Check Out -- Woody Restoration Arts Incubator Project (Phase 1) Donate Go Fund Me _ Southeast Cleveland OH / Harvard AVE

Woody Restoration Arts Incubator Project (Phase 1)

Go Fund Woody 

Southeast Cleveland OH / Harvard AVE

Need Part-Time Retail job income, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio?

Need some Part-Time Retail job income? Shopping discount and a good crew to work with on the campus of downtown Cleveland, Ohio 44115 at Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College) Metro Campus Bookstore [textbooks, trade books, electronics, clothing, more including a Starbucks Cafe....

apply at BNCOLLEGEJOBS.COM

Voting Ballet Access and Obstructions to Votings._Fucking stop obstructing legal voters. The only significant fraud is political obstructions like this.

Ballot Access

Columbus—On November 6, the Ohio Senate approved Senate Bill 205, legislation that will limit the ability of public officials and local governments to proactively mail absentee ballot applications to registered voters. The practice has become popular in many Ohio counties since no-fault absentee voting was first instituted in 2006.

"This is a step backward from the reforms enacted following the dreadful 2004 elections, during which some voters waited in line until midnight to cast their ballot," said Senator Turner. "There is no need to roll back the progress we have made."

S.B. 205 would bar any government office or public official from mailing unsolicited absentee ballot applications except for the secretary of state, who could only do so for general elections—and only if the legislature appropriated the money for that purpose. The bill would put an end to the practice of boards of elections in the state's largest counties mass-mailing applications to increase participation, encourage voting by mail, and decrease Election Day lines.

The bill's sponsor cited the need to ensure statewide uniformity as cause for the bill, but some disagreed.

"Uniformity for government is not the same as equal access for voters. Ohio's largest county has 38-times the population of its smallest, and those differences need to be accounted for in our elections system," Senator Turner said. "Local election officials know their voters best, and are in a much better position than the General Assembly to respond to their needs."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/175332122/PRESS-RELEASE-Turner-Denounces-Absentee-Ballot-Bill-10-11-13

Phyllis Diller to receive Lifetime Award from her hometown

Posted: May 15, 2012 7:07 PM EDT
Updated: May 15, 2012 7:07 PM EDT

(WOIO) -

After 57 years of making the world laugh, trailblazing comedienne, actress and artist Phyllis Diller finally gets her due. The Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival, based out of Diller's birthplace of Lima, Ohio will present its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award at the comedienne's Los Angeles home in June, two weeks before its Opening Night Gala.

The 2012 Festival will take place July 6-8, 2012 primarily at the Veteran's Memorial Civic and Convention Center.

Diller attended Lima's Central High School, before attending Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago and Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, where she met fellow "Lima-ite" and classmate Hugh Downs.

The 94-year-old Diller, best known for her quick one-liners, cigarette holder, and unmistakable laugh started out during the Eisenhower years, when mainstream female comics were few and far between. After an infamous stint as a contestant on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life, the then 37-year-old housewife worked her first set at San Francisco's Purple Onion on March 7, 1955 - and remained there for 87 straight weeks.

[Northeast Ohio (Cleveland)] Superstar Bob Hope caught her act and became Hope's unofficial protégée, adopting his rapid-fire delivery for her own comedy. Coupled with Diller's common theme of the [humorously] angry and frustrated housewife in her act, her fame rose to unprecedented heights and broke down many barriers for female comedians.

She travelled with Bob Hope during the height of the Vietnam War to the region to perform with him in 1966 with his USO troupe. Her barrage of one-liners about the frustrations of being female in a domestically demanding culture was identified through her "husband," Fang - the catchall name for the men who had disappointed Diller, and for underachieving husbands everywhere.

Comic icons like Joan Rivers explained how radical Diller actually was: "She was the first one that there was such rage and such anger in her comedy. She had the anger that is now in all of us. And that's what made it so funny, because she spoke for all these women that were sitting home with five children and a husband that didn't work."

Diller appeared regularly in the 1960s as a special guest on many television programs including What's My Line? and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Diller has several film credits to her name, including a cameo appearance as Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass and provided the vocals for the Queen in Disney/Pixar's animated movie A Bug's Life. [Plus several pix with Bob Hope.]

Diller also starred in two short-lived TV series: the half-hour sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton (later retitled The Phyllis Diller Show) on ABC from 1966–1967, and the variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show on NBC in 1968.

