Author: Cheryl Stephen

BREAKING NEWS:
Judge orders Immediate Reopening of Gyms and Fitness Centers

Judge Eugene Lucci CALLS OUT Gov. DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton

Today a lawsuit filed by Finney Law Firm, LLP and the 1851 Center forced the reopening of gyms and fitness centers in Ohio.

Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene Lucci provided the following powerhouse statement regarding his decision.

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It appears this decision will make it difficult if not impossible for Dr. Acton to implement forced closures in the future.

The Ohio Legislature is working on a legislative remedy that would limit the powers currently afforded to the Director of the Department of Health. Should the legislation pass the Health Director would be able to shut down the state for 14 days and then seek legislative approval for any additional actions.

The plight of a little girl with an aggressive form of brain cancer helped to bring about tremendous positive change for thousands of sick children throughout Ohio and neighboring states.

Seven-year-old Autumn Wehr has both parents with her today at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, after the hospital lifted a ban that permitted only one visitor per 24-hour period.

Autumn’s ordeal drew attention to the one-visitor regulation that many considered unnecessary and cruel, as it meant that only one parent could be with a hospitalized child.

Autumn was admitted to the hospital last Saturday with a prolonged seizure and placed on a ventilator. Only her her mother could be with her, while Autumn’s father was not permitted inside. Autumn was listed as critical.

She is the daughter of Carrie and Bradley Wehr of Jerusalem, Ohio.

Autumn’s family sent out a plea via social media, asking for help from the public and from Ohio representatives.

Senate President Larry Obhof heard about the family’s plight and intervened on their behalf, asking the hospital to allow both parents to be permitted in the room, considering Autumn’s grave condition. On Sunday both parents were allowed to be with their child. But when Monday came, the father was again unable to get in the hospital.

“There are literally families camped out in chairs in the parking lot because that is the only way they can be here together,” said Carrie in a Facebook post on Monday.

Carrie said she did not simply want an exception made for her family, she wanted the rules changed for everyone.

The hospital’s new policy took affect today. It says that all inpatients will be limited to two visitors in their rooms. The visitors cannot change during the child’s stay, and they must be healthy and over the age of 18.

Visitors will undergo temperature screens and will be provided a hospital-grade mask to wear for the duration of the visit, according to Children’s website.

Calls to Children’s media line were not returned before this article was published.

Ohioans are being called back to work this week as more and more businesses reopen, but childcare will not be available to working families until Sunday, May 31, at the earliest.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced that daycares will be allowed to reopen, but they won’t be the same as before. Class sizes will be significantly reduced, and other mandatory policies and practices must be in place. Infants and toddlers will be restricted to six per room with a maximum of nine permitted per room for older children. Masks and other precautions for staff members will be a requirement.

DeWine said more details on those requirements will not be made public until Friday.

State Representative Susan Manchester is calling for the governor’s administration to make reopening childcare a priority so that Ohioans can return to work with confidence that their children are being cared for and safe.

Most childcare providers are fundamentally small businesses. It is unknown how many will decide not to come back after being closed for over nine weeks. Daycare services operate on a narrow profit margin and some may decide that reopening is futile.

For those do reopen, it will be necessary to significantly increase rates due to smaller class sizes. This will hit families at the lowest income levels the hardest.

The childcare sector, which was already fragile and in need of strengthening and expansion, now appears it will be weakened further and may be inadequate to meet demand and unaffordable to lower-income families.

This will undeniably put added stress on Ohio’s working families.

“We know that Ohio’s childcare providers will need assistance as they reopen,” said DeWine.

He said Ohio is utilizing more that $60 million in federal dollars through the CaresAct funding to provide reopening grants to Ohio’s childcare providers. DeWine said these grants will be available to both public and private daycares for two to three months. More information will be posted on the state website.

DeWine announced that summer day camps can reopen on May 31st as well if they can meet safety protocols. Protocols will be released by the end of the day tomorrow.

Rep. Manchester urged the administration to form a workgroup devoted to planning for statewide access to childcare. “As Ohioans return to work, working parents need immediate access to reliable, safe and quality childcare,” Manchester said in a letter to the governor’s administration.

“Childcare programs already adhere to strict cleanliness and disinfecting standards and have indicated their willingness to comply with any additional requirements deemed necessary,” the representative said.

Lack of childcare is not a valid excuse for not returning to work, according to the state. Businesses have reportedly been told to report employees to the unemployment office if they refuse to return to work so that benefits to those individuals can be stopped.

