Tag: featured

Professor Michael Flamm examines the historical context of Michael Brown’s death

SH: Could you describe how race relations and racial inequality became a leading national issue in the 1960s, especially, and then declined to a certain extent since then?

MF: The Civil Rights movement, the freedom struggle, had of course been going on in the United States for centuries. It gains momentum during World War II, and after World War II, because you clearly can’t lead a fight on behalf of democracy and against fascism overseas and not turn and look at the racism that was prevalent in the United States. The United States in the 1940s, especially in the South, was a segregated nation, an apartheid nation in many respects. And so the Civil Rights movement gains momentum in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1960s, certainly the early 1960s, civil rights is the top domestic issue, Dr. King has become a national figure, everyone in the country is aware of what’s been happening in places like Selma…The organized civil rights movement, the freedom struggle, reaches a peak in 1963, with the March on Washington, in 1964 with passage of the Civil Rights Act, and then in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

After 1965, civil rights begins to fade as a national issue for most white Americans, for a variety of reasons. The Vietnam War becomes an enormous distraction of energy and resources, the Civil Rights movement loses a number of its most effective leaders –  obviously the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, the assassination of Dr. King in 1968, that has a tremendous effect as well. The Civil Rights movement itself begins to fragment and splinter; some African-Americans decide that they no longer want to pursue integration into white society as their objective; others begin to reject Dr. King’s emphasis on nonviolent civil disobedience. You have a rise of a new and younger generation of African-American leaders and so there’s some tension and fragmentation within the movement, and then in the 1970s and late 1980s that trend continues, and the organized civil rights movement diminishes, there’s less public attention to the issue, although naturally African-Americans remain very committed to the cause throughout the period and are still fundraising. To be fair, a great deal of progress is also made, and that removes some of the urgency, and going to the point of this interview I think part of the issue in Ferguson is that many white Americans aren’t aware of the many serious and real problems that still exist because this issue of race relations hasn’t been on the front pages or television screens except for periodic episodic explosions. But in general, I don’t think that many white Americans don’t spend a great deal of time considering how difficult it is, especially for poor, urban African-Americans who are isolated not only from white society but also from middle-class black society. And if I can just continue, one of the great successes of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is to create opportunities for middle-class Black professionals, many of whom have integrated successfully into society, moved into places and areas that were previously white-only, but they left behind a Black underclass that continues to struggle every day with economic oppression, police brutality – social problems.

SH: Do you see the death of Michael Brown and the way it’s been responded to as a potential watershed moment to bring race relations back into the national focus or do you think it could end up dying out?

MF: If I was an optimist, I would say that the death of Michael Brown might lead more Americans to question how the police operate and whether this war on drugs is worthwhile, whether it makes sense to pursue a prison policy of mass incarceration – the United States now has more people behind bars than any other country in the world, overwhelmingly these are poor people of color, there’s a tremendous discrimination built into our current policing system and I would hope people would take another look at it in the aftermath of Ferguson but I’m not especially optimistic.

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“Many white Americans aren’t aware of the many serious and real problems that still exist because this issue of race relations hasn’t been on the front pages or television screens except for periodic episodic explosions.”

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SH: Why do you think it’s become such a critical issue in ways that the deaths of Oscar Grant or Trayvon Martin in the past did not, or even some of the other deaths this summer (of Eric Garner, John Crawford and Ezell Ford) did not?

MF: It’s a terrific question. I think the Michael (Brown) death has attracted national attention largely because of the reaction of the police department in Ferguson. It’s quite interesting to note in New York City and in other places the police were much more proactive in reaching out to the community, they had better relations with the community, most large-city police departments are much better integrated now than in the past, they’re much more sophisticated in terms of community relations. We saw none of that in Ferguson. We saw a mainly white police force that was clearly not prepared to engage in community relations or in damage control in a reasonable manner.

SH: Having studied the 1960s, which also saw very aggressive police tactics against largely nonviolent demonstrators, not only in the South but also in Chicago in 1968 at the (Democratic) National Convention, what was your reaction when you saw the initial police response in Ferguson?