She also guest starred [more recently] alongside William Shatner in an episode of Boston Legal and provided the voice work as Peter Griffin's mother, Thelma on Fox's hit show, Family Guy. Her most recent television appearance was a January, 2011 episode of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 as part of a panel of comedians.

"Phyllis Diller is from Lima, and it would be a major oversight and insult to her efforts if we did not do our best to recognize her achievements," says Festival Executive Director, Len Archibald. "Not only as a comedian, but as an [extraordinary and legendary] artist who defied expectations regarding the perception of what women were capable of."

Archibald will make the trip to Diller's home to shoot a video presentation of Diller's acceptance of the Lifetime Achievement Award to be screened in its entirety during the Festival's Awards Gala at City Club on July 8.

He promises Diller's involvement in the Festival's second year will be the first of several celebrities who will help attract international attention to the event, which debuted in Van Wert during the summer of 2011.

"We are tremendously honored and excited that Ms. Diller has accepted our award. I hope this will open the eyes of the community so everyone understands just how many artists hail from Northwest Ohio. This will also serve as an example for future artists that you can be from anywhere in the world and still make your mark."

What: The Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival
Where: Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center / 7 Town Square/ Lima, Ohio / 45801
When: Friday, July 6 to Sunday, July 8, 2012.

Tickets and passes are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office and the Festival's website, www.nwoff.org. Single-event tickets start at $5 with specified events free to high school students. For more information, please visit www.nwoff.org or contact Executive Director Len Archibald by calling 419-979-9692.

Copyright 2012 WOIO. All rights reserved.

[edit additions/clarifications_Neale Sourna]

Janitor Turned Owner Rescues Failing Ohio Factory

By Aaron Task | Driven – [video]

Tony Lee always dreamed of owning his own business and sending his kids to college. Today, he's co-owner of Ring Masters, a company that makes engine rings for industrial use, and his daughter is heading to college next fall. Tony is hoping she'll be the first college graduate in the family.

Tony has achieved some of the biggest goals he set out for himself and his family, which are impressive, given he grew up in a low-income neighborhood with limited opportunities and never went to college. But what's even more inspiring is Tony Lee's journey to get there.

After leaving the Army in 1997, and a short stint at American Steel, Tony took the only decent job he could find. Tony accepted a janitorial job at an Eaton Corp. factory in Massillon, Ohio in the heart of the rust belt. Like a lot of U.S. manufacturing centers, Massillon has suffered from closed factories and thousands of lost jobs. Tony was grateful for the opportunity and made the most of it, rising from janitor to foreman in four years.

But Tony was just getting started.

In 2002, Eaton started shutting down divisions of the factory, one by one. Soon over 1000 workers were down to just 35 in Tony's division, which was slated to be closed at the end of 2002.

But Tony refused to let the factory die. He spent hours at night in the local public library studying. Despite never going to college, much less business school, Tony wrote a business plan detailing how his factory could survive and prosper.

Against all odds, he convinced a group of investors to buy the factory and keep it running. Members of the investor group and Tony's co-workers all say they were inspired by Tony's leadership, passion for the business and drive to keep it alive. Everyone, it seemed, was rooting for Tony to succeed.

But there was one big catch: The investors wanted Tony to have some "skin in the game," so he had to raise $25,000 to purchase a stake in the factory.

For Tony, this was just one more obstacle to overcome. After taking a second mortgage on his house, selling his motorcycle and literally scrounging for loose change, Tony had the money and was in on the deal. Actually he was "all in;" failure was not an option for Tony.

Now, 9 years later, Ring Masters is a thriving business with over $4 million in annual sales. From 15 workers at the start, the company now has over 20 employees, a growing list of clients and plans for further expansion.

Tony says he's recouped his $25,000 investment "several times over" and is now a co-owner of a growing business. For anyone who's ever thought 'I can run the company better than my boss', Tony Lee is an inspiration. And he's still inspiring his co-workers and employees by working side-by-side with them on the factory floor. Tony says he "leads by example" and would never ask an employee to do a job he wasn't willing to do.

Tony has already beaten the odds and accomplished more than most people would even dare to attempt. Yet Tony is still driven to reach his ultimate goal of owning several businesses.

RingMasters is a "stepping stone", Tony says. Given his track record so far, there's no reach to doubt he'll reach his ultimate goal.

