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Michael D. Clark reports:

A public records lawsuit filed to the Ohio Supreme Court and connected to a former special education teacher ended with a settlement approved by the Kings school board Tuesday evening.

The Kings Board of Education voted unanimously to approve an out-of-court settlement with the anti-tax group Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes to release depositions taken by the district’s attorney during an investigation into allegations the former teacher had mistreated students.

The teacher, who resigned last year, was investigated by district officials, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and the county prosecutor, but no charges were filed.

The Enquirer is not naming the former teacher because there have been no criminal charges filed by law enforcement agencies, nor are there documented allegations by Kings officials or any findings of wrongdoing by the Ohio Department of Education.

John Charleton, spokesman for state education department, said under Ohio law, department officials do not confirm the existence of any investigation unless it reaches the hearing stage or resolution on whether a teacher’s license is suspended or revoked.

The first complaint about the teacher came to Kings officials in October 2011 and by January 2012 the teacher was placed on administrative leave. The instructor, under a negotiated resignation agreement with the district in March 2012, received a letter of recommendation that included an excerpt from the teacher’s previously favorable job reviews.

Kings officials had initially disputed COAST’s lawsuit, contending depositions done by the district’s attorney with former school staffers, classroom aides and some of the students’ parents were not public record and were covered under attorney-client privilege.

Moreover, said Kings Superintendent Valerie Browning, Kings contended the depositions “might jeopardize the privacy and identity of our students” and their families if they were made public.

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Posted in: Board of Education, Schools |

Tags: Tags: chris finney, coast, kim grant, kings board of education, kings school district, ohio department of education, ohio supreme court, public records lawsuit, settlement, teacher, warren county sheriffs

Clynn Yeoh, with her winning Google Doodle art entry. Clynn won the contest’s state award and is now in the running for the national award. The Enquirer/Tony Jones

Google announced its winners of its Doodle 4 Google art competition shortly before 1 p.m. today on its website.

Kings Junior High student Clynn Yeoh’s doodle was not selected as a finalist in the grade 6-7 category.

Only finalists from each of five age groups were eligible for the top prize: a $30,000 scholarship for the student and a $50,000 technology grant for the school.  That top prize went to Sabrina Brady of Sparta, Wisconsin.

But it didn’t dampen the spirit at Kings Junior High where Clynn was a seventh grader and placed first in Ohio in the contest.

“We are very proud of her. She is an excellent representative of Kings Junior High,” said Principal Tim Spinner. “It’s still quite an honor to be selected as the top representative for the State of Ohio.”

Clynn was still in New York and could not be reached for comment.

Posted in: Uncategorized |

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Ryan Widmer looks at his family after he was found guilty of murdering his wife Sarah Widmer in 2008. This photo was taken Tuesday, February 15, 2011. / The Enquirer/Cara Owsley

The Enquirer

The state’s top court won’t give Ryan Widmer a new trial.

In a 4-3 vote, the Ohio Supreme Court declined today to accept his case for review.

Widmer is serving 15 years to life for killing his wife, Sarah, in their Hamilton Township home in 2008.

Widmer’s attorney, Michele Berry, had argued that a Middletown-based appeals court “misinterpreted” existing case law surrounding DNA testing in Ohio when it agreed with Judge Neal Bronson’s refusal to order genetic testing on blood from Widmer’s wife, Sarah.

Widmer and his supporters say his young wife showed possible signs of a genetic heart-rhythm disorder that could have caused her to drown. But she was never tested for that condition, “Long QT Syndrome,” or a similar problem.

The 32-year-old Colerain Township native who last lived in Mason has maintained his innocence.

Widmer’s lawyers have said they plan to appeal to federal courts if the Ohio Supreme Court turned them down.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: appeal, bathtub murder, long qt, mason, michele berry, ohio supreme court, ryan widmer, sarah widmer

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Today is a big day for 13-year-old Clynn Yeoh.

Clynn Yeoh, with her winning Google Doodle art entry. Clynn won the contest’s state award and is now in the running for the national award. The Enquirer/Tony Jones

It’s when the Kings Junior High School seventh grader learns whether her entry into the sixth annual Doodle 4 Google art competition wins the top prize, based on online voting earlier this month.

Clynn’s entry was selected the tops in Ohio, earning her a 3-day trip to New York City with the other state winners.

The top entry in each of five age groups will become finalists and the national winner from those will be announced today in New York.

“It’s top secret. No one knows anything yet,” said Google spokesman Reid Vineis.

