The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 97

Friday. August 30, 1991 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER EXTRAEaSt 7 SCHOOLS Teems fled ways to coetiime ednicatloE BY SUE KIESEWETTER Enquirer Contributor Norwood dropout rates Norwood slashes number of dropouts by nearly half Jhen 16-year-old Jerry Bolin decided to withdraw from Norwood Year Enrollment Dropouts Percentage 1985- 86 1,783 115 6.5 1986- 87 1,679 92 5.5 1987- 88 1.624 68 4.2 1988- 89 1,587 92 5.8 1989- 90 1,495 120 8.0 1990- 91 1,369 64 4.7 BY SUE KIESEWETTER school and don't realize until years later that they'll regret it," Berling said. "If I was younger, I'd go back to school. But since I'm not, I got the book from the library and have been studying all summer. I put my application in to take the test, probably in the next month.

I'm hoping to scoie high enough so I'll get a grant or scholarship." Bolin has opted to return to school and ask for help this time. "From the beginning they were working too fast for me," Bolin said. "I couldn't comprehend what we were doing. I got it in my mind I couldn't keep up tt Bolin said he also fought an alcohol-abuse problem he says he now has under control. "I don't want to be left behind.

I'm pleased with my decision and I want to try hard this year." So does Berling. It would take her two years to graduate. "My class is going on to college. I want to do the same, I don't want to be behind." Meanwhile, Berling said she will continue to work at a restaurant to earn money for college. year-olds who are not in school.

Dropouts must either return to school or wait until they are 18 to get a license. "I think it's probably a combination of the two," Lazares said. "Being able to drive is pretty important to a teen-ager, especially if they need to drive to work if they drop out of school." And work, Lazares said, is the most common reason teens give for dropping out. "When you're a teen-ager living at home, you think $3, $4 or $5 a hour is good. They don't realize that when they move out and have expenses, that's not much, and without a high school diploma there's not many jobs they can get." Lazares said he hopes that by personally meeting with potential dropouts, it will send the message that the district is concerned.

"It can't do anything but good," Cahill said. High School last year, he was surprised to receive a letter 'from Superintendent John Lazares, asking that he first meet with Lazares. Jerry's mother, Rose Bolin, was glad Lazares took the time to talk to her son and explain his options. She said she was not in favor of Jerry dropping out, but said he saw few options once he got behind in his classes. "It's good that he (Lazares) talked to him, but I think kids in trouble in school should go into a program," Bolin said.

Jerry is doing just that. He has applied and expects to get into one of the district's work-study programs in the second semester. In the meantime, Jerry said he will work harder in his classes. Jerry is one of about 70 potential dropouts Lazares counseled last year. Some, like Bolin, are returning to school.

Others aren't. Enquirer Contributor Only about half as many students in Norwood's middle and high schools dropped out last year compared to the year before. And administrators hope that statistic can be repeated this year. During the 1989-90 school year, 120 students 8 of the district's enrollment dropped out of grades 7-12. Last year, those numbers declined to 64 students, or 4.7, said Tom Cahill, director of pupil personnel.

Superintendent John Lazares attributed the decline to two things during the past school year: He initiated a program requiring that students speak with him personally before they may withdraw from school. A new state law that revokes the driver's license of 16- and 17- room, falling further and further behind. Teen-agers most at risk of dropping out, Lazares said, are usually in the ninth grade, and are a year or two behind their classmates. That was Bolin's situation, and that of 18-year-old Evelyn Berling. Although Berling is not returning to Norwood High this year, she has applied to take the test to earn her General Equivalency Diploma (GED).

Bolin said he started falling behind in school once he entered high school. For Berling, getting into the wrong peer group at school caused her troubles. "A lot of people just quit "I hope to get across to the student how serious a matter we think dropping out is, and how concerned we are," Lazares said. "I want to know why they're dropping out, and want them to tell us what it would take to get them to stay in school." Lazares said it's too soon to tell what, if any, effect his conferences have had. He suspects the loss of a driver's license, which dropouts under age 18 now face, is a powerful incentive to stay in school.