MF: I was surprised that in the 21st century, a police force was so unprepared to deal with a peaceful protest. On the other hand I saw the events in Ferguson as a very direct consequence of the 1960s in two ways. First of all, the urban riots of the 1960s caused police departments across the country to shift their focus from crime control to riot control, and really retrain and rethink how to deal with large crowd protests and disturbances. It is also in the 1960s that we first see the militarization of policing and that’s in response to the riots of the 1960s but it’s also in response to the Vietnam War, because in the 1960s and 70s, as today, the military was shipping large quantities of equipment that it was no longer using to police departments across the country. And so the police departments are changing their tactics, but they also have access to a whole range of weapons and equipment as a result of the militarization of policing.

SH: Are there any moments in the movements for racial justice, whether in the United States or elsewhere – in South Africa, for instance – that you see as comparable to Michael Brown’s death in a historical perspective, or in terms of how the police and the public reacted?

MF: If you look at South Africa, there were police massacres that took place – Sharpesville, Soweto, other places like that. I do want to interject a note of caution here. The Michael Brown situation in Ferguson is a tragedy, but we’re talking about the death of one person. I don’t believe that the Ferguson police department has handled it well, I was as shocked and horrified by the images that we all saw of people wearing military uniforms and clearly having equipment that was inappropriate for the scene. At the end of the day, and perhaps this is a low bar, at the end of the day the police in Ferguson do have discipline, they do have control. One death is a tragedy, any death is a tragedy, but you can’t compare it to the killing of hundreds of people in South Africa or in other places by a police action.

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“There will be another tragedy in the near future and public attention will shift to that tragedy and away from Ferguson, and the deep underlying problems in Ferguson that haven’t been addressed in the past 30 years aren’t likely to get addressed in the next year or two.”

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SH: I’d read that some comparisons just in terms of the images and how they had their guns pointed, but other than what initially started it with the death of Michael Brown, the Ferguson police haven’t fired a shot.

MF: I would simply point out that I’m writing a book about the Harlem riot of 1964, which was the first major riot of the 1960s, and during the six days of the Harlem riot, officers of the New York Police Department fired thousands and thousands of warning shots. And it’s frankly a miracle that only one person was directly killed in New York City. By comparison, in Ferguson, the police have shown, I think, appropriate restraint in the use of firepower. Now perhaps they shouldn’t have displayed the firepower in the first place, and perhaps their response was somewhat overwhelming but they haven’t used those weapons, they’ve maintained fire discipline and command control and they’ve kept the tragedy from growing.

SH: Where do you think things will end up going from here? I know you said you weren’t very optimistic.

MF: As a pessimist, I believe that this incident will quickly be forgotten, I believe that it will be overshadowed by some other incident that captures people’s attention. I find that today, the world of new social media – people are quickly energized, but they equally quickly forget what has happened, move on to the next cause, the next issue…I hate to be cynical, but I feel quite confident that there will be another tragedy in the near future and public attention will shift to that tragedy and away from Ferguson, and the deep underlying problems in Ferguson that haven’t been addressed in the past 30 years aren’t likely to get addressed in the next year or two. Although I do hope that the police department in Ferguson will make more of an effort to integrate, to reflect the community it serves, and of course to take community relations more seriously.

SH: You mentioned social media. Could you talk about how social media has driven the way the America has looked at this case and even heard about it?

MF: The social media drives coverage of stories and interest in stories. It’s clear that CNN and other major news outlets had no idea how important events in Ferguson were until social media exploded. The conventional mainstream media sources have been cutting back in their coverage of stories that don’t fit a national profile and into that void social media has stepped. It’s a reflection, though, of how quickly the Twitterverse and social media can blow up a story but I think like a balloon those stories are easily inflated but then they also quite easily deflate as attention shifts somewhere else.

SH: Could you talk about how you think the media has covered the situation and how the police have responded to the media?

MF: I hate to generalize about the media because it’s not fair to paint with too broad of a brushstroke – some of the media have done a good job. I will say, as a historian, I’ve been disappointed and in some cases shocked by the lack of historic knowledge and perspective that reporters have displayed. I am thinking in particular of a reporter on (CNN) who speculated as to why the police department hadn’t used water cannons, fire hoses, on the demonstrators. This clearly is a reporter who has no memory of Birmingham or the demonstrations, or why police departments since the 1960s have been very careful when using either police dogs or water cannons on Black demonstrators or protestors…I’ve seen John Lewis interviewed on television several times about the Ferguson incident; I can only imagine what he thought of that comment on (CNN) suggesting that the police in Ferguson should have used water cannons.

SH: For one final question, could you talk about how – if you’re familiar with this – journalists have been treated by the police and is that something that surprised you?

