The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 52

C2 Friday, August 4. 1995 WE METRO The Cincinnati Enquirer AROUND THE TRISTATE ''St' Sl-'J 1 OImwImiimU liwwl WUivd The Cincinnati Health Department declares a neat alert once the heat index, i a measure of temperature and humidity, reaches 95. Heat emergencies are declared once an alert continues into a second day. During waves, health officials track heat-related deaths and emergency calls, and monitor I temperatures at six apartment buildings with no air conditioners. There have been no confirmed heat-related deaths in Cincinnati this year.

Heat Ambalanct E.R. Peak interior Haatwawt Data Status Max runt (if YlsiU(2) temperature(3) 70 TO tin 106.4 108.9 112.1 107.2 Professional Design Service Let our Rug Specialist snow you dramatic designs and fabulous colors of the latest hanawoven Oriental Rugs. 2 2 96 33 2 98 24 4 99 13 1 96 12 1 95 '10 92 3 0 94 7 0 95 7 0 97 0 0 93 8 0 91 July 13 alert July 14 emergency July IS emergency July 16 emergency July 17. emergency Real wave 2 July 28 July 29 July 30 July 31 Aug.1 Aug. 2 emergency emergency emergency emergency WFlNE Oriental Rugs (1 (Re-sorted by Cincinnati Fire Division (2) Raported by University, Qood Samaritan and Children's hospitals (3) Hkjhest reading taken from six downtown and Ovar-the-Rhine apartment buildings with no atr conditioners monitored by the health department Source: Cincinnati Health Department 7796 Montgomery Located at the corner i4 793 of Kenwood Monte.

Rd. 12 T' -m HOTEL City handles heat without disaster Unlike other towns, no local deaths FROM AMERICA'S BEST HOTELS PRICED FOR STUDENT 98.3 102.4 t02.t 103.9 97.8 99 6 The Cincinnati EnquirerR. Cosby local heat-related cases were light. "In previous years, we have seen more cases than what we're seeing now," said Dr. Michael Bain, director of emergency medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital.

So, did Cincinnati health officials blow the hot weather out of proportion by declaring an emergency that didn't exist? Or did the city's heat alert program do its job by alerting people to the risks? "A lack of cases can be considered an indication of success," said Adcock. "We do have a low threshold (for declaring a heat emergency). But I think it is worthwhile to mobilize people to think about the risks and think about being a good neighbor." Cincinnati declares a heat alert when the heat index, a measure of temperature and humidity, hits 95. Once a heat alert goes into a second day, the city calls a heat emergency. Chicago had no heat emergency program when disaster hit last month.

The city has one now, a program similar to the one Cincinnati has had since the mid-1980s. Cincinnati should be proud of its heat alert program, said Nancy Buechler, a public health educator with the St. Louis Health Department. In St. Louis, people have died in 13 of its past 15 hot, sticky summers.

So far this year, 21 have died. Many cities including Cleveland are just beginning to adopt heat alert programs similar to what Cincinnati and St. Louis have had in place for years. BUDGETS College Dorm Apartment Furniture Beds Mat. Box Full (XL) King $95 Dressers 6 Drawer $45 Night Stands 2 Drawer 1 5 Mirrors Framed From 1 5 Desks wLap Drawer From $25 Tables 30" Rd.

Pedestal $15 Chairs Upholstered wArm From 1 5 Sofas Loose Cushion $99 Cocktail Table Sq. Chrome Glass 1 0 Lamps Table, Ceramic News Tips: Call 24 hours a day to reach our recorded News Tip Hot Line: 768-8602. If it's an emergency, press zero when the recording begins to be connected with an editor between a.m. and midnight. OHIO Ex-officer fails to gain plea bargain Prosecutors and defense lawyers were unable to agree Thursday on a plea bargain for a fired Cincinnati police officer, so Claudia Vercellotti will stand trial for allegedly concealing an attempted bribe offer.