Among the panel of judges for this year’s competition are journalist and TV host Katie Couric; Brian Henson, Jim Henson Company puppeteer and chairman; Aly Raisman, Olympic gymnastics gold and bronze medalist and captain of the United States women’s gymnastics team.

Since Google representatives came to an assembly at Kings May 1 to make the announcement, Clynn has had some excitement. Her winning entry was on the big screen at Great American Ball Park May 7 – the same day she threw out the first pitch.

Her entry was one of 130,000 from across the United States in Google’s sixth annual contest. The winning doodle – Google logo design that appears on www.google.com periodically to celebrate special events, holidays or other themes – will be featured on the U.S. Google homepage for 24 hours.

The theme was My Best Day Ever. To illustrate it Clynn thought back to her first day in the United States nearly three years ago.

A Malaysia native, Clynn chose to weave impressions of that first day in Los Angeles into her design, which she titled “My first day in the United States.”

Set against a United States flag, Clynn weaved a hotel, binoculars, compass and the Statue of Liberty into the Google logo. Below that was a streetscape design.

“It’s my first time to travel this far,’’ Clynn said earlier this month. “I’m thinking of buildings in United States that make city – not one city.”

Clynn’s design – whether or not it is selected as a finalist or winner – will become part of an American Museum of Natural History exhibit in New York today through July 14.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: art, clynn yeoh, doodle 4 google art competition, google, kings junior high, my best day ever

Jennifer Edwards Baker reports:

Widespread showers and thunderstorms will strike today, with the worst expected mid-afternoon.

Winds could gust up to 58 mph with quarter-size hail anytime after 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

Tornadoes cannot be ruled out, but the threat for them to develop is small, said meteorologist Scott Hickman.

It’s warm and muggy already this morning with 65 degrees at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. We’ll be in the mid-70s by lunchtime. The high temperature will peak near 80 at 5 p.m.

The chance for showers and thunderstorms will stick around through midnight. It will be mostly cloudy overnight with a low around 60.

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Posted in: News, Weather |

Tags: Tags: hail, thunderstorms, tornadoes, weather

Some roller coaster riders got more of a thrill than they expected Tuesday at Kings Island.

The Beast roller coaster got stuck while climbing the second hill — a height of 141 feet — about 11 a.m., park officials said.

The ride malfunctioned when a device on the coaster intended to keep cars separated detected a problem and didn’t release the car.  Thirty riders were stuck for about 10 minutes before being escorted off the ride, said Don Helbig, the park’s spokesman.

“It is not uncommon for a train to stop briefly on the lift hill of roller coasters to wait for the train ahead of it to clear a certain zone,” explained Helbig.  “That’s how the safety system is designed.   And that’s what happened this morning but the ride did not re-start.”

One rider called 911 after the train stopped and was transported to West Chester Hospital.

The ride reopened at about 12:30 p.m., said Helbig.

The Beast, which opened in 1979, is the world’s longest wooden roller coaster.

Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: hospital, kings island, roller coaster, stuck, the beast

When she was in college, Alecia Lipton’s goal was to knock news anchor Connie Chung off the air by the age of 40. Lipton, 44, instead turned her investigative sights toward a career in health care. After a 20-year career at nursing home facilities, she became Hoxworth Blood Center’s community relations manager five years ago.

We caught up with the busy Mason wife and mom of a blended family of seven children to talk about her work with the organization, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

QUESTION: What are your current projects?

ANSWER: We launched our Hoxworth Plus points system in February. It’s an online system where you can manage your appointments online. You can also see where your blood was used, such as Mercy Hospital or Children’s Hospital. For every donation you give, you can accrue a number of points. You can save those up and redeem those for something big, like a $50 gift certificate to Montgomery Inn, or a $10 gift certificate to Skyline. It’s our way of saying, “Thank you.”

Q: Where does the blood go?

A: We supply blood to 31 area hospitals in 17 counties, and we’re the only supplier of blood to those hospitals. Children’s Hospital is our largest user right now, because of all the phenomenal procedures and treatments they can do there. We need at least 350 individual blood donors and 35 platelet donors (per day) just to maintain the need. That’s not taking into consideration an emergency or crisis that might happen. The weather, flu season – we have a lot of challenges we really can’t control.

Q: What blood type is needed most?

A: I’m asked that question a lot and I always tell everybody, the rarest blood type is the one that’s not on the shelf when you or a family member needs it the most. We really need everybody to donate. At any given time, 37 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood, but only 7 percent do. If we could get everybody who is eligible to donate at least once a year, we would never have to deal with a blood shortage.