MF: It’s surprising to me – it’s reflective of the lack of sophistication or preparation on the part of the Ferguson Police Department. Most big city police departments are now much more careful and sophisticated when it comes to treating reporters. In some respects what happened in Ferguson is extremely comparable to the 1960s when reporters were frequently harassed, beaten, mistreated by police officers when they attempted to cover stories. The most famous example comes in 1968, in August 1968, during the Democratic National Convention, when protesters and reporters are beaten on the streets of Chicago who don’t want what they’re doing covered or reported in the media.

The Issue: ISIL

This summer, a militant group in Iraq and Syria has been making major headlines. ISIS, or ISIL as world leaders call it, has made a name for itself. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is known for its massacres and hostile takeovers of major Iraqi cities.

The increasing violence in the region prompted President Barack Obama to send in American troops, about four years after the last combat troops left Iraq. However, these troops are not on the ground, instead, they are just using air power. Along with airstrikes, the U.S. also carried out humanitarian aid drops, most famously to the Yazidi minority in Iraq, that were trapped on a mountain.

Within the past few weeks, the situation got even more dire, due to the beheading of American journalist James Foley by a member of ISIL. Foley was kidnapped in Syria two years ago, and was held for ransom since. ISIL is claiming they are holding another American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2013, NBC News reports.

According to NBC News, the United States had tried to rescue Foley and the other journalist, but the mission failed due to a location error. Foley was being held for ransom for about $132 million. ISIL militants have also been accused of killing and holding Lebanese soldiers.

And on Tuesday, many news outlets reported that ISIL beheading the second American journalist in their custody, Steven Sotloff. As of press time, neither the White House nor the State Department could confirm the video of the beheading.

Within the past few days, Iraqi troops, along with U.S. airstrikes were able to liberate the Iraqi town of Amerli, after “a months-long blockade by Islamic State militants that had surrounded the Shiite Turkmen village and raised fears of an impending massacre,” the Washington Post reports. The militants surrounded the town in June.

The Issue: Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin is at it again. After a bit of a lull in the militant fighting in Ukraine, minus the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 by Ukrainian rebels, more trouble is brewing in the region. Within the past few days, Russian troops entered Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, Western countries say Russian troops and supplies went to Ukraine “to bolster the pro-Russian rebels.”  Western countries are also alleging Russia has given weapons and fighters to Ukraine. According to AP, NATO says there are at least 1,000 Russian troops in Ukraine.

On Sunday, Putin “demanded that the Ukrainian government negotiate directly with pro-Russian separatists,” the New York Times said. Putin also suggested the issues of “statehood,” the Washington Post is reporting. This call for negotiations, and possible statehood, comes around the time where other European leaders threaten tougher economic sanctions against Russia if the conflict does not end within the next few days.

Even though Putin brought up the idea of “statehood,” he is claiming that “this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized,” Reuters reported.

According to the United Nations, the death toll of this ongoing conflict is about 2,600 people.

Editor’s Note: The featured image for this article originally showed a member of an Iraqi militia. The image was changed to a photo of ISIL members.

Six vehicles had their tires punctured while parked outside the Bigelow-Reed House at 23 Williams Drive this weekend, and Public Safety (PS) is working to determine if this was part of a larger attack on vehicles throughout Delaware. “We just need to determine if it’s isolated to campus – and that’s going to be our investigation if that’s the case,” said Investigator Richard Morman. “If it’s much wider, wide range like it appears it is then we’ll collaborate with the Delaware Police on their investigation. Obviously if it happened all over the city it could just be a random act; if it happened just here on campus it could be isolated.” “We’re waiting to hear back whether this is a city wide issue,” said PS Director Robert Wood. According to the incident report, the first case was discovered around 2 p.m. on August 31, at which time five other cases were found by responding PS officers. The damage is believed to have occurred between 3:30 p.m. August 30 and 1:45 p.m. August 31. Morman said that while he initially thought that the tire puncturing was targeted, the reports of similar incidents around town led him away from that. “There was no commonality between them (the vehicles),” he said, offering the example that they didn’t all have stickers which would suggest the owners were members of the same fraternity. Public Safety hasn’t determined any possible suspects yet, according to Wood. “We can share that we don’t have any,” he said. Morman added that they don’t know if the perpetrator or perpetrators were University students or Delaware residents. “Hopefully that’s to be determined,” he said.

