The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 43

RegionSState The Beacon Journal Monday August 30, 1999 PageE3 r1 21 transfer amestioiied. Wrongful-death lawsuit claims District of Columbia sent dangerous inmates to medium-security private prison in Youngstown against advice of a monitor Toledo gSi" town Umm Canton i Columbu "Dayton fidr The prison, which opened in May 1997, has been under fire for a series of stabbings and the July 1998 escape of six inmates. Chisley was classified a medium-security inmate after his 1995 conviction on drug and weapons charges. But he was kept with prisoners classified as maximum security, according to the suit The affidavit from Thomas, who is now a warden for a private prison in California, is important because it supports allegations that the district sent a volatile mix of inmates to the prison and did nothing to protect them, despite numerous warnings, said Erik Bol-og, one of Clusters attorneys. Defense lawyer Victoria Toens- ing said the only reason prisoners were sent to Ohio was concern for their safety in the district's crowded prisons.

The district government's contract with the Ohio prison called for it to hold inmates needing medium and high-medium security, the report said. In his affidavit, Thomas told of meetings where cpntract monitor David Bogard warned about security problems and suggested a plan for moving maximum-security inmates out of Ohio. Bogard told the Washington Post that he would not discuss those meetings, but said, "I would put an awful lot of credibility in what he says." the district wrongfully sent violent prisoners to a prison designed for medium-security inmates and that guards were not properly trained to protect her husband. The district and Moore are asking to be dismissed from the suit because the federal government is responsible for the safety of prisoners transferred out of the district's prisons. The company, Corrections Corp.

of America, based in Nashville, wants the case dismissed because it was filed in the district rather than in Ohio, where the death occurred. Associated Press Washington: An independent monitor warned District of Columbia officials about a volatile mix of maximum-, medium- and minimum-security inmates living two-to-a-cell in Ohio, but nothing was done until two inmates were killed, according to a sworn statement. In the affidavit, submitted last week as part 'of a widow's wrongful-death suit, the former deputy director of the district's Department of Corrections also said prisoners were transferred to the pri- You can say maybe you wouldn 't be poor if you left, but that's a big gamble. ANN TICKAMYER, sociology professor at Ohio University Renewed faith in Appalachian vate prison in Ohio to reduce violence in the district's prisons. The affidavit of former Deputy Director John Thomas stopped short of saying prisoners were transferred because they were dangerous, although that is one of the allegations in the suit India Chisley is seeking damages from the district government, former top prison officer Margaret Moore and the owner and operator of the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center of Youngstown for the March 11, 1998, death of her husband, Bryson.

She contends Hamilton Police charge woman in death of newborn A 20-year-old woman accused of putting her newborn daughter in a garbage bag and throwing the girl into the trash has been charged with murder. Carin Marie Madden of Jacksonburgh will be arraigned today in Butler County Common Pleas Court. Officials don't know how the infant died or whether she was stillborn, said county Coroner Richard P. Burkhardt An autopsy was to be done today. The charge against Madden could be changed if the autopsy shows the baby was stillborn, said Prosecutor John Holcomb.

He would not say what charges Madden would then face. A garbage truck driver discovered the infant's body in garbage near Madden's home Saturday morning, Holcomb said. He said the driver was compacting trash when the bag split open and revealed the infant's leg. Sandusky Cedar Point keeping roller coaster closed A roller coaster at the Cedar Point amusement park remained closed yesterday because a lift chain broke, and it was unclear when it would reopen, a spokesman said. The chain on the Corkscrew roller coaster broke Thursday night with riders on board, but no one was seriously hurt.

Four people were taken to the park's first aid station as a precaution, spokesman Robin Innes said. The closure in this town about 50 miles west of Cleveland comes during a recent rash of amusement park accidents. Two people were killed and two others injured Saturday night after an accident on a roller coaster at Gillian's Wonderland Pier amusement park in Ocean City, N. J. On Aug.