For too many students, Lazares said, the lure of jobs paying $3 to $5 per hour is more attractive than sitting in a class News from other neighborhoods Madisonville foot patrol officers win friends BY RICHARD LITHEN Enquirer Contributor lost of the time, the sight of Zoning dispute heats up Montgomery sued for $36 million BY ALICE HORNBAKER The Cincinnati Enquirer Ml I two police officers walking the beat drives the "bad ducing us to their friends," Spurgeon said. "It's eerie. But I like it." "The business owners are very pro-police," Singleton said. Vic Mannino, owner of Mannino's Super Market on Madison Road, said two men started fighting in front of his shop one afternoon. Mannino had seen plenty of similar incidents in the more than 50 years he has lived and worked in the area.

But this fight was different. Spurgeon and Singleton were walking up Madison Road at the time and all they had to mmmmm do was cross the street and arrest guys" away. But in Madisonville this summer, "We've got people with warrants out on them surrendering to them (officers)," said Sgt. Dave Turner, COP Team Supervisor for Police District 2. Officers James Spurgeon and Ivan "Sony" Singleton have patrolled the Madisonville streets as part of Cincinnati's Community Oriented Policing (COP) program.

COP was supposed to end in September but City Manager Gerald Newfarmer has decided to extend the Even some bad guys are introducing us to their friends. It's eerie. But I like it." OFFICER JAMES SPURGEON the combatants, Mannino said. "It's wonderful," he said. The COP team is "the best thing that's happened here in many years." Mannino said drugs, violence and people loitering on street corners have i mi in ii in.

iiiiii ill Hi iw i mi mmmm' yph 1 1 I I 4 'I i i v. 'v I 1 i hi) Since 1988, Montgomery has locked legal horns with the developer and owners of property at Interstate 71 and Pfeiffer Road. Now developer Bill Brisben of the W.O. Brisben Co. has upped his damages claim against the city from $6 million to $36 million.

Brisben says that figure more nearly reflects income lost because the property, zoned residential, cannot be used for an office complex. Brisben proposed the complex in 1987; the city stuck to its residential zoning because all the area around it is residential. The issue went to court, where the city's zoning was declared unconstitutional. In February of this year, Montgomery changed the zoning for the property, owned by Edith and J. Julian Bowman, to multifami- ly.

"That's not what we need," Brisben said. "Two years ago we had a tenant and financing to build our office building there. But by not getting the right zoning we've lost both and we keep losing about $10,000 a day," Brisben said. "It is true that we probably couldn't get financing today to build it and we'd also have to look for quite a while to line up another tenant again." Judge Ralph Winkler of Hamilton Countv Common Pleas Court program, captain Burnett Williams told the Madisonville Community Council in August. The announcement by Williams, commander of District 2, brought a round of applause from more than 40 residents and business owners.

Spurgeon and Singleton have been patrolling with the program since mid-May and the neighborhood has gotten to know them. "People pull over to the curb and stop and thank us," Spurgeon said. He said drivers toot their horns and give the officers the thumbs-up sign. Spurgeon and Singleton take a low-key approach. Even their cruiser is low-key a regular police car minus the lights on top.

They try to be approachable and it works, Singleton said. Residents and business owners have been reporting criminal activity directly to the officers rather than calling District 2 headquarters. "We've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the community," Singleton said. Patrolling the streets in police cruisers did not give the officers the familiarity with the neighborhood and the residents. Now, Singleton said, "We know who the troublemakers are by name and by sight." "Even some bad guys are intro- caused him to lose customers.

Older residents are afraid to walk the streets, he said. But he believes that programs like COP will improve the business district. "Slowly but surely it looks like businesses are starting to move back in," Singleton said. One such business is the Madison Center mini-mall, which opened at Madison Road and Whetsel Avenue last spring. The COP teams were introduced last summer to put police on the streets of neighborhoods where trouble has erupted.