By Spenser Hickey

Managing Editor

The Ohio Wesleyan community lost Athletics Hall of Famer Ryan Missler ’98 on August 9 following a car accident on Route 33 in Dublin, Ohio. He was 38.

Missler started on Ohio Wesleyan’s baseball team for three years and after graduation played two years in the independent minor leagues; he joined the Hall of Fame in 2008.

“He was one of the most outstanding baseball players that Ohio Wesleyan ever had,” said Roger Ingles, current Athletic Director and Missler’s coach on the baseball team.

“…He was just an outstanding player, outstanding person and everybody looked up to him. He was a leader on and off the field.”

Jodi Andes, Dublin Police Department spokeswoman, said the accident remains under investigation but did not have further details at this time.

In his time at OWU, Missler played third base and shortstop, earning the Player of the Year award from the North Coast Athletic Conference his senior year. He led the NCAC in batting average at .485, fourth best in OWU history, and set the OWU record for most home runs in a season.

That year, the Bishops defeated Ohio State’s baseball team 10-7 in the Buckeyes’ first home game; Missler had two home runs in the game.

“He was easily the best player on the field and they (Ohio State) were Big Ten champs that year so I think that tells you what kind of caliber of player he was,” Ingles said.

In his junior year, he was named to the All-NCAC first team, having been a nominee for that selection sophomore year, tying for fourth on OWU’s list of most runs batted in during a season.

His three year career batting average of .400 was fifth-highest in OWU history and he tied the  home run record at 27.

Following his time in the minor leagues, Missler worked alongside his brother Aaron as vice presidents of the family business, Missler’s Irrigation, based out of Dublin; their father Mike is president.

“After he graduated, he played in our golf outing every single year, he and his father and brother,” Ingles said.

“Their irrigation company did a lot of work on campus…he’s one of those guys that you get as a coach that’s kind of a once in a lifetime person. He’s just going to be missed by a lot of people, our thoughts are with his family.”

This story was updated on Sept. 17 with additional information.

Keeping a car on Ohio Wesleyan’s campus is now almost twice as expensive.

Students who want a B-level permit, which provides access to most residential lots, will have to pay $175 for the upcoming academic year, according to a Public Safety statement released July 30. The B permit cost $100 last year.

So far, though, the number of B passes issued are almost three times greater than the number of C passes: 434 to 153. The strategy involved raising B permits from $100 to $175 and C permits from $10 to $15.

The price of a C-level permit also increased from $10 to $15 for parking in lots further removed from residential buildings, such as those near the Jay Martin Soccer Complex, Beeghly Library and Selby Stadium.

The penalties for breaking OWU’s parking rules will also be steeper this year. Parking ticket fines are increasing from $20 to $30 for cars with permits and to $50 for cars without permits. Public Safety will put boots on the fifth violation for permitted cars and on the third violation for those without permits. Those drivers will have to pay $75 to get the boot removed, which cost $50 last year.

The hikes is an effort to reduce crowding both in OWU’s lots and on Delaware streets, according to Public Safety director Bob Wood. With last year’s influx of cars on campus, many students who needed B spaces often couldn’t get them. He said he hopes the cheaper C permit will divert drivers away from the crowded residential lots.

Also part of the effort is the Enterprise CarShare Program, now in its second year. Wood noted that the Delaware Area Transit Authority’s main bus hub is on Park Avenue in the center of OWU’s campus.

“We’ve got a lot of good transportation options, so we’re trying to encourage people — if you don’t need a car, why don’t you look at another way to do this?” he said.

The greater sanctions for drivers without permits is an effort to reduce crowding on Delaware streets, which has prevented residents from parking near their houses, Wood said. Public Safety will be stepping up enforcement of its requirement of all OWU students with cars to buy a permit.

Many students reacted negatively to the increase. Senior Emma Buening said she couldn’t afford a $175 B pass.

“I don’t even have books that cost that much,” she said. “I would have to get so many tickets from DPD for it to be worth it that it’s not.”

She only rarely parks on campus, and then for just as long as needed.

“If there was a cheaper option – if it was $40 or $50, I would think about it,” Buening said, adding that C lots were far away. “A C Pass, where can I even park? Selby?”

Sophomore Nicole Barhorst said the higher parking cost makes it more burdensome for her to travel home each month to visit her sick grandparents and the girl she mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“I absolutely need my car to spend time with these very important people, yet every year it gets much less affordable to bring one to campus,” she said on Facebook.