###

The Driven Team is on a nationwide search for the next entrepreneur to be featured in an upcoming episode! Share your story with us at Driven@yahoo-inc.com or follow us on twitter @aarontask #drivenstories.

Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino looking to train 100 more card dealers, makes job offers to 700 for non-gaming positions

Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 6:23 PM Updated: Friday, February 03, 2012, 10:38 AM

By Dave Davis, The Plain Dealer
Follow

Share Email Print

View full sizeChuck Crow, The Plain DealerVeteran dealer Jerry Shields demonstrates the proper way to shuffle a deck of cards at Caesar's Table Games Service Academy at Thistledown.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The operator of a Las Vegas-style casino in the Higbee Building is making job offers to hundreds of people and has re-opened the door to people who want to deal cards and run table games in Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino.

Officials with Caesars Entertainment Corp. are looking to add 100 people to a class currently training at a 12-week card dealer academy at Thistledown in North Randall.

Applications are being accepted online only at www.horseshoecleveland.com.

The move became necessary because some people who had been attending the academy since December at their own expense dropped out. Some didn't like the dealing cards; others wanted to apply for jobs elsewhere in the casino or found another job altogether. And a few failed the drug test.

About 600 are currently training at the suburban horse racing track, which is owned by Caesars and has been turned into a makeshift casino for the off season.

"We've lost a few people," said Karen Kaminski, the casino's head of human resources. "The table games are going to be a very busy area of the casino. We want to make sure we have the right amount of staffing."

Caesars will oversee the day-to-day operations of the casino, a $400 million project on four floors of the former department store with 2,100 slot machine, 63 table games, a dedicated 30-table poker room and 400-seat buffet restaurant. The casino is being developed by Caesars and Dan Gilbert's gambling company, Rock Gaming LLC.

It was exactly a year ago Friday that Gilbert and Caesar's Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman announced, at a gala press conference inside Higbee's, that they would build a casino inside the former department store under the Horseshoe brand.

In addition to the new openings dealing cards, Caesars is still accepting applications for 39 other types of jobs, everything from surveillance supervisors to security guards, bartenders to bakery chefs, facilities mechanics to financial controllers. You can apply for those jobs online at the casino web site.

Even though the Cavaliers were away on a road trip to Orlando, Quicken Loans Arena was buzzing this week as 3,300 people who had applied in December for mostly non-gaming positions were interviewed on Wednesday, Thursday and today. Caesars officials are making job offers on the spot to 700 candidates. The offers are contingent on passing a drug test and background check.

But exactly when everyone will start is still up in the air as state officials are a couple weeks away from naming opening days for the new casinos in Cleveland and Toledo.

With the Higbee renovation nearly complete, Caesars officials said Thursday that most people offered jobs can expect to go on the payroll for training and orientation a couple of weeks before the casino opens.

"There have been a lot of tears of joy, just a lot of great big smiles coming out of our job offer room," Kaminski said. "When they get the conditional job offer in their hands it's like winning the lottery for them."

View full sizeChuck Crow, The Plain DealerPeople at Caesar's Table Games Service Academy gather around a gaming table on the first day of class in December. Caesars is accepting applications once again for 100 more people to attend the 12-week training class.

All this is good news for the city of Cleveland, which will receive income taxes from employees along with several million dollars a year in casino revenue tax once doors open to gamblers, probably by June 1.

City officials Wednesday credited the income tax paid largely by construction workers at the casino, the convention center and medical mart with creating an unexpected $10 million windfall by last year's end. That money will help cushion a 2012 budget proposed by Mayor Frank Jackson Wednesday that calls for recalling 20 more laid-off police officers, giving city employees 3 percent raises, and restoring cuts in recreation services.

As of Dec. 31, the casino developer had awarded construction contracts totaling $98.8 million -- 46 percent, or $46 million, going to firms owned by minorities or women.

Those firms include M Rivera Construction, Aster Elements, Relmec Mechanical, RA Strauss Electric Supply, Safeguard Associates Inc., and McGarry & Sons, according to Rock Gaming officials.

The developer isn't required to award contracts to minority or women-owned businesses since no public money is involved in the project, but officials say doing so fulfills a pledge Gilbert made to Mayor Jackson and the public in 2009 when voters amended the Ohio constitution to allow to casinos in the state's four largest cities.