The teams were developed as part of the city's Back on the Block program, which includes the Youth Support Teams, the free Mayor's Summer Concerts, sports and recreation programs organized by the Cincinnati Recreation Department and the cooperation of local YMCAs. "They have done a yeoman's job," said Charles Neal, executive director of the Madisonville YMCA. "People in the community actually come up and talk to them," Neal said. "Kids aren't afraid of them. Kids know who they are, know what they do (and) are known in the community as a couple of good guys." will hear an appeal by Brisben's attorney, Joseph L.

Trauth on Oct. 7 on the constitutionality of the multifamily zoning. City Manager Jon Bormet called the damages lawsuit a public relations olov. "No one has ever col The Cincinnati EnquirerFred Straub Cincinnati police officers James Spurgeon, left, and Ivan Singleton are so popular that motorists sometimes pull to the curb to thank them. lected on such a lawsuit against a city.

His (Brisben's) money would be better spent on buying lottery tickets." Bormet said he doesn't want to anDear flinDant over the high dam High-rise tower going up despite neighbors' protests aces but. "We crow weary from threats by his attorney to bankrupt age lockers there. mm- "alUJIIl i-3 base, will resemble the Eiffel Tower, with legs that taper in a curve all the way to the top, he said. It will be three times the size of the replica of the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island and about the same size as the real Eiffel Tower. "I think it'll be gorgeous," Stitt said.

"People will see that a lot of their fears were unfounded." But few College Hill residents have been so optimistic. Fearing the tower would be an eyesore, a group called the Northern Hills-College Hill Property Owners Association formed in 1989 to stop the construction. A settlement was reached earlier this year with a representative of the association. But some association members opposed the settlement and filed a new lawsuit, which was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court. The settlement permitted construction to take place, with Hoker this city unless his client gets what he wants." In the past, Bormet pointed out, Brisben has developed similar properties adjacent to interstates into multifamily dwellings without any problems.

"His claim (that) this property wouldn't be suitable for multifamily dwellings isn't valid." Brisben said his suit will be a first. "The reason Montgomery says no one has ever won such a lawsuit is because it wasn't possible until the Supreme Court in 1987 ruled that city could be held liable for damages in cases like this. Our lawsuit will be Ohio's first test of that ruling." Should Winkler rule in favor of Montgomery on the zoning issue, Brisben said, he'll appeal. "And once that October hearing is over, then we will get a court date to hear our damage suit," Brisben said. Sue Sale, who had been a member of the Northern Hills-College Hill Property Owners Association, approved of the settlement and is resigned to having the tower.

"I wish it weren't going up, but there's nothing we can do about it," she said. "I felt it was important to compromise, because if you don't compromise, you lose everything." William Frankenstein, chairman of College Hill Forum's real estate committee, said he'll learn to tolerate the tower. "I would prefer it wasn't there, but what justification do you have for saying, 'Not in my neighborhood. Put it somewhere The new tower will increase STAR 64 Television's transmitting power by 5,000 square miles and will boost its potential viewership by 1 million people, said David Smith, general manager. BY STEVE KEMME The Cincinnati Enquirer A planned 970-foot TV-radio tower that a group of College Hill residents had tried to block in court soon will be poking into the sky at Winton and North Bend roads.

Bulldozers have been preparing the five-acre site for a massive tower that will broadcast radio station WOFX-FM and WSTR-TV (STAR 64 Television). After a 200-ton crane sets the base of the tower into the ground, a helicopter will hoist the remaining pieces of the tower into place, said Jim Stitt, site manager and project director. The construction will be finished in October, he said. "This will be the tallest tower in the city and the tallest tower of its type in the world," Stitt said. The tower, 205 feet wide at its I The Cincinnati EnquirerFred Straub The 970-foot TV-radio tower being built on Winton Road will look like the Eiffel tower, said Jim Stitt, project director.

and to donate one acre to a nonprofit corporation. Hoker Broadcasting purchased the adjacent property from an owner who had planned to build stor Broadcasting parent company of WOFX-FM, agreeing to buy adjacent property and preserve it as green space, to sell its property only for residential development, 4.