We are very saddened to learn that Andrew “Andy” Thompson, former member of the Ohio House of Representatives, died suddenly today. Thompson represented District 95 from 2011 to 2018. He was unable to run for re-election due to term limits.

Thompson also served on Marietta City Council since 2005 and was co-publisher of his family’s magazine, Bird Watcher’s Digest. He was Eastern Ohio Development Director for Appalachian Ohio.

Thompson was married to Jade Thompson and the couple resided in Marietta. He was 57.

Thompson was a great conservative who cared deeply about all of his district and especially his home of Washington County. Those who knew Thompson say he was kind, generous and authentic. He will be missed.

Parents of young children and owners of childcare centers are anxiously awaiting word from Gov. Mike DeWine on when or if day cares will be allowed to reopen.

With over 90 percent of the economy authorized to reopen by week’s end, parents are left hanging with no direction from authorities on what to do for childcare.

Last week DeWine said he would make an announcement on Monday regarding childcare. When Monday rolled around, DeWine said more time was needed to study the issue.

Barbers, salons and spas will reopen Friday and restaurants will be allowed to offer outdoor dining. But still no word from the governor on what parents are to do with their children.

Some think the reason for the delay is that health officials are looking for a link between Kawasaki’s Disease and COVID in children. So far, this is simply a theory and not backed up by any scientific data.

The majority of studies indicate that children are less susceptible to the virus. Children also have been found not to spread it, even when they do become infected. Essential workers have had childcare available to them all along with no spread of the virus being reported.

While lack of childcare leaves parents in a lurch, childcare centers themselves are becoming increasingly desperate, saying their small businesses are on the verge of collapse. Most childcare centers are private businesses, with ongoing rent and utility costs. The majority have had little to no income throughout the course of the shutdown.

What’s more, childcare centers will likely face additional expenses as they prepare to fully reopen, with social distancing requirements that will limit the number of children they can serve, reducing their revenue. Home-providers are not available for state unemployment benefits because they are classified as independent contractors.

It is hoped that DeWine will authorize childcare centers to reopen along with other Ohio small businesses.

 

Some people are convinced that wearing a face mask is necessary to protect their health. To go a step further, they think you need to wear one too.

For those of us who choose not to wear a mask, leaving home without one can be risky. Not because of the new coronavirus, but because it makes you the target of public shaming and verbal assault. We are often called selfish and are told that (somehow) we are going to kill other people.

Facemasks are not mandatory in Ohio, even though Gov. Mike DeWine apparently thinks they should be.

DeWine and Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton spent weeks telling Ohioans that masks made little or no difference in the spread of COVID. Then they became a required component to reopening businesses. After some public pushback, DeWine made masks a recommendation, reminding us that business owners can still require customers to wear masks.

Even though they are not a requirement, some Ohio lawmakers are being called out for not wearing masks.

The Ohio Capital Journal reported Democrats are wearing them, but Republicans are not. It refers to the trend as the new “partisan divide.”

The Ohio Capital Journal credits Democrats for wearing them to “protect their colleagues and coworkers,” but at the same time berates Republican legislators for not wearing them, displayed by a “general distrust of the science.”

Republican State Representative Nino Vitale has been outspoken about choosing not to wear a mask.

The lawmaker has now become a celebrity of sorts for standing up for the rights of Ohioans.

In a Monday interview with Newsweek, Vitale said, “No one is stopping anybody from wearing a face mask. But quite frankly everyone else’s freedom ends at the tip of my nose.”

Vitale’s stand against forced masks has drawn a large crowd of followers to his Facebook page.

Why no facemask?

First, it is our right as American citizens to chose what we do or do not wear on our faces, protected under the U.S. Constitution. As if that alone isn’t enough, there are valid scientific studies concluding that masks do nothing to protect people from disease and can even be harmful.

This is especially true for children and people with medical problems.

“Wearing a mask may actually be harmful to some people with heart or lung disease because it can make the lungs work harder to breathe,” Said the CA Dept. of Public Health.

The World Health Organization recently released an updated guide. It stated that there is no evidence that wearing a mask in the community prevented healthy people from picking up respiratory infections including Covid-19.

Mt. Vernon Physician Dr. Laura Murnane agreed that asks can sometimes do more harm than good.

“When ambulating, you should not have something on your face,” said Murnane. “This actually increases your chance of getting sick from breathing CO2.”