Natoya J. Walker-Minor, Jackson's chief of public affairs, noted Thursday that the developer had exceeded the city's goal of 30 percent inclusion.

"They've invested in the city through these small firms, so we're thrilled and excited about that," Walker-Minor said. "They have defied the myth that investing in minority and female businesses costs more. They're on time, on budget, with 46 percent minority and women-owned firms."

Related topics: caesars entertainment corp., rock gaming llc, rock ohio caesars

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/the_carpet_is_installed_and_cl.html

The carpet is installed and Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino is ready for slot machines: (video)

Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 7:00 PM Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 10:17 AM

By Dave Davis, The Plain Dealer
Follow

Share Email Print

Higbee casino tour Jan. 25, 2012 Jeff Cohen and Nate Forbes, principals in Dan Gilbert's Rock Gaming LLC, say they are nearly ready to install slot machines at Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino. They expect construction at the Las Vegas-style casino in the fomer Higbee's department store will be completed by March. Watch video

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Move over Toledo, you've got nothing on Cleveland -- casinowise, that is.

Just five days after officials at Toledo's Hollywood casino indicated they ought to be the first casino to open in Ohio because construction was pretty much complete except for the carpet, their counterparts at Cleveland's Horseshoe casino upped the ante by showing off a nearly finished casino, complete with new carpet.

During a tour Wednesday, two partners in Dan Gilbert's gambling company unveiled what they've done to transform the former Higbee's department store into a full-fledged casino complete with 2,100 slot machines, a 30-table dedicated poker room and 63 table games.

"We're ready to go," declared Jeff Cohen, a principal in Rock Gaming LLC who's overseeing the Higbee construction. Rock Gaming has joined with Caesars Entertainment Corp. to build and operate voter-approved casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati

"We will be ready to be the first casino to open," added Cohen, who built the Cleveland Cavaliers new practice facility and renovated Quicken Loans offices in Detroit. "Hopefully, in three to four weeks they'll be delivering the slot machines."

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerCleveland's Horseshoe Casino in the former Higbee's department store may be the first in the nation to have windows in the main gambling area. Higbee's huge display windows will be clad with sheer gold fabric panels that will allow people outside to discern lights and figures but not see faces.

At stake in the back and forth between the two developers, Rock Ohio Caesars in Cleveland and Penn National Gaming Inc. in Toledo, is the honor to be the first of Ohio's four Las Vegas-style casinos to open, which is expected to bring an overflow of customers for at least the first couple of weeks for whomever wins the competition and is the only casino open in the state.

Officials at the Ohio Casino Control Commission recently scrapped Cleveland's planned March 26 grand opening, saying that they needed more time to complete background investigations on owners, major investors and vendors. Toledo had been scheduled to open a week later.

JoAnn Davidson, chairwoman of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, said Friday that the commission might set a date range for the casinos openings, rather than a specific date. She added that a week between openings was not enough time for her staff.

"Two casinos cannot open that close when you only have one regulatory body that has to cover both of them," Davidson added. "There will have to be a couple of weeks between the openings."

Though the two developers teamed up for the successful passage of a 2009 constitutional amendment that okayed casinos in Ohio's four largest cities, the projects are worlds apart.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerJeff Cohen, left, and Nate Forbes talk about construction at Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Cohen and Forbes are principals in Rock Gaming LLC, which has joined with Caesars Entertainment Corp. to build casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The $300 million Hollywood Casino Toledo is being built from the ground up on 44 acres off I-75 outside downtown. It's a theme casino, the 12th in Penn's Hollywood brand, and executives say convenience and "red carpet" customer service will draw people away from casinos in Cleveland, Detroit and Indiana.

"We're right off the highway," general manager Richard St. Jean said Friday during a tour, the first public look at the nearly completed casino. "We've got a great parking garage and easy access."

In Cleveland, Rock Ohio Caesars is spending about $480 million to transform four floors of the landmark Higbee Building into a casino with an eye for keeping the historic details.

Officials with the developer, at Gilbert's insistence, picked a downtown location off Public Square they say with the hope that the casino will feed off of the city's unique character and attractions and play a role in its revitalization.

The Horseshoe Casino Cleveland is keeping the story-high display windows, but is cladding them with sheer gold fabric panels that will allow people to discern lights and figures inside but not people's faces.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerDecorative wood panels with an art deco feel, a nod to the building's days as a department store, cover the base of the massive columns that line the gambling areas of Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino.

