Post (Athens, Ohio) January 23 2003

              THE POST WEATHER: Cloudy chance of snow, high of 14, low of 2 Thursday: Cloudy, high ***♦* of 26 INSIDE: Former OU President Crewson remembered for bridging town-gown gap PAGE 9 ATIIFNS, OHIO THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2003 Http ://www. thepost. ohiou. edu Taft slashes $121 million from budget by Andrew Welsh-Huggins The Associated Press COLUMBUS Gov. Bob Taft ordered $l2l million in state spending cuts yesterday to help ■fix Ohio's third budget deficit in • two years. The state's money troubles the worst in 50 years was the theme of Taft's fifth State ;of the State speech, along ■with the need to transform Ohio's economy in the future. "We must draw on our own strength and courage to overcome modern day challenges and build an even greater state," he said. Taft, a Republican, had to begin the forward-looking process of selling Ohioans on a $5OO million November bond issue for technology, even as he proposed closing prisons and cutting state spending further. The governor's executive order exempted a few areas of spending, such as school funding, basic aid for higher education, job development and a program that allows senior citizens to live at home instead of entering a nursing home. In addition to previously announced closings of one or two prisons and a youth detention facility, Taft announced the closing of one or two developmental centers for mentally retarded over the next two years. Taft also proposed an overhaul of the state's tax system that would eliminate income taxes for the more than 500,000 of the state's poorest residents. He also proposed increasing the number of services covered by sales taxes, while broadening the state's corporate franchise tax. Taft said his budget also will call for $4O million for his Third Frontier project to create more hightech jobs. He also called on lawmakers to help place a $5OO million bond Bob Taft Nelsonville cuts spending, jobs by Chuck Bowen Staff Writer charles.bowen@ohiou.edu Nelsonville released a tentative budget last week, cutting $1.3 million, or about 20 percent, from last year's $6.8 million budget. All department supervisors received temporary budgets, said Nelsonville City Auditor Aileen Lehman. The Nelsonville Finance Committee must first approve the figures on those budgets and present them to City Council. Then the final budget must be read twice before it may be adopted. The fire department is estimated to receive a $58,700 cut. Nelsonville Fire Chief Jeff Williams said he worries about the future of his department. "It'll be extremely challenging to provide fire protection (with the budget cuts). We'll have to cut services here and there, and hopefully we can keep two men on the day shift." Currently, the fire department has three full-time, three parttime and 23 volunteer firefighters. "Most of our firefighters are volunteers," Williams said. "They're young and work or are at school during the day. After 4 o'clock, we get more men on, but if we get a call in the middle of the day and only one guy can go, just hoping someone else shows up, that's a bad situation." The chief said yesterday he was the only man on duty. "When you've got the chief on the day shift by himself, that's a raw deal for the citizens and the fire department," he said. "That directly affects the safety of the people during the day." With such a small workforce, Williams said there is little room to cut money from the department's estimated $234,800 budget for 2003. CURB EYESORES Trash choices stink by Casey Clapper City Senior Writer casey.clapper@ohiou.edu Group to revamp Uptown garbage, .recycling system An informSl'groUp of Athens City Council members, representatives from the trash hauling company, the city sanitarian and Uptown business owners are working together toward a common goal  eliminating trash and recyclables from Uptown curbs. The main concern of the group is to handle problems with blowing trash and recyclables that litter the Uptown area when garbage is placed curbside, said Councilman Dale Tampke, D-at large. "Right now, people put their recycling and sometimes their garbage right out on the street and curb," Tampke said. "(We) already pick up trash every day. Even if we get out there early, it blows all over the place. It's an eyesore." Assistant City Service-Safety Director Ray Hazlett said he tried to gather as much information about the way trash is handled now so the group, which plans to meet in mid-February, can be on the same page when it comes time to find a solution. A cost estimate for the project is not known yet, Tampke said. Officials, mindful of an already strapped budget, said they hope to keep the price tag low. Although a timeframe for a solution is unknown, one possible solution to the trash problem is finding more centralized locations to place trash and recycling bins Uptown, said Mike Cooper, Athens city sanitarian. "The problem is, Where do we put drop-off boxes?'" he said. "There is limited space to put them, and it has to be a reasonably convenient place for people. Businesses don't want their employees carrying trash down the sidewalk. If it's not convenient, people aren't going to use it." Cooper said he is working with the code-enforcement office and the city Geographical Information Systems office, which handles the mapping for the city, on an inventory reporting how people handle their trash Uptown. Also in the works is a map with an attached database that has information for specific points on the map. "Part of the problem is that people Uptown have no other option but to sit trash Uptown, and that's a physical space issue," he said. "They don't have a choice. It's going to take some thought about what a good system will be." Right now there are three trash and recycling bins located on North Court Street. Despite these bins, some addresses have no means of getting rid of trash except the curb, said Chuck Miller, housing inspector with the code enforcement office. The Solid Waste District, the designated hauler for the Uptown area, is working with the group to correct some of the problem areas and add drop-off boxes, said Joe Recycling right Weekly curbside recycling is available to Athens residents, but the recydables need to be sorted properly. Here are the steps to follow: O Aluminum, tin and steel food