23, a man was killed in a fall from the Shockwave roller coaster at Paramount King's Dominion park near Richmond, Va The man had managed to get himself out of a safety restraint The day before, a 12-year-old boy was killed when he fell off a ride at Paramount's Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara, Calif. Amusement park and carnival rides kill slightly more than five Americans a year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Cleveland Steroids allegedly given to racehorses Veterinarians and horsemen across Ohio are improperly using anabolic steroids on racehorses in order to heighten performance, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Ohio Veterinary Medical Licensing Board has charged seven veterinarians with improperly administering drugs to hundreds of thoroughbred and standardbred horses that race at state-licensed tracks, The Plain Dealer said.

One case has been settled. The other doctors are scheduled for administrative hearings this fall and face possible fines and license suspensions or revocations, the newspaper said. The paper identified only three of the doctors as Scott Shell, who treats horses at Northfield Park, and Doug Paroff and David Roeber, who are employed at Shell's Ravenna-based veterinary clinic, the newspaper said. None commented, but each is contesting the charges. A message left with the Ohio Veterinary Medical Licensing Board was not returned Looking over old photos of Congo, Ohio, are (from left) Gladys Conway, Agnes Garriott and Maxine Bulstron.

Below, Jerry Hartley, a VISTA volunteer, supervises construction of a shelter house at a new park in Trimble. While family ties hold communities together, politicians and industry begin to show interest By Mark Williams Associated Press TRIMBLE: Jerry Hartley has studied in Hawaii, taught in the Caribbean and traveled tp the Far East, Europe and throughout North America. But no matter where he went, he always longed to return to this hamlet buried deep in the heart of Appalachian Ohio, where opportunities are few, unemployment is high and the future looks grim. "I love this area. My home is here," he said as he drank a soda at Raster's, a restaurant where residents in this town about 60 miles southeast of Columbus like to gather.

It is a common feeling among those living in Appalachia, where many thriving coal mines, farms and company towns are nothing but history going into the new millennium. "Family ties, community ties, over and over again, have been shown to be incredibly strong in Appalachia," said Ann Tickamyer, a sociology professor at Ohio University in Athens. "You can say maybe you wouldn't be poor if you left, but that's a big gamble," she said. Even when residents leave, they often go to cities such as Cincinnati, Columbus and Detroit, where family members went before them, she said. Often, they return home.

That was the case for Christina Brooks, who left the region for North Carolina only to come back seven years ago. Brooks, 26, now lives in a nicely kept trailer in Oakdale, a two-road neighborhood in Glouster where many trailers and homes are rundown, appliances sit on front porches and the grass in some spots looks like it hasn't been cut in months. She acknowledges that there aren't many educational or employment opportunities, but she can't imagine living anyplace else. "It's what you make of it. I'm not a city person," said Brooks, a nursing assistant in Nelsonville who pictures herself one day having a small farm.

One of her neighbors, Carl Spars, 58, spent $7,000 on a small, old house 10 years ago that he continues to renovate. "I like it Nice people here," he said as he sat on his front porch. But Spars, who used to work in Columbus, acknowledges that if it Ohio ahoga County. After decades of being ignored, the region is getting more attention these days. The Rev.

Jesse Jackson, arguing that Appalachia has been left behind the country's economic prosperity, has visited the region three times since April 1998 to highlight its needs and to push for more investment by Wall Street Gov. Bob Taft wants to place a great emphasis on the region, too. "We really need a comprehensive strategy for the Appalachia area" that would focus on rural revitalization, transportation and education he said. "I really believe the state does have an obligation to do more in those areas of the state that have not fully enjoyed the prosperity that most of Ohio is experiencing," he said. Change would help Hartley said the economy would improve if the emphasis would shift from extraction to manufacturing.

For example, trees taken from the Wayne National Forest are shipped to Texas and made into furniture that many people in Appalachia can't afford to buy, he said. "That is the biggest complaint," he said. Some parts of Appalachian Ohio have done well with niche industries. Gallia County has become known for growing flowers. Adams County has two wineries.