Wood said he and other administrators compared the university’s parking prices to those at similar schools and found OWU’s were cheaper. But even with the additional $75 per permit, he said, there’s still a gap in maintenance costs, which are between $800 and $1,500 per space.

Sophomore Brian Burnett suggested Public Safety prohibit freshmen from having cars on campus or keep them to the C lots, which OWU used to do. The policy changed last year, when B and C lots both opened to all students.

Managing Editor Spenser Hickey contributed reporting to this story.

The Women’s City Club of Delaware, Ohio will be giving a garden tour of 8 Delaware gardens this weekend in an attempt to raise money for housing renovations, including those for its dining room’s recently collapsed ceiling.

The nonprofit organization dedicates itself to providing women in need with low cost housing. The group consistently fundraises in order to provide the residents with low rents, which are about $60 a week per resident and include utilities. In addition to constantly fundraising to keep rents low, the WCC has to raise additional funds for the home’s many necessary repairs. The 135 N. Franklin St. home was once an Ohio Wesleyan University fraternity house and has been in business since 1954, so renovations are not an uncommon need for the historic home.

One of the club’s more recent fundraisers took place on Friday, April 14, 2014, when the volunteers of the WCC collected donated items for a rummage sale to be held the next day. The rummage sale was inspired by a need to make about $4,000 for renovations, but raised $900. April’s rummage sale could not have predicted a need for funding beyond their goal of $4000, but in early June, the home’s dining room ceiling collapsed. The ceiling continues to be the primary concern for the renovations and safety of the women living there. Even with insurance coverage, the WCC expects to spend a significant amount of money on the repair.

There are eight women who reside in the rooms on the second and third floor of the four-story home. Only single women are eligible to live at WCC, but women of all ages, from 20 to 90 and above, are welcome.

OWU alumna Emily Amburgey, ’13, is one of those eight women, but her reasons for occupancy are different than most. Amburgey is the house monitor as well as an intern coach for the Varsity Track team at Ohio Wesleyan.

“I needed a place to live in Delaware that was cheap,” she said. “I kind of intern coach, follow my head coaches around and do what they do. I don’t get paid anything.”

A former Women and Gender Studies/Sociology double major, Amburgey is applying to graduate school next year and plans to become a social worker. She said her position at the WCC helps her prepare for a future of helping others.

“(WCC) is right up my alley,” she said. “It’s interesting seeing the different mix of people that come through this house, and it’s just neat to be able to talk to and eclectic group of women and be able to help them out on their little journeys.”

As the monitor, Amburgey also acts as the house’s resident mediator, putting out any emotional fires that may arise within the residents.

“Anything like someone gets locked out of their room or if there’s any sort of question or dispute, that’s what I’m here for,” she said. “I mean it’s a house full of women, it can be difficult at times but for the most part it’s totally fine,” she said.

 

Kelly Abel, 21, who graduated from Rutherford B. Hayes High School in 2011, moved in about two weeks before the rummage sale.

“I was in Bowling Green, Ohio for a few months, couch hopping because things got really bad with my parents,” she said. “They were emotionally abusive, that’s why I left.”

Although Amburgey and Abel are both in their 20’s, most of the other residents vary in age. The WCC provides housing for single women of all ages, from 20-90 and above.

“I’m thinking that down the road I definitely want to not live here because I want to be married and have children of my own,” Abel said.

Abel said she is happy to call the WCC her temporary home, she said that she has many aspirations for her future and is currently looking for a job in Delaware.

“I’m trying to find work right now, anything that pays,” she said. “I heard possibly United Dairy Farmers.”

Like Abel, housemate Rebekah Nussbum, 32, from Orville, Ohio found the WCC after moving out of her childhood residence.

“I was ready to move out of my parents house, I heard about (WCC) and finally decided I might as well try it,” said Nussbum.

Nussbum has been living at the WCC for about 16 months. Currently unemployed, Nessbum had worked at the Columbus Zoo in season since 2003. Unlike Abel, she said she’s not sure what she wants to do in the future.

Treasurer for the WCC, Sue Capretta, intends on raising enough money so residents like Nussbum and Abel have a safe and inexpensive place to live for as long as they wish. She said the board for the WCC is bonded by this idea.

“I think it was just the concept of what the group does, being able to allow women to be here, you know for reduced price and helping them work through their struggles,” Capretta said.