The brass-enclosed entryways off Public Square and Prospect Road will be familiar to generations of Higbee shoppers. The cast iron handrails and much of the woodwork, including decorative panels that wrap around the bottoms of the huge columns, gives the casino an art deco, 1930s department store feel.

"We've done everything we can to maintain the integrity of the historic building," Cohen added. "It's a tough task to take an old building and try to renovate it and maintain the character," he added. "You have to blend design elements of today with design elements of the past.

"And all the while meeting current (building) codes," said Nate Forbes, a developer and Rock Gaming principal who is know for high-end projects including The Mall at Millenia in Orlando.

"It has an old-world feel, yet hopefully people will feel comfortable," Forbes added. "We think it's something that people are really going to relate to."

Related topics: hollywood casino toledo, horseshoe casino cleveland, penn national gaming, rock ohio caesars

VOTE "NO" on Issue 56_To re-add unattended, illegally parked traffic camera$ in Garfield Heights, Ohio_Fall 2011

[CLICK on Title Above for more information]
VOTE "NO" on Issue 56_To re-add unattended, illegally parked traffic camera$.

Traffic Cam$ gouge the citizens and insults us all.

Kids aren't being run over all day, or it'd make the news, people.

The City of Garfield Heights, Ohio, needs cash but not out of our own pockets just for seconds of passing an illegally parked, abandoned (no cop or traffic maid inside) commercial traffic trap.

We can sell the methane the city generates 24-7 not $100 tickets out of the blue, mailed to you for an offense no cop saw.

---

This is what the Arizona traffic cam company had them mail to the Citizens of Garfield HTS OH. More info and our opinions or PDF version

Voter Suppression in Ohio_House Bill 194 by Sandra Williams, State Rep - Ohio

Background: House Bill 194 drastically changes the voting process in Ohio to make it harder^- to vote. This legislation will do the following:

· Eliminate the "Golden Week" of registering to vote and voting the same day

· Limit the early voting in person from 35 days to just 12 days.

· Reduce early voting by mail to just 2 weeks.

· Eliminate Sunday voting completely.

· Require that Saturday early voting hours end at 12 noon, no matter how large the county.

· Eliminate voting on the Friday, Saturday and Monday before the election, which is typically the busiest time for early voting.

· Prohibit the Board of Elections from mass mailing absentee ballot applications, used by large counties lessen election day lines

· Prohibit the Board of Elections from paying the return postage on an absentee ballot application, which puts an extra burden on the voter.

· Prevent local Boards of Elections from creating additional early voting locations without at least three board members agreeing.

· Removes the requirement that trained poll workers tell a voter if he or she are in the wrong precinct and that their vote would not count,

· Provisional ballots would require driver's license number, full social security number or State ID number,

· Eliminate the 10 days after a voting provisionally a voter has to prove his or her identity to the Board of Elections.

· Invalidates a vote even when intent is clear, for example: if a voter checks the box of their candidate and then proceeds to write the name of the candidate next to the box, their vote is not counted.

What this means to you: This legislation will undoubtedly lead to voter confusion and chaos on Election Day. House Bill 194 will make in harder and more inconvenient for seniors, working families, students and others to exercise their right to vote.

Hon. Sandra Williams, State Representative

Ohio House of Representatives, 77 South High ST FLR 10, Columbus OH 43215

DOWNLOAD 2011Fall_HB194_VoterSuppression.PDF with additional information

Call NOW 216-443-3231 to receive your Absentee Ballot Application from Cuyahoga County Voters Board

"WRITE your representative. SIGN a petition. Vote! I do."_Neale Sourna

Ohio child cancers confound parents, investigators by John Seewer

Associated Press

CLYDE, Ohio – Every time his kids cough, Dave Hisey's mind starts to race. Is it cancer? Is it coming back?

His oldest daughter, diagnosed with leukemia nearly five years ago when she was 13, is in remission. His 12-year-old son has another year of chemotherapy for a different type of leukemia. And his 9-year-old daughter is scared she'll be next.

Hisey is not alone in fearing the worst. Just about every mom and dad in this rural northern Ohio town gets nervous whenever their children get a sinus infection or a stomachache lingers. It's hard not to panic since mysterious cancers have sickened dozens of area children in recent years.