Reclaimed strip mining land has been turned into an animal preserve in Muskingum County known as The Wilds. State parks in the Hocking Hills region attract 1.5 million visitors a year. Wayne National Forest, made up of land acquired by the federal government primarily in the 1930s, now takes up about 230,000 acres in 12 counties. Tom Winn, co-owner of Glass House Works, a greenhouse in the Athens County hamlet of Stewart, said southeast Ohio is a perfect spot for his company. "It's beautiful and low key," he said.

With mail order and the Internet it doesn't take a site with easy access to a major road to have a successful company, Winn said. Even though visitors by the busload visit Winn's greenhouse, the hills and twisting roads make it hard to get to many Appalachian towns. "I really think transportation is a major issue down there," said Emma Brewer, an official with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services. "You really need better roads." The musicians' current contract expires tomorrow. Contract negotiations began in December 1998.

Many of the symphony musicians teach at the University of Akron School of Music or other area colleges and universities. Some members are advanced music students from conservatories and music schools in the area. vTV Shirlene Hatfield, a restaurant owner. Today, only about 2,000 people live in the Glouster and about 1,000 in Shawnee, where the main street sits mostly empty. "These towns were 24-hour-a-day towns," said Hartley, a retired archaeologist who now works as a community organizer for Volunteers in Service to America, the domestic equivalent of the Peace $67 per appearance or rehearsal The new contract raises this amount by $3 in each of the first three years and $4 in the fourth year.

Madsen said the musicians are hoping the symphony will eventually have a core orchestra made up of musicians who work full time rather than part time and earn a larger salary. mb Associated Press Corps. Mining employment peaked around the turn of the century, when 50,000 miners worked in about 1,150 Ohio coal mines. By 1998, the state had only 3,400 miners and 130 mines. Production in 1998 was 27.7 million tons, about half of the record level reached in 1970.

Towns such as Hamburger, Hobo and Santoy were so dependent on mining that they became ghost towns, Hartley said. Many area residents are retired or collect welfare. Those who do work often travel to Athens, Nelsonville, Lancaster, Columbus or even West Virginia for work, he said. "The coal barons, railroads and timber companies have gotten very rich off the region. They haven't ignored it at all," Tickamyer said.

"What's been ignored is the people who provided the labor." Help on the way Appalachian Ohio takes up about a third of the state, running from east of Cincinnati along the southern portion of the state and then north along the eastern edge of Ohio. Despite its size, it has only about 1.4 million residents, about the same number who live in Cuy Orchestra members made a minor change last night to language governing whether orchestra members may negotiate individually for salaries above the approved scale. Under the new contract, musicians may not approach the symphony to negotiate a higher salary, but symphony officials may offer a larger salary to individual members, Madsen said. weren't for the fact that he was disabled with a heart problem, he wouldn't be here because finding a job is tough. "There ain't nothing here," he said.

24-hour towns slow down Most of the 29 counties in Appalachian Ohio have unemployment rates above the state average. Morgan County had the highest rate of any county in July, 13.2 percent, compared with the state average of 4.5 percent Not all of Appalachia is poor and isolated. Clermont County benefits from its location near Cincinnati Holmes County has become a destination for tourists visiting Amish country. Athens County is home of Ohio University and Hocking College. But the area is full of stories of faded glory.

Hartley said Glouster, in northern Athens County, once had 19 bars, seven or eight clothing stores, two grocery stores and an opera house where vaudeville actors performed. There were as many as 20 mines within 20 miles of Glouster, two of which employed 1,000 miners, he said. In Shawnee in Perry County, there were 15 saloons, two train stations, two banks and a movie theater in the 1930s and '40s, said cert season begins Sept. 25. "The musicians felt it was fair, and that it was what we could do with this size of orchestra," said Linda Madsen, secretary-treasurer of the Akron Federation of Musicians.

The musicians currently earn New contract resonates with Akron Symphony Musicians vote unanimously to get salary raises Beacm Journal staff report Akron Symphony Orchestra musicians voted last night to accept a new four-year contract that will give them raises of $13 for each performance or rehearsal. The new contract, approved unanimously, will go into effect Wednesday. The orchestra's con-.