Vercellotti, who is charged with dereliction of duty, obstructing justice and perjury, is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 16 for a hearing on several motions, including a request to suppress her testimony before a Hamilton County grand jury. Vercellotti and former officer Andre Eddings were fired in February. The pair are accused of concealing an attempted bribe offer from a West End bar manager, who allegedly wanted them to reduce criminal charges against former Bengals fullback Derrick Fenner. Eddings was tried last month on similar charges, and a mistrial was declared when the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

He will be retried in October. Boy, 6, hurt in fire FELICITY An early-morning fire landed Robby Shaf-er in a hospital bed Thursday, his right foot bound in gauze. A year ago, that same foot was bandaged after Robby slipped and fell under a riding lawnmower. The family's latest calamity began when a lamp fell on the bed where Robby, 6, was sleeping about 8 a.m. Thursday.

The high-intensity halogen bulb set the child's bedclothes on Robby fire, said Jim Shafer, captain of the Felicity-Franklin Fire Department. Robby ran out of the bedroom just as smoke alarms went off in the family's trailer home, said Shafer, who is not related to Robby's family. "He's a very lucky young man. All of them are very lucky," Shafer said. Robby and his two brothers, Michael, 10, and Joey, 12, and their mother, Tammy, escaped the blaze.

Their father, Ralph, was at work. Robby was the only one injured. He was in good condition at Shriners Burns Institute on Thursday. The fire was contained to one room, causing about $3,500 damage. Children's fills post Children's Hospital Medical Center has named Dr.

Thomas DeWitt as director of its division of general pediatrics. DeWitt will manage the bulk of the primary care services, including working with community and staff pediatricians and doctors in training. DeWitt said Thursday his goals include expanding residency training settings outside the hospital. DeWitt had been director of general pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School since 1982. Karate event is free The Sentinel Police Association will present a "Strike Force Team Karate" demonstration at rr I noon Aug.

12 at Laurel Park, 800 Ezzard Charles Drive. All ages are welcome to attend this free event. Funeral fund set up A fund has been established to help pay funeral expenses for a South Fairmount man who was shot on a neighbor's porch this week. Contributions to the fund for Charles Kevin Blankenship can be made at any Southwest Ohio branch of Star Bank or mailed to the Blankenship Memorial account at 3424 Edwards Road, Cincinnati 45208. Blankenship was shot to death early Tuesday in the 1600 block of Tremont Street.

The shooting was captured on videotape by a security camera. Charles Cole, 44, has been charged with murder. His attorney has argued that the shooting was self-defense. Visitation for Blankenship will begin at 12:30 p.m. today at the Spaeth Sons, Schaefer and Busby Funeral Home, 1320 Chase Northside, with the funeral at 2 p.m.

and burial immediately after at Vine Street Hill Cemetery. Conviction upheld The Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the aggravated murder conviction and resulting death sentence of Tyrone Ballew. Ballew, 27, then of Cincinnati, was convicted in 1992 of the 1990 shooting death of Donald Hill of Avondale, who was dragged at gunpoint to a vacant lot in Walnut Hills, beaten with logs and bricks and shot. Ballew claimed that Hill owed him money for drugs. A jury found Ballew guilty of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary and recommended the death sentence.

Ballew, who is on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, will appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. KENTUCKY Contract renewal urged FRANKFORT An influential legislative group Thursday said the contract for Kentucky's school testing program should be renewed for its final year. That followed a plea by the chairman of the state school board, who said "we will be losing two years in the process, possibly three years," if the contract is canceled. Reversing itself from a month ago, the interim joint Education Committee voted to recommend approval next week by a House and Senate subcommittee that reviews state contracts. The review panel refused to act on the contract last month.

That was at the request of Education Committee members who were demanding assurances from the Department of Education and the state school board that changes would be made. INDIANA Physician elected GARY The prospect of moving into the top leadership post of the nation's oldest and largest minority physician organization is "an extremely humbling and somewhat exciting feeling," Dr. Randall C. Morgan Jr. says.