Greta Bemiller, the current Vice President of the WCC, has been a member of the board for over 10 years.

“I came in and met everyone having dinner and liked the people and got involved,” she said of her start at the WCC. “It’s a fun group we work very hard but have fun as well.”

Zuilla Way founded the WCC 60 years ago, and Bemiller said that they frequently hold events to raise awareness and funds in an effort to honor her mission: providing safe and affordable housing for women below the poverty line.

“Board meeting is the first Tuesday of every month, and we have a dinner meetings, sometimes we go to restaurants. We usually have a potluck and we do some fun silly things,” Bemiller said. “We’ll have a chili cook off and give awards- they’re major awards,” she added in April as she was holding up decorations for the rummage sale.

Employment gaps between men and women are widening nationally, and Delaware County is no exception.

The official definition used by the U.S. Census reads, “If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty.”

In Delaware County there are 8,885 people living below the poverty line, with 1,818,886 of all of Ohio’s residents fall below the poverty line. Delaware holds approximately one-half of a percent of the underprivileged rate in Ohio. According to the 2014 Ohio Poverty Report, “…poverty rates are higher for families with children, families without a full-time, year-round worker, and single-parent households- especially those with a female head.”

Ohio Wesleyan women’s and gender studies instructor Rita Trimble, said she defines underprivileged people as those who are  economically disadvantaged. Trimble said she believes it “falls disproportionally on certain groups of women.”

“People who don’t totally fit the white, middle-class, feminine norm are at risk to be more economically disadvantaged,” she said.

According to the census data for 2011, 13.6 percent of males are under the poverty line, while 16.3 percent of females are impoverished.

In another census report from 2012, the poverty rates are displayed by age and gender. For ages 65 and over, 11 percent of women are suspected to be living in poverty, while 6.6 percent of men are believed to be living under the poverty line. From ages 18 to 64, 15.4 percent of women are underprivileged, compared to 11.9 percent of men. Ages under 18 show that 22.3 percent of women and 21.3 percent of men are living below the poverty line.

Children

Trimble said that “a big factor” of why more women than men are consider underprivileged is the fact that “unpaid labor that goes on is done by women.”

“We have an idea of how people should be able to pull their own weight and one difficulty for a single mother is that that unpaid labor doesn’t get recognized as labor,” she said.  “So it’s hard to be recognized as pulling your own weight.”

Various organizations throughout Delaware County provide multiple services to those who fall below the poverty line, with some focusing strictly on women.

OWU senior Tasha Cruz volunteers at Family Promise, a nonprofit organization in Delaware committed to helping those below the poverty line.

“We provide them with housing and food basically for a minimum duration of four weeks with a possible extension up to three months,” Cruz said.

Cruz said she believes a reason more women are underprivileged could be because they stay with their children.

Assistant professor of English Constance Richards defines an underprivileged person as “someone who doesn’t have access to basic needs: education, job, adequate food, safe home.”

Richards said women living in poverty often have children, which makes escaping hardship much more difficult. She also said it can be easier for men to be absent in the parent role than it is for mothers.

“Because we don’t have a subsidized child care system in this country, women are always going to have an extra job,” Richards said. “If we had subsidized child care — so safe, affordable child care — moms could put kids in child care then they might be better able to compete in the marketplace.”

Pay Inequalities

Trimble said there is a blaming stigma that occurs when a person is disadvantaged. Many people living below the poverty line work multiple jobs, but more often than not these workers earn minimum wage, making it difficult to achieve economic security. For women responsible for children, a minimum wage job makes earning a decent living especially difficult.  Despite their work at one or several jobs, people below the poverty line are frequently generalized as lazy.

Trimble said there is a sense of shame that the unprivileged face, as they can conform to society’s view of their situation.

According to the Insecure and Unequal Poverty and Income Among Women and Families Report for 2010 and 2011 by the National Women’s Law Center, “Poverty rates for all groups of women were higher than for their male counterparts.”

“The gender wage gap persisted, undermining women’s ability to support themselves and their families,” the report said.

It continued to show the discrepancies between men and women. Women on average make 77 cents to every man’s dollar, which for the year 2011 there was “an annual difference of $11,084 in median earnings.” African-American and Hispanic women earned 64 and 55 cents to every white man’s dollar, respectively.

Although there continues to be poverty, the report stated that poverty has stabilized between 2010 and 2011 after it had been increasing in the prior years.

