014 to 2018 found 19.4% of Pike County was impoverished. The statewide poverty rate was 14.5%, indicating nearly 5% more Pike County residents experience poverty than the rest of Ohio.
On Feb. 6, Paul Mobley is an independent operations engineer and an anti-nuclear activist from northwest Indiana. After reading about the enrichment facilities in Piketon, he said he wanted to do work there, which is then when he was introduced to Colley.
Mobley is testing gamma and X-rays and alpha and beta particles. He is interested in testing the surrounding area of the plant’s site to find if anything is contaminated. One sample from Little Beaver Creek, which is near the plant, yielded a beta level that was three times the legal limit set for surface soil contamination. The Scioto Valley Guardian reported the contamination in the creek was traced to outflows from “The A-Plant” on-site radioactive waste-dump.
“It came to a point where [“The A-Plant” was] taking the PCB oils that was contaminated with radioactivity and chemicals, and they were just dumping it right into the
PHOTO | Paul Mobley, operations engineer, explains the environmental effects of PORTS cleanup efforts.
“You haven’t even finished so-called cleanup, not that it was ever done correctly, and you’re already bringing in more. There is no subsequent thing as clean nuclear energy at this point in time.”
Vina Colley, former A-Plant employee
ground,” Mobley says. “All that did was deeply contaminate the entire site.”
Mobley posts his data to TikTok under the username @ cobbwebb3 and YouTube handle @paulmobleyscience to spread awareness about the issue. He says he is dedicated to collecting data and sharing it to help hold “The A-Plant” accountable for their lack of transparency in the site’s cleanup efforts. “It’s criminal,” Colley says. “Eventually, somebody should go to prison for all this. It’s murder. We’re guinea pigs.”
Although the American Centrifuge is already enriching uranium, and has multiple other plans to add more nuclear plants to the site, Colley and concerned Piketon residents say they are committed to ensuring the radioactive contamination at “The A-Plant” get cleaned up.
“You haven’t even finished so called cleanup, not that it was ever done correctly, and you’re already bringing in more,” Spears says. “There is no subsequent thing as clean nuclear energy at this point in time.”
In 2022, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported there are over 20,000 uranium hexafluoride cylinders at the site; there are nearly 2,000 low-enriched uranium cylinders, over 18,000 depleted uranium cylinders and almost 400 empty cylinders. Those cylinders have been openly stored for decades and contribute to some of the highest sources of radioactive contamination at the entire plant site, according to the article.
In 2024, Sen. Sherrod Brown, (D-Ohio), supported adding Pike and Scioto counties’ zip codes to RECA’s new Nuclear Storage Exposure Provision. The addition would guarantee Ohio workers and residents adjacent to the DOE’s site in Piketon are also made eligible for compensation due to the improper storage of radioactive material.
But Colley is in it for the long fight. She and others are working to get Pike and Scioto Counties added to the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which provides a one-time benefit payment to people who have become sick or died due to radiation exposure, according to WKBN.
Colley has testified to Gov. Mike DeWine demanding RECA support, sent over packets with data collections to Vice President JD Vance and spoken with Brown about the bill. Portsmouth city council members and commissioners also agree with Colley and wrote letters to their representatives in Washington, D.C., requesting workers and residents be eligible for RECA.
Although Colley’s goals haven’t yet been reached, she calls herself “stubborn” and plans to continue advocating for change in her community and speaking out for what she believes is right until workers and residents finally get acknowledged.
One of the greatest gifts of living in Appalachia is the bountiful outdoor recreation available. The rolling hills give way to winding rivers, and the forests house bubbling creeks, all home to fish of all kinds. Gallia County native Shannon Mayes is teaching the youth to explore those rivers and fertile creeks and set their sights on trout.
Mayes has been fishing and hunting since he was 9 years old. The Gallia Academy teacher has spent the last 12 years perfecting and running Gallipolis’ Trout Unlimited Teens Program (TU Teens). He advises the Mad River Chapter 447, which Mayes says has consistently been ranked the largest in the country.
Trout Unlimited’s mission statement is “To bring together diverse interests to care for and recover rivers and streams so our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon.” Although the name “TU Teens” implies young adults, Mayes welcomes students from sixth grade and beyond to learn the art of connecting with nature.
“I teach conservation, meaning define the word conservation and really discuss what we can do to help,” Mayes says. “Another thing is fly tying, basic fly casting and fly fishing instruction. That’s the beef. That’s the real big part of my program--we practice casting fly rods.”
Starting in October and continuing weekly until March, Mayes’ Tuesday evenings are designated to the after-school program and the 40 kids in it. Mad River Chapter 447 has one hour dedicated to homework before it is time to begin the lesson. Some favorite activities of students range from coloring pages of various trout species to fly casting in the Gallia Academy Middle School gym.