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Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: alecia lipton, blood donation, community relations manager, donate blood, hoxworth blood center, mason

Kevin Kelly reports:

The baseball season isn’t over, but Mason has finished as the state No. 1 in Division I.

The Comets received 23 first-place votes in the final Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association state poll released Monday. Moeller was No. 2 and Lakota East was No. 6.

“It’s an excellent honor for our student athletes,” Mason coach Ken Gray said. “They deserve the credit. They’ve really worked hard.

“As a coaching staff we kind of figure we’re just going along for the ride with them. Those guys have gone out and worked their tail ends off and they’ve had some success because of that.”

The Comets (24-0) finished the regular season undefeated for the first time and became the first Greater Miami Conference team to go 18-0 in conference play. Ranked No. 19 nationally by the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings, they also won The Enquirer Division I area baseball coaches’ poll.

Mason plays Ross in a district semifinal at 5 p.m. Thursday at Harrison and Gray said he’s leaning toward starting senior right-hander Andrew McDonald, who is 6-0 with a 1.06 ERA this season. Mason was scheduled to scrimmage Harrison on Monday.

In the Division III state poll, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA) finished No. 3 behind Ontario and Carlisle. Badin was No. 11 and Madeira was No. 17. Cincinnati Christian finished No. 8 in the Division IV state poll.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: baseball, comets, ken gray, mason, mason high school, ohio high school baseball coahes association, state poll

John Faherty reports:

Everything was fine really. It was kind of exactly what you would have expected.

Brady Bunch stars Christopher Knight (front row right), Susan Olsen (front row left) and Barry Williams (second row right) enjoy a ride on the Racer at Kings Island on Sunday. / Provided

Three former Brady Bunch kids — maybe you are never a “former” when it comes to the bunch — were going to Kings Island to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the summer when the Brady Bunch went to Kings Island to shoot an episode in 1973.

Barry Williams (Greg), Christopher Knight (Peter) and Susan Olsen (Cindy) were all there to tell some funny stories and show some classic clips. “Mom always said: don’t play ball in the house,” “Oh my nose!” “Pork chops and apple sauce.”

Donna Delph came from Hebron with her grandson Aiden. She loved the show as a kid, and now he watches it with her on the Hallmark Channel. “This is going to be so exciting,” she said as the lights began to dim.

Cindy, now 51, talked about being the mother of a 16-year-old son, with a Mohawk, and people began to realize that we have all aged together.

Peter, 55, was kind of the bad boy of the gig. He told the crowd that he has few memories of his time as a Brady and that it was fun to be able to recall these events through his fans.

But the show was really Greg’s. He came out first, and introduced the others. He talked about the clips, and he did a little Johnny Bravo. And in truth, Williams remains quite groovy. His skin is tan and his hair is dark and his pants still fit just right.

And everybody loved it. The noon show was the first of four on Sunday, and there was not a single empty seat in the 844-seat venue. People who couldn’t get into the first show were given wristbands for the second. There were already enough to fill the place for all four shows.

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Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |

Tags: Tags: barry williams, brady bunch, christopher knight, cindy, greg, kings island, mason, peter, susan olsen

Four people were briefly hospitalized after suspicious powder was mailed to a Lebanon government building.

Lebanon police received a call about 11:30 a.m. Monday reporting that an employee at the Warren County Health & Human Services building at 416 S. East St., opened an envelope containing powder and felt her hands begin to burn, said Lebanon Fire Chief Michael Hannigan.

Two other employees assisted the worker in washing the substance off. All three were transported to Bethesda Arrow Springs in Lebanon for examination. A fourth employee later arrived to be examined.

All four were treated and were released by 3:30 p.m., said Joe Kelley, the hospital’s spokesperson.

The building was evacuated and closed for the day, and all workers sent home, according to an officer at the scene. The building will reopen Tuesday morning.

Hazmat units removed the powder and sent it to a local crime lab for analysis. The incident remains under investigation and police have identified a suspect, said Lebanon Det. Sgt. Mark Allen.

The building houses a number of health and human services organizations, including the County Department of Jobs and Family Services, Warren County Health Department and Warren County Children’s Services.

Posted in: News, Warren County |

Tags: Tags: government, hazmat, lebanon fire department, lebanon police, powder, suspicious powder, WARREN COUNTY. warren county health & human services