In another report by The National Women’s Law Center, the center focuses on inequality of pay in Ohio.According to census data, women in Ohio earned $35,284 full-time to men’s $45,859 earnings in 2010. Additionally, 15.2 percent of Ohio women were in poverty to Ohio men’s 11.6 percent.

Local Organizations

Located in the middle of the Delaware community are three organizations that aimed to help those in need: Family Promise, he Andrews House and the Women’s City Club.

Family Promise volunteer Cruz said Family Promise works to take in and provide for low-income families. There is an on-staff social worker to help the families find work and housing for when they leave the organization.

Andrews House, located at the corner of North Franklin and West Winter Street, is a community center with offices that provide assistance to the underprivileged and works on programs to better lives.

The center includes offices for legal, financial, child care, health and food services. There is a full kitchen for the bi-monthly community dinners. Director Mel Corroto said about 40 to 90 people show up for each dinner.

Andrews House also works with other food programs like the Mobile Food Market with Mid-Ohio Foodbank and the Summer Lunch Program for children under 18 when they are not in school.

Every Wednesday the Andrews House offers free Medical services with its Grace Medical Clinic, and once a month the Delaware Bar Association offers free legal advice through a clinic.

Corroto said she does not necessarily see more women than men come in for the services offered at the Andrews House. However, the Andrews House is beginning to work with the program Support Through Empowerment and Partnerships (STEP), and she said she has seen more women through this program than men. Corroto said that last year the STEP class had eight students, seven of whom were women. Corroto said this year’s class is all women.

The Women’s City Club of Delaware focuses its attention specifically on women. Greta Bemiller, the club’s vice president, said the club offers housing for underprivileged women with a small rooming fee. All of the house’s nine rooms are currently occupied, and more women are on a waiting list to move into the club.

Bemiller said she believes there are more women in need than men because of “the glass ceiling” that prevents women from achieving the same successes of working men. She said it’s common for women to have less access to education, which can result in fewer job opportunities.

The Women City’s Club works as a transition place for the women to get them back on their feet. The club is able to stay afloat with government grants and fundraising events. The 37 members of the club are all volunteers.

Both Corroto and Bemiller said they have had Ohio Wesleyan students come and volunteer. Cruz said she hopes students can become aware of what is going on around Ohio Wesleyan.

“It would be so easy for a student to step outside off campus a little bit,” Cruz said. “They would be able to see that these are people.”

“When an oxycodone cost $80 and 30 milligrams of Percocet is $30 you can’t afford to sustain that habit for long. I told my dealer I couldn’t keep spending $120 a day, so he suggested I try his pure white heroin. Like that, I was hooked,” said 35-year-old Delaware native and recovering addict, Danielle Adkins.

Heroin originally became popular in the 1960s, but after four decades, it is now back funneling through U.S. streets at a high rate. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, from 2007 to 2012 the number of Americans using heroin increased from 373,000 to 669,000.

Steve Hedge, executive-director of Delaware Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services, said heroin is their No.1 problem.

“Heroin and opioids are some of the most addictive drugs you can take. You’ll hear former abusers say I got hooked the first time I injected it,” he said.

The narcotic analgesic directly depresses the central nervous system causing an intense high. Heroin can be naturally derived from the opium poppy or formulated synthetically in a lab.

Adkins said she had to learn how to hide her addiction from her husband, child and friends.

“While I was slamming (injecting through the veins), I shot up in my lower extremities, in between my toes, and in the veins on my breasts,” she said. “I always made sure the lights were off when I made love to my husband so he would not know my secret.”

The country-wide epidemic has severely affected. Ohio In 2011, there were 1,765 unintentional drug overdoses, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That means nearly five Ohioans died every day from unintentional drug overdose that year.

Judge David Sunderman of the Delaware County Municipal Court said heroin addicts are not worried about overdosing.

“I had a guy in court recently that was on probation, and he was a heroin user. His best friend and girlfriend had both died from an overdose. I mentioned to the court that he had tested dirty even after that occurred,” said Sunderman. “I said, ‘A logical person would conclude that once you see someone close to you die, you’re just not going to use again.’ He responded, ‘Judge to be honest, there’s no logic involved in this. I know that is how I should think, but when you’re a heroin addict you don’t care about that. There are times I’d be happy dead anyways.”

Adkins, a former registered nurse at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, said the addiction is extremely strong.