The
Story by MIA WALSH Photos PROVIDED
Many events are weather permitting. If the winter is mild and the early spring is warm, the tweens and teens will take to river cleanups and helping out in Gallipolis.
“Just doing some things like that to help others, because really, our community is where we get our money, so we give back to the community as much as we can,” Mayes says.
Trout Unlimited is a 501(c)(3) organization, meaning all of the funding for the program, including supplies and the twice annual fishing trips out of state, is paid for by Mayes’ fundraising efforts. That allows the kids to not have to worry about where or how they can afford to fish, only how they can perfect their casts.
“I grew up without anything, without money. I don’t want it to be about that,” Mayes says. “If any kid wants to learn to fly fish, I’ll supply everything they need.”
One thing Mayes opts not to supply himself with are the flies used in casting. Jamie Eggers, Gallipolis native and longtime friend of Mayes, founded Biomass Fly Tying Company. In his spare time, he aids with the TU Teens program, acting as another chaperone on the national fishing trips along with graduates of the program. Eggers is keen on demonstrating exactly how to tie a fly. Although not a difficult task, it is tedious. Eggers acknowledges that there are a lot of fly fishermen, but not a lot of fly tiers.
“It’s really not that difficult. You just have to do it. A lot of people don’t want to take the time to learn that process [but], it is very rewarding to catch a fish on a fly you tied yourself,” Eggers says.
Eggers acknowledges that Ohio is considered a troutpoor state. That is why the TU Teens travel out of state twice
a year to find their perfect fish. Students are given a packing list but everything else (room, food, supplies) is covered by Mayes’ fundraising. Those trips put the skills cultivated over months to the test, and the results are amazing.
Joining Mayes and Eggers as chaperones is a specially selected crew of TU Teen graduates as “guides.” There is a sense of handing off a torch, as those adults have special insight because they know both how it feels to go through the program and lead students in the community. Nate Russel, a member of the TU Teens inaugural class in 2012, has been a guide for years to much reward.
“We took them to Seneca rock, West Virginia. I tied up some flies for the trip. We had one kid that I was guiding. We refer to him as Minko, and all he wanted to do was catch a golden trout,” Russel says. “So, we got to the last day of the trip, and he had yet to catch a golden trout. We were fishing in the Potomac River. On that last day, I tied on a fly for him that I tied, and a golden trout came up and took the fly. He caught it. We got a picture, and that was he never stopped smiling after that.”
Before those trips happen, the students try their hands at casting flies in nature, not just gymnasiums. March is the first month when the students get to cast in local farm ponds and parks. Students are encouraged to bring their whole family, snacks and a great attitude to hopefully spend the morning catching fish together. Russel remembers those weekend mornings fondly.
“I took a whole year before I even caught my first trout, and that’s just like anything else. If you put your time in and you are consistent with stuff, it all comes together sooner or later,” Russel says.
It takes Mayes 22 meetings a year to teach fly fishing from the ground up. Some kids believe that they are fishing for flies, and others believe they will be fishing from planes. No matter the starting point, Mayes teaches them all with
love and care. That love is returned by the greater community. There are 75 annual contributors to the program who receive photos from their outings, a thank you card and a specialized chapter hat for them to wear around Gallipolis.
“You probably would think it’s a fly fishing capital of the world, because they all embrace it. Shannon’s got a Facebook page, and he’s got just hundreds of people, which is a ton for a small town like Gallipolis, it’s like, that could be 3/4 of the whole town,” Russel says.
The funding allows for more than just fishing and great memories. Mayes is changing lives. It takes a lot of patience and discipline to be a great fisherman. Mayes runs a tight crew, ensuring students use honorifics such as “ma’am” and “sir” when addressing people. Parents have even told Mayes about his positive impact on students from their grades to their character. Russel, above all else, values the way Mayes taught him respect.
“If you have respect, and it can really take you a long way in life. And he really taught me how to be respectful to others, and that’s something I [will] always be grateful for,” Russel says. Russel then offers this advice: “Start out small [in] farm ponds and then consistently work your way up and have some patience.”
Patience is the quality Mayes, Eggers and Russel agree is the most important trait in a great angler.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned from being a mentor is patience. Patience with teaching children is a lot different than teaching adults. It seems to be more rewarding,” Eggers says.
All three men also agree on the most rewarding aspect of their time with Trout Unlimited.
“Until you’ve seen a little girl catch a wild trout on a fly rod, and see the excitement, you have no idea why I do it and you don’t have any idea about it. I mean, it’s just, it’s special. It’s spectacular.”