Since 1996, 35 children have been diagnosed — and three have died — of brain tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, and other forms of cancer — all within a 12-mile wide circle that includes two small towns and farmland just south of Lake Erie. With many of the diagnoses coming between 2002 and 2006, state health authorities declared it a cancer cluster, saying the number and type of diagnoses exceed what would be expected statistically for so small a population over that time.

"All you think about is what happened to these kids," said Donna Hisey, 43, the mother whose family has been devastated by cancer. "Is it gone? Or is it still here? What is it?!"

After three years of exhaustive investigation, no cause is known. Investigators have tested wells and public drinking water, sampled groundwater and air near factories and checked homes, schools and industries for radiation.

They also set up a network of air monitors across eastern Sandusky County, finding cleaner air than in most places around Ohio, the health department said.

Nothing unusual was detected. Not even a hint.

"From the very beginning, we've said the vast majority of childhood cancer causes aren't known," said Robert Indian, the state health department's chief of comprehensive cancer control. He'll soon release yet another investigative report.

Without any answers as to what's attacking their children, parents are left to question whether living within a known cancer cluster area is endangering their kids. Perhaps surprisingly, only a handful have moved away.

"It's in the back of everybody's mind," said Scott Mahler, who has two healthy young sons. "Are you going to risk your children's lives by living here?"

Eight children were diagnosed with cancer in and near Clyde between 2002-2006, nearly four times the number that state health experts figure is normal.

Ohio health investigators converged on the town of just 6,000 people halfway between Cleveland and Toledo and home to the Whirlpool Corp.'s largest washing machine factory.

What they found was worse than anyone suspected. The cancers affecting victims age 19 and younger included neighboring townships and much of the nearby town of Fremont.

One in five of the cancer cases were related to the brain or central nervous system, matching national rates, according to the American Cancer Society.

The diagnoses peaked in 2006, when nine children were told they, too, had cancer. Since then, there have been four new cases. The most recent came in the spring this year, when a 7-year-old girl was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer of the body's connective tissues.

At first, investigators focused just on Clyde, where social calendars revolve around school, sports and church. Most families have been here for generations. It's the kind of place where teens can't wait to leave — only to find they can't wait to come back to start a family.

Seeing their children afflicted by unexplained illnesses has strengthened the bond among parents and neighbors instead of scaring them away.

"Even if it would've happened to my family, I can't imagine where else I would go to get the support I needed," said Melanie Overmyer, an English and journalism teacher at Clyde High School.

"People in neighboring towns say 'I can't believe you still live there,'" said the mother of two. "You can't pick up your life and move every time there's something that scares you."

Enrollment numbers at area schools haven't dropped and real estate agents say they haven't encountered anyone who doesn't want to look for homes in the area or is desperate to get out.

"Clyde is small enough that we would really know if that was happening," said City Manager Paul Fiser.

Ohio health and environmental regulators have speculated the cause was environmental and may have come and gone — maybe a chemical from a factory or a dump that polluted the air or water.

Air and water samples have not revealed any concerns around the Whirlpool plant or the Vickery Environmental waste site just outside town, where hazardous chemicals are injected into rock a half-mile below ground.

And in September, investigators said they found no radiation from homes, schools, or industries to link to the illnesses, ruling out the Davis-Besse nuclear plant, about 20 miles from Clyde, and NASA's former nuclear reactor near Sandusky as a possible source.

Doctors also have been vigilant, making sure they're not missing any signs or symptoms in young patients. And parents are more likely to bring their kids in for checkups instead of waiting for an illness to go away.

"You still have to treat common things first," said Dr. Daniel Herring, who has a family practice in Clyde.

"But it's definitely one of the things we worry about more."

What's stumped investigators is the lack of any common threads among the children — all of them don't live in the same neighborhood, go to the same school or drink from the same water. They don't all have the same type of cancer or even parents who work at the same factory.

State health officials have spent recent months asking the sick children and their families dozens of questions about their homes and health histories, hoping to find a link. A report due soon will reveal whether they found any connections among all or some of the children, Indian said.

Some parents think it's likely that investigators will never identify a cause.

In a way, it's not a surprise.

Pinpointing the cause of a cancer cluster rarely — if ever — happens.