“I would go to work high, inject myself while I was at work, and then get high when I got home. I still feel very guilty for taking an oath as a nurse to care for the sick, not to hurt them,” she said.

According to the Ohio Department of Health, from 1997 to 2011 the amount of unintentional drug overdose death rates and distribution rates of prescription opioids showed a strong relationship as both are currently at all-time highs.

Prescription opioid pills such as OxyContin and Percocet are the gateways to heroin. These prescription pills can be obtained from a pharmacy with a valid prescription or from “pill mills” where patient’s leftover prescription medication is distributed illegally.

Delaware Police Chief Bruce Pijanowski said the source of addiction is doctors over-prescribing opiate pain medication to some of their patients.

“My daughter just had very minor knee surgery, and she got a 30-day supply of Percocet when she only needed a one-day supply. Part of the problem is the left-over pain pills are just sitting there and they get diverted,” he said.

Dr. Andy Lee of the Smith Clinic said heroin addicts are solely worried about where the cheapest fix is coming from.

“As the supply of prescription opiates has dried up, they’ve become more and more expensive and more difficult to get. Simple economics dictates that I’m going to buy whatever is cheapest,” he said.

Addicts often resort to burglaries, shoplifting and home invasions, selling or pawning their stolen goods for their next cheap fix. Judge Sunderman said desperate addicts will do anything for a balloon of heroin.

“Since we are the municipal court, we see a tremendous amount of shoplifting cases,” he said. “Big shopping areas such as Polaris, all the stores down on Route 23 and stores in town are unfortunately convenient places for people to go get items. Their plan is they steal merchandise worth $300, to go get enough money out if it for their next fix.”

After months of being consistently using heroin, Adkins had a scare and decided to finally admit her addiction to her husband. He immediately took her to inpatient rehabilitation where she endured withdrawal.

Adkins then was admitted to outpatient rehabilitation at Maryhaven, a rehabilitation and addiction recovery care center in Delaware. Adkins has been clean for almost two years, and she said the road to recovery is rewarding.

“When I was high, my body was there, but I wasn’t,” she said. “Maryhaven saved my life, and I am now a more attentive mother to my child and better wife to my husband.”

Adkins said she is now pursuing her bachelor’s degree online to become a social worker to help other addicts and get her story out. Adkins explained she has learned one major lesson through her journey.

“I had a great family, nice house and a good paying job, but I still became addicted,” she said. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.”

 

By Spenser Hickey

Managing Editor

Ohio Wesleyan senior Anthony Peddle, class president, is recovering after being stabbed Saturday in his fraternity house by an unknown assailant.

A Delaware Police Department report made available to Transcript staff Sunday at 10:54 a.m. describes the attack as “felonious assault” and lists no information on potential suspects.

Capt. Adam Moore of the Delaware Police Department said Monday morning that detectives continue to work the case.

“(They) have spoken with several witnesses,” he said in an email. “We have also talked with a ‘person of interest’ but there have been no charges filed or arrest made. Some evidence has been collected that will require additional testing.”

The incident occurred at 3:36 a.m. Saturday, May 3, according to an advisory sent out to students at 6:15 a.m. by the university’s Public Safety.

Following the incident, Peddle was transported from the fraternity – Chi Phi, at 216 North Franklin Street – to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center for treatment.

“Witnesses report seeing a male suspect in either a blue or green hoodie who fled on foot,” the advisory said.

“There is no sign of a forced entry. No one else was injured, and no additional details are available at this time.”

The advisory did not identify the student who was stabbed, but at 5:02 p.m. Ohio Wesleyan’s President Rock Jones did in a email to the community.

Jones’ update said Peddle was “in good spirits” and had undergone surgery for injuries to his hand. He also said the university had been assisted by the Delaware City Police Department, who secured the house following the attack.

The members of Chi Phi were also supported by OWU staff from Student Affairs, Residential Life, Public Safety and the Chaplain’s Office following the incident.

“The health and safety of our students is of vital importance,” Jones said, informing students that Counseling Services and the Chaplain’s Office would be open to students on Sunday.

“Incidents such as this are rare, and they impact us deeply when they occur,” Jones said at the end of his message.

“They make us especially thankful for each other and the supportive Delaware community. We will continue to remain in close contact with Anthony and his family to help with whatever needs arise.”

This post was updated at 10:44 a.m. Monday May 5 to include comment from Capt. Adam Moore.