The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 24

THE ENQUIRER LOCAL NEWS C2 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009 XU comedy troupe wins 1st By Lauren Bishop Sketch wins second annual Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival lbtshopenquirer.com A "The audience really loved our video," says Ford, 22, an electronic media major. "It was great to see everyone laughing at all the jokes. It was a really huge payoff for us." Beards of Industry plans to keep writing and producing comedy shorts. To watch "Danny and the Page" and their other films, visit www.rooftopcomedy.com collegefunnyfilm or www. youtube.comuserBeardsof Industry.

comedy productions, flew Beards of Industry and three other finalists in the film competition to Aspen, where the Xavier University filmmakers prevailed Saturday night based on live audience and online votes. They thought their film was well-produced and that the humor plus a twist at the end of the film would stand out, but they weren't expecting to win, says Faylor, 21, a chemical science major. and the Page," took first place at the 2009 Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival in Aspen, over the weekend. Produced by Xavier seniors Andrew Short of Miamisburg, Ohio; LaMar Ford of Indianapolis; and Reid Faylor of Fort Wayne, "Danny and the Page" stars Faylor as the page and junior Matt Ackels as Danny. Faylor was a finalist in Rooftop's national stand-up competition last year and wanted to enter the filmmak ing competition this year.

"Danny and the Page" beat out about 300 other films made by college students all over the country after five rounds of expert judging and online and mobile voting, thanks in part to the filmmaker's promotion of the competi-, tion on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Xavier's Web site. RooftopComedy, a San Francisco-based producer of performance-based comedy programming and original Wouldn't it be funny, aXavi-er University sketch comedy group thought, if a 16th-century page suddenly appeared in someone's 21st-century bathroom, singing and strumming a guitar in a bid for friendship? The group, which calls itself Beards of Industry, thought so and so did judges and online voters in the second annual RooftopComedy College Competition for funniest film. Beards of Industry's four-minute film, "Danny 4- Killer: Kin of victims fight parole 1 rfr "IS 1 Mi in.iiniiriii nni II I Photos by Amanda DavidsonThe Enquirer Farmer Frank of Sunrock Farm in Wilder shows a lamb at Tuesday's "Trinity Together Time," one of a series of events at Deer Park's Trinity Community Church. FARM VISITORS PUBLIC SAFETY Driver loses control, dies BATAVIA TVVP. A man crashed his car and was killed Tuesday, police said.

Timmy Allan O'Neal, 20, of Bethel was driving a 2001 Chevy Inipala north on Amelia-Olive Branch Road at 1:49 p.m. He was unable to control his vehicle while driving around a left-hand curve, drove off the right side of the road, flipped the car onto its driver's side and struck a large tree, police said. O'Neal was wearing his seat belt, police said. Jeremiah Hall, 24, of Felicity was a passenger in the car. He was flown by AirCare to University Hospital with serious injuries.

Hall also was wearing his seat belt. Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, police said. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating. Head-on crash kills motorist head-on crash killed one person Tuesday, police said. The crash happened on Ohio 32 just west of Glen Este-Withamsville Road.

It involved a full-size pickup and a tractor-trailer. Police are investigating how the crash occurred. Both drivers were taken to Mercy Hospital Anderson. One was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other was treated for minor injuries.

Police were not releasing the names of those involved until family notifications could be made. Union Township Police Department is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 513-752-1230. Man admits drug-debt shooting A 23-year-old Roselawn man admitted Tuesday that he fatally shot a Detroit man firing bullets into his head and leg in January 2008 behind a Roselawn apartment building. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers then sentenced Todd Cooper to 17 years in prison.

Cooper pleaded guilty and was convicted on charges of voluntary manslaughter, illegally having a gun after a felony conviction, felonious assault and aggravated riot for the death of Preston Saxton and for starting a fight while in jail waiting trial in which a corrections officer was injured. Prosecutors said Cooper shot Saxton behind an apartment building on Sparkle Drive over a drug debt. Man sentenced in fatal shooting Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Beth Myers sentenced Ronald Williams to eight years in prison on Monday for fatally shooting Dominic Stone last July. Williams, 27, of Over-The-Rhine, pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter. Police say on July 9 Williams called Stone, 27, on the phone, luring him outside an Avondale residence, and then shot him.