Come rain or shine, here are the best fishing spots in Southeast
Story by SYDNEY LEHMANN AND KAYLA ESHBAUGH
Photos by KAYLA ESHBAUGH
Southeast Ohio’s fishing spots will hook you on more than just the great catches. With scenic views and tranquil waters, these destinations offer both beauty and (hopefully) bite.
Hear the rustling of the trees, smell the crisp air and feel the tugging of the line, within a short drive.
The Ohio River, Buckeye Lake, Clear Creek, Piedmont Lake, the Hocking River and Dow Lake provide a variety of fish, serene landscapes and recreational activities, including kayaking, walking trails and more. So, grab your gear and let these pictures guide you to your next big adventure!
Buckeye Lake (pictured: above)
A popular tourist destination, Buckeye Lake, is great for boating and kayaking. The 3,100 acres of water provide planty of room to troll for saugeye, cast for bass and drift with live bait for crappie. The lakeside businesses on the north shore and natural areas on the south shore bring the ideal balance.
Ohio River (pictured: opposite page and below)
The Ohio River is home to a variety of fish, including catfish, hybrid striped bass and sauger with opportunities to fish year-round. The vast river is great for both boat and shore fishing, offering you the chance to practice fishing techniques from casting and trolling to bottom fishing. Plus, rivertowns like Pomeroy, below, offer boat ramp access and fishing piers.
Piedmont Lake (pictured: above)
The calm water of Piedmont Lake is a great spot to catch muskellunge and to enjoy a more relaxed day on the water. Fishing techniques such as trolling, casting and live-bait fishing are popular, with most anglers fishing by boat, kayak or canoe.
Clear Creek (pictured: right)
Clear Creek is surrounded by a lush forest, exposed rocks and waterfalls. The popular fly-fishing spot is known for its rainbow trout that is stocked annually by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. While there is no boating at the creek, wading is common.
Hocking River (pictured: below)
A smallmouth bass fishing hotspot, the Hocking River, is not only scenic, but also accessible for both beginners and families because of its proximity to Athens and Ohio University. Casting and jigging are popular techniques, and the many public access points make it great for bank fishing.
Dow Lake is a peaceful, picturesque lake at Stroud’s Run State Park that offers kayak and canoe fishing, hiking trails, picnic areas and camping spots. At Dow Lake, anglers can find largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and channel catfish. The year-round fishing opportunities make it a great spot for anglers of all experience levels.
Reggie Robinson is more than just a DJ, he is an advocate, supporter and role model.
Story by SYDNEY LEHMANN
Photos by KAYLA ESHBAUGH
Adrug-free rap song started Reggie Robinson’s career as Rockin’ Reggie in the 1990s, a DJ who advocates for substance use prevention and rehabilitation. Today, Robinson is in long-term recovery and uses his experience to help others.
Rich Maskiell, Assistant Principal of Alexander Elementary School, worked with Robinson and saw his DJ performance. “He’s a huge asset to the community,” Maskiell says. “He doesn’t charge anybody, just promotes a drug-free lifestyle and has a ton of fun.”
In addition to his DJ sets, Robinson recently started an organization, Prevention Rocks, which provides mental health, first aid training, a vaping prevention program and more.
Robinson hopes to leave one legacy — a smile.
Why is substance use disorder recovery and prevention so important to you?
I’m a person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder myself. August was 37 years for me being sober. My addiction to alcohol nearly killed me. I started when I was 14 and it blew up almost 20 years of my life.
I got sober at 33 and the first thing I thought about was, “Oh my goodness, my kids, what kind of role model was I for them?” And I want them to stop before they even get started. So, I found out that prevention, it works.
How can people support your work?
At Health Recovery Services, we have the whole spectrum, from prevention to outpatient services to inpatient services. So, finding a way to support those. Another big thing is supporting people who’ve dealt with a substance use disorder or a mental health issue. There’s so much stigma out there still, so I think that’s a big way that people can support what we’re trying to do.
In what ways do you work a positive message into your DJ sets?
A lot of it’s unspoken. They just see that you can have so much fun without using alcohol, without using other drugs, without being out there bullying somebody. And we really role model positive behavior.
Describe some of your other involvement in Athens?
I want to be as involved as I can in the community. Being semi-retired, I’m not on as many boards. At one point, I was on probably five or six boards. But I’ve really prioritized what I’m doing now, not that any of them are unimportant, but there’s only so much time.
The [Athens County unit of the] NAACP is just getting started, and it’s an organization that’s fighting for social justice for all kinds of people, and I think that’s an important thing for me to devote my time to. I’ve also volunteered on a couple of boards that are recovery-oriented and advocating for people in recovery from substance use disorder and mental health issues.