During the 1960s and '70s, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated 108 cancer clusters around the United States, most of them childhood leukemia. But they found no definite causes for any of them.

The CDC has since allowed states to take the lead investigating almost all suspected clusters while still offering some oversight, as the federal agency is doing in Ohio.

The outbreak around Clyde is only 50 miles north of another cluster that Ohio health officials spent four years investigating. Beginning in the late 1990s, nine former students from River Valley High School in Marion were diagnosed with leukemia.

Tests found toxic chemicals in schoolyard soil and students were relocated to new buildings miles away. Investigators never definitively linked the cancers to the old school site, a former World War II Army depot where wastes and solvents were dumped and burned.

The nation's most intensive investigation ever of a cancer cluster began nine years ago in western Nevada and remains inconclusive. Hundreds of state and federal experts have spent millions investigating the leukemia that sickened 17 children and killed three between 1997 and 2004.

Some parents of Clyde area's sick children question whether the state's inquiry has been thorough enough. They point out that there's been no soil testing or requests for experts from CDC to join the investigation.

"Why haven't they brought all minds to the table?" said Warren Brown, whose 11-year-old daughter, Alexa, died of brain cancer in August 2009. "Why not throw everything at it?"

Investigators insist they've ignored nothing. Soil testing wouldn't reveal any answers, they said, because the sick children come from a widespread area and all would have needed to come in contact with contaminated dirt.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Christopher Korleski said the state has consulted with federal health officials throughout the investigation and that they've signed off on the steps Ohio has taken.

The investigation is his top priority.

"It is disappointing and frustrating to not know," said Korleski.

Brown wishes there were somebody to blame.

He's been careful not to point fingers and doesn't want the town to suffer. But he also said he wouldn't hold back if something here was the cause.

"I'd be yelling at the top of my lungs to leave town," he said. "I can't do that."

Brandy Kreider, a mother of five children, said she and her husband spent an agonizing week and sleepless nights wondering if they were making a mistake before buying a new home in town two years ago. In the end, leaving didn't feel right.

"Those things don't want to make us retreat," she said. "They bring us together."

The Hiseys faced the same question almost five years ago when daughter Tyler Smith, who's now 17, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

They put their house up for sale even though it had everything they wanted: ponds for fishing, a woods for hunting and plenty of space. They're now glad it didn't sell.

The outdoors surrounding their home has become a sanctuary for Tanner, 12, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia two years after his sister was sickened.

Chemotherapy has kept him out of school most of this year so home is where he spends much of his time. It's where he can catch catfish, watch deer romp across the fields and still be a kid.

"Everything else has been taken away," his father said. "We can't take their support, their comfort and their home away from them."

Cleveland's Franklin Castle named one of the most haunted homes in the United States

Colleen Seitz, NewsNet5/WEWS-TV

It's been known to be the most haunted house in Ohio and now MSNBC.com has given Cleveland's Franklin Castle a new distinction -- one of the top-10 most haunted homes in the United States.

The 9,000-square-foot home on Franklin Avenue on the city's west side was built in 1864 by German-born banker Hannes Tiedemann. He spared no expense building the 28-room, 80-window castle with a ballroom, spiral staircases and secret passages.

"Finally, a haunted home that really looks haunted," notes MSNBC.com. "Complete with a tower, turrets, balconies, stone outcroppings, gargoyles, wrought-iron fixtures and fences, this imposing, Gothic-style Franklin Castle is said to be Ohio's most haunted home."

There have been several mysterious deaths in the home over the years. And there have been numerous sightings and sounds of ghosts. Footsteps, babies crying and doors slamming have been heard.

NewsNet5.com has put together pictures from a visit inside the Franklin Castle. Take a tour and learn more about the history and ghosts in this real haunted house. Click here for the photogallery .

The castle is currently owned by a woman who hoped to turn into a bed and breakfast, but a fire in 1999 halted her plans. MSNBC.com says that there are rumors that Franklin Castle will be on the market soon.

You can read more about the most haunted homes in the country at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39745803/ns/business-real_estate/

========

I traveled by there for two weeks once, while job training and hadn't paid the place any serious attention, until I had nightmares the entire first week--no, not because of the job training--before realizing I must be zipping past the Franklin castle and a derelict's half-way house beside it. I hadn't even known exactly where it was, because I'd always thought Franklin was the owner not the street. Either way...Ick.

--Neale Sourna