Stone was found shot several times at Reading Road and Carplin Place. He died two weeks later. From Page CI The parole board said it will send a report to Strickland by June 24 before Fau-tenberry can be executed. The board can recommend Fautenberry be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison. At least six relatives of murder victims from New Jersey, Alaska and Oregon attended Tuesday's clemency hearing but did not speak.

The only other testimony came from prosecutors. Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Ron Spring-man said Fautenberry is probably the most dangerous killer on Ohio's Death Row. Fautenberry tried to escape an Alaska prison, according to Springman, and plotted an escape from the Hamilton County Justice Center, which was to involve kidnapping a defense lawyer or psychologist. Springman said all of the murder victims were kind-hearted people whom Fautenberry preyed upon. "Each one went out of their way to help Fautenberry," Spring-man said.

Fautenberry typically planned the murders in advance, Springman said, and stole cars, cash andor credit cards. Stolen credit cards and a wiretap on a girlfriend's home eventually led to his arrest in Alaska. On Feb.17, 1991, Fautenberry was hitchhiking near Cincinnati and asked for a ride to Columbus before shooting Daron twice in the chest outside a restaurant near Interstate 71. Fautenberry stole Da-ron's car before tossing his body in the Ohio River just norm of U.S. 52, according to prosecutors.

Springman said there was Left: Ellie Hill, 5, of Deer Park, smiles as a chick is placed on her head during Trinity Together Time, an event sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Right: Sunrock Farms' Penelope the Pig during her visit with the children. He walked 2,200 miles, but too nice for 'Survivor' The Associated PressPaul Vernon At the hearing, a photo collage of victims. What's next? The seven-member Ohio Parole Board issues a recommendation and report to Gov. Ted Strickland by June 24.

The board can recommend John Fautenberry be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. Strickland can take as long as he wants to make a decision. There are typically last-minute state and federal court appeals in capital punishment cases. Fautenberry's execution date is July 14 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. earlier testimony that Fautenberry suffered brain damage from a childhood head injury, but no proof.

The killer declined to be examined by experts. "He showed absolutely no remorse. He was bragging," Springman said. Rachel Daron was joined at the hearing by her mother, Sandy, and stepfather, Terry Bronner, also of Clermont County. No other family members testified, and all declined interviews.

A family photo of Joseph Daron, second from left, a victim of convicted murderer John Fautenberry. Provided By Quan Truong qtruongenquirer.com A Cincinnati man who walked more than 2,200 miles to Los Angeles to deliver his audition tape for the next season of CBS reality show "Survivor" was told by producers Tuesday he was "too nice." "I'm the guy that walked across America and had my dreams killed," said Greg In-sco, 26, of Colerain Township. "The producer said I would get eaten alive, I said 'By who? Ronald If being too nice doesn't get you on a TV show, that's crooked isn't it? Should I just be a jerk?" While heartbroken over what producers told him, In-sco kept his spirit, saying he might do the walk again for a later season in half the time. "I'm working on a Plan 1 just shot down my dreams," he said. "I tried to give everything in my life humanly possible to make this a reality." Insco said he planned to stay the night in Beverly Hills and wasn't sure how he would get back to Cincinnati.

Numerous followers have offered to purchase him a plane ticket but he would rather see the money to go the Megan Gore Scholarship Fund. Gore is Insco's friend who died in 2006 of a sudden brain aneurysm at the age of 19. His trip has, in large part, been in her honor. "I'll just keep smiling. I honored my friend Megan and no one could ever take this experience from me," he said.

"I failed miserably, but I gave it my all. People fail all the time, but it's OK as long as you try your hardest and I truly did." censed to hunt in Ohio, attend a park board orientation course and pass a shooting qualifications test. Approved hunters, chosen through a lottery, would be assigned locations where they could shoot. The only animal to be hunted would be whitetail deer. Hunters could take as many deer as allowed by state regulations.