Morgan, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon, was unopposed for president-elect of the National Medical Association (NMA) on Wednesday at its 100th annual convention in Atlanta. He will be installed as president at the 1996 NMA convention in Chicago. Morgan, of Valparaiso, has practiced for 20 years in Gary and has recruited more than 30 doctors to practice there. Floor Lamps Excellent for Reading $22 Prints Frame Matted From 5 Drapes Patio Panel 1 $25 Bed Pillows Feather Down 3 Entertainment Centers $89 MUCH MUCH MORE WORTH THE BY TIM BONFIELD The Cincinnati Enquirer The Tristate's latest heat wave is finally cooling off. The good news: nobody died.And reported cases of heat exhaustion and heat stroke were minimal.

A heat emergency, in effect for the past six days, was likely to be lifted today, said Malcolm Adcock, city health commissioner. The final decision will be made today. The National Weather Service forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms and highs in the upper 80s. The temperature Thursday peaked at 95 degrees. The statistics indicate that Cincinnati weathered its second summer heat wave without a disaster unlike Chicago, where more than 500 people died last month.

During July and the first days of August, the Tristate sweated through 15 days when temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. Health officials called heat alerts during two of those days and heat emergencies that covered 10 days. During those days: The Cincinnati Fire Division made 112 heat-related ambulance runs, including 33 in one day July 14. Three local hospitals that see the bulk of low-income, inner-city cases University, Children's and Good Samaritan reported 10 heat-related emergency visits. No Cincinnati residents died from the heat, although one death was reported in Middletown.

Public health officials and emergency medicine experts agree that House becomes a home for Portman kids PHP. HOURS: Mon. MIDWAY PLAZA SPRINGBORO State Route 73, East of 1-75, Exit 38 TERMS: Cash, Visa, MastetCard. No Checks. M4TH Sunday 10-8 10-6 12-5 5599 CONTENTS or Brass $32 Sat.

10-8, Sun. 12-5 is Buyer removes purchase. Harper's Point IT) All items sold as is, where interiors interiors fZrr JlUUUJUlUiy We are Moving to Our Sharonville Warehouse to bring you a new way of affordable Design Quality Carolina Prices! The supposedly more "family-friendly" House of Representatives that GOP leaders talked about at the first of the year has turned out to be anything but, U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, says.

It used to be House members were in Washington three days a week and back home four, but that has changed this year as members have recorded 84-hour weeks that often keep them going to midnight or later five days a week. To try to get more time with his family, Portman has started taking his kids to Washington. His 5-year-old, Jed, spent last week on Capitol Hill with Portman, being baby-sat by his office staff when he was not with Dad. Two weeks ago, Portman did the same with his 3-year-old, Will. Portman puts them to sleep on the sofa in his office around 8:30 p.m.

and then slings them over his shoulder to take them home to his Capitol Hill apartment when House business finishes late at night. Paul Barton PROMISE FROM NEWT: U.S. Reps. Steve Chabot, R-Cincin-nati, and Frank Cremeans, R-Galli-polis, have received a commitment from House Speaker Newt Gingrich to come to Cincinnati on Sept. 26 for a breakfast fund-raiser at a yet-undetermined site downtown.

The event is expected to provide a significant financial surge to the 1996 campaigns of the two House members, both of whom are expected to be priority targets for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Paul Barton 3 DAY Inventory Liquidation at Harper's Point FRIDAY HOLLANDIA Shops at Harper's Point Montgomery Road thru TUESDAY AUGUST 4 thru 8 Shops at Harper's Station The Cincinnati EnquirerTony Jones Graduation day: Chaz Mitchell, 6, accepts congratulations Thursday from Dr. Lionel Brown, deputy superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, upon completing the Project Succeed Summer Academy. This was the second year for the program, which is designed to encourage at-risk students to stay in school. This year, 310 students attended classes at Douglass Elementary in Walnut Hills.

Brown is the academy's founder..