cans: Rinse cans and place in grocery sacks. OGlass: Rinse, remove caps and separate by color (clear, brown). Place in grocery sacks. Green glass is no longer accepted. <) Plastic milk jugs, pop bottles, shampoo and detergent bottles: Place in grocery sacks. No wide-mouth containers such as butter tubs or cottage cheese containers. No plastic bags. () Corrugated cardboard: Brown corrugated and paper grocer sacks only. Must be flattened. Place in boxes, bags or tied bundles. () Mixed paper: Copy paper, notebook paper, other white office paper can be recycled together. Place in grocery sacks. O Newspaper: Stack neatly in grocery sacks or bundle with twine. Do not mix with other paper. O Magazines and catalogs: Place magazines, catalogs, phone books and glossy paper In grocery sacks. <) Paperboard: Cereal boxes, cracker boxes, pop and beer cartons, egg cartons, paper towel rolls etc. Flatten and place in grocery sacks or large paperboard box. Source: Joe Kasler. coordinator of the Solid Waste District The Post Jenni Sdulk/ For The Post Greg Brown sorts newspaper at the Athens recycling plant. Unsorted materials are the biggest problem for workers'at the Athens plant. Garage band boasts loud name, loud sounds by Sarah Laubacher Staff Writer sarah.laubacher@ohiou.edu Though the band's name might raise some questions and eyebrows The Pullouts prefer an approach to rock 'n' roll that is "straight to the point." Their up-tempo and decidedly loud garage rock finds a comfortable home at local venues such as The Smiling Skull, 108 W. Union St., and The Union, 18 W. Union St., where they will play this Friday night and you might have to arrive early to catch them. "I like playing first because you get free drinks and free music after that," said guitarist Pat Donohue. Influences include area bands The Galley Boys and The Boaz Philharmonic, along with the Pixies, Devo, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Manowar, whom they consider "the loudest band in the world." The Pullouts also keep the decibels rising, and were so loud at one Smiling Skull show that someone living nearby called the cops. Drummer Kyle William Forstrom compared their style to being jumped on by a grizzly bear. "You have the wind knocked out of you. That's how it feels, but you're not scratched or anything," he said. "It all goes back to hard drums, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana. I know how to play soft, but don't do it very often. We like people jumping around." The Pullouts do not usually play slow songs either, but a more dynamic live show is among their goals. "Maybe (we should) not rock so hard all the time," Forstrom said, but bassist Mike Dotson's goal retains a quality he thinks of as scary and exciting. "1 want to make people faint or wet themselves at some point," he said. "I think those are two admirable things." Donohue said their songwriting is already getting stronger, as the whole band is beginning to contribute. Though they have only been playing seriously since last spring, they have about 20 originals at this point, and add some Nirvana and Brainiac covers to their set lists. Sometimes over Forstrom's screaming backups, Donohue sings lead vocals sometimes also harmonizing with or screaming with Forstrom. The members recognize that most interpret the band's name as inappropriate, and Donohue said he even considered changing it. "Everybody comes up to us, The Pullouts Who: The Pullouts with A.F.O. When: 10 p.m. Friday Where: The Union, 18 W. Union St. Admission: $3-4 and says how the name is so inappropriate, but when we first came up with it, 1 didn't even think about that," Forstrom said. "There are better methods of contraception."He said the name refers to an incident involving a Murphy bed and a game of Yahtzee. "Pat was over at my grandma's house, spending the night because we were going up to this concert," he said. "We were sitting up, playing Yahtzee in bed one of those beds that pulls out of the wall. Well, it slammed us into the wall, just like what happens in the movies! Yahtzee and all." Forstrom said his grandma was too short and not strong enough to pull them out, so they had to wait a half-hour for his grandpa to return from an Elks meeting before they were pulled out of the wall. Marcus Master/ for The Post Members of the band The Pullouts; from left to right, Mike Dotson, Pat Donohue, and Kyle Forstrom stand outside near Athens Middle School Tuesday evening. The three-piece band can be seen at The Union Friday night at 10 p.m. Freshman gets price right, wins stapler, $10,500 by Becca Manning Staff Writer becca.manning@ohiou.edu All it took was a few strategic punches for Ohio University freshman Trevor Roe to make game show history on The Price Is Right. Tickets to the show and plane tickets to Los Angeles were a highschool graduation gift from Roe's dad, Randall, 49, a hotel owner and fellow fan of the show. Roe chose his friend Billie Childers, also an OU freshman, to accompany him on the trip. The two flew to Los Angeles in December, Roe said. They began their game show experience at 4 a.m. that day where they stood in line for about nine hours to get seats to the day's show. Like many of the audience members, Roe and Childers made T-shirts especially for the show. Childers said her shirt read, "I schedule my classes around The Price Is Right." Once inside, show officials interviewed all the audience members asking questions about where they were from and what they did for a living. Childers said she thought Roe's experience working as a broadcaster on a children's news network helped make him stand out. She had a feeling Roe would be called to "come on down," when she heard one of the aides mention Trevor's name. "I was flipping out, like it was the end of the world or something," Childers said. "I was going crazy." Roe was the fourth person called to the front and the third person to go onstage. His winning bid was $753 on a $770 wine cabinet. "It was pretty much just a guess," Roe said. "I knew it couldn't be as much as all the other people were bidding." On stage, Roe listened calmly as the show's host, Bob Barker, explained a game called Punch-a- Bunch a game in which Roe had the chance to win up to $lO,OOO. "I just remember stressing out. I was nervous for him," See TAFT page 4 See RECYCLE page 4 See BUDGET page 4 See WINNER page 4