The park board has approved the change. If council agrees, it would still be prohibited to discharge a firearm in a city park. service will lower fare-box revenues by an estimated $3 million to $5 million, according to the company's revised budget projections. Metro also lost $370,000 in funding this year from Hamilton County and the state for service for disabled and elderly riders. "We're at a point we avoided for years by patching things together as best we could," Hilvers said.

"But the economy turning south has brought us to a point where we have to take a serious look at right-sizing the system." he said. "I'm not just going to lay down and give up. I gave up everything in my life for this." Insco said he wants to in Insco vite producers to Cincinnati, take them to Skyline Chili and have them walk through the streets, where residents will return a greeting or wave. "I've walked through miles here where even the homeless won't say 'Hi' back to me," he said. "I just saw 30 Bentleys drive by, but people here have forgotten what reality is." When the real estate agent returns home, he will be greeted by $70,000 in credit card debt, foreclosed property and a repossessed car.

"It's bad enough that they There are 98 deer per square mile in Cincinnati parks, Dohoney says many more than the 17 recommended by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Residents who live near Mount Airy Forest have complained about deer coming into their yards and destroying landscaping, and officials say having too many deer in parks can eventually destroy the parks' foliage. Approved hunters would have to have passed a state hunter education course, be li lion this year, has instead declined by about 8 percent, or $15 million, to date. For Metro, that translates to a $2 million to $3 million reduction in 2010. The bus company, which provides about 22 million trips annually, also had experienced about a 10 percent drop in ridership roughly 875,000 fewer rides through May, Hilvers said.

That drop, which Metro officials blame largely on declining employment commuters to and from work comprise a sizable share of its ridership 1 i City parks may allow bowhunters Degree: 'Backward' path suits Cincy State grad Metro: Warns of severe cuts in By Jane Prendergast jprendergastfienquirer.com Bowhunters soon could be allowed to shoot deer in Cincinnati parks. City Manager Milton Do-honey's looking for another way to reduce the deer population in Mount Airy Forest and other parks. Cincinnati police sharpshooters have been shooting deer in parks since 2007, but that's expensive, Dohoney says in a memo this week to City Council. options over the summer, discussing possible cuts with riders, employees and others affected by the changes, Hilvers said. Any reductions would be imposed either in December or March, she said.

Recession-driven revenue reductions leave Metro facing a $6 million budget gap this year and at least an $8 million shortfall in 2010, bus company administrators said. Cincinnati city officials revealed this week that the city's earnings tax, which was projected to rise by 3 percent, or $7 million, to about $239 mil tary School and says she hopes to use her future degrees as a probation officer or related field, "helping tilings before they get into the system." Since enrolling at Cincinnati State, Smartt has gotten plenty of help from student support services at the school. That group provides financial counseling, tutoring and other help for about 160 students a year, said Ja-Rhonda Staples, an academic coach in the program who has worked with Smartt. "Marcia was persistent," Staples said. "She just wanted us to give her an opportunity.

She was able to make the transition to be an advocate for herself. Once she got in here and she knew she had the support system, she just soared." As for the graduation ceremony, Smartt says she'll be relieved. "It's kind of a hardship but I didn't want, to stop," she said. "I felt like if I stopped, I wouldn't come back." From Page CI classes on Cincinnati State's campus. Eventually, she hopes to earn advanced degrees in social work at the University of Cincinnati.

"I like school, but I sort of did it backward," Smartt said. "I may have come back for the wrong reasons, but I'm glad I did." After graduating from Aiken, Smartt didn't think she could afford college, so she enlisted in the Army instead. In her 10 years of military service, she became a supply sergeant and spent time in Japan, Korea and Germany. With her mother ailing, Smartt left the Army in the late 1980s and worked in a Sharonville food plant. She then went to work at lighthouse, becoming a house manager and developing a love of working with youth that she says will become her next career.

She's working now as a tu tor for a program housed at Frederick Douglass Elemen From Page CI zor. "We've cut costs behind the scenes, increased fares and improved service efficiency. We've dipped into our reserves and deferred critical capital projects like bus replacement. These steps bought us time but we can't overcome the additional losses in revenue. We must reassess the level of service that we can reasonably provide witlyn the new budget reality." Metro plans to review its.