Murnane said that to help avoid getting ill from any virus, wash your hands frequently, get adequate sleep, don’t cough on people and take vitamin C as well as D3 daily.

Wearing a mask outdoors is pointless, as outdoor transmission is exceedingly rare, according to a study released last month that tracked 318 clusters of COVID-19 in China.

Two Bakersfield, California physicians, Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, cited mountng evidence against wearing masks in a viral YouTube video. The pair reportedly owns the largest COVID testing site in Kern County, CA.

The video was censored and removed from You Tube but portions of it can be seen in this clip from Fox News.

Said Erickson, “We understand microbiology, we understand immunology and we want strong immune systems. Our immune system is used to touching. We share bacteria, stephanotis, streptococcal, bacteria, viruses. We develop an immune response daily to this stuff. When you take that away from me, my immune system drops. As I shelter in place my immune system drops. You keep me there for months, it drops more. And now I’m at home washing vigorously, washing the counters, worried about things that are indeed what I need to survive.

“The building blocks of your immune system is virus and bacteria. End of story.”

Scientific Researcher Judy Mikovits said that wearing a mask can activate your own viruses.

“You’re getting sick from your own reactivated CV expressions,” said the scientist.

Mikovits authored the book, Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science.

Mikovit’s interview on YouTube has been removed.

Yet another reason to forego a mask: Vanity.

Wearing one for extended periods can result in pressure damage to the soft tissue of the face, said experts.

Sweating and moisture from warm exhaled air can result in a rash and infection, as can the sides of the mask rubbing against facial skin.

The Director of the Institure of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention at the University of Huddersfield in the U.K. Karen Ousey and was part of a team that conducted detailed research into the pressure damage that can be caused by a wide range of medical devices, including face masks.

Finding and recommendations of the study were published in February.

Governor Mike DeWine was scored a “C” on his plan to reopen Ohio by The Committee to Unleash Prosperity and Freedom Works.

Governors were graded on how they have responded and continue to respond to the coronavirus. The scorecards were released on Monday.

Governors with “A” and “B” grades have already moved toward restoring freedom and economic opportunity and are trusting their citizens to follow best practices or to isolate themselves based on their own risk assessments, said the report.

Taking into account the severity of the virus in each state and the need to keep their citizens safe and healthy, the report assesses how measured or damaging their actions have been with respect to safeguarding the economic well-being of their citizens.

“The premise of the report is that, with a few exceptions in some metropolitan areas, the time is long past for every state to reopen safely, smartly and judiciously so as to end the economic destruction and despair from the lockdowns,” said Steve Moore, President of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia and New Jersey received failing marks.

The state of Ohio is already suffering the economic consequences of the shutdown, with DeWine announcing Tuesday that Ohio has lost nearly a billion dollars in tax revenue. Meanwhile, much of the state’s economy is still shuttered.

To make up for the lost revenue, state agencies will undergo budget cuts, with Medicaid, K-12 education and higher education taking the biggest cuts.

“If we don’t make these cuts now, the cuts we will have to make next year will be more dramatic,” said DeWine. The prison system is the only budget that will not be reduced.

Ohio was ranked number 30 on the list released by the Committee to Release Prosperity and Freedom Works.

The groups examined lockdown orders, business closures, hospital and outdoor activity orders, and the degree of punitive actions on enforcing these measures. Most importantly, the report measures the start dates for reopening in each state as the evidence is very strong that states with late start dates will have much more severe recessions than states that open earlier.

“There must be appropriate urgency to the task of reopening the country, because there are significant direct and indirect health and economic consequences of delay,” it was stated in the report.

DeWine said previously that the rate of reopening is being determined by Ohioans, but that he was also speaking with other states in the region.

“We’re [going to] do it. You know, it’s going to be an Ohio decision made by Ohioans. But you can always learn something by talking to other governors, other people who are in similar circumstances,” DeWine said. “You know, we’re not going to go lockstep.”

“So as I told the people of Ohio yesterday, the monster is still loose and it’s going to be out there in Ohio and across the country until we get, you know, the shot that will take care of and will protect us,” DeWine said on “Bill Hemmer Reports.”

Some have expressed opposition to the state reopening the economy and think it is too soon.

David Pepper, Chairman of the Ohio Democrats, tweeted on Monday, “Ohio needs to reconsider what it’s doing now. Forecasts are going up. Testing is not.”

A full copy of the report, including an analysis of each governor’s plans to reopen their state, can be found here.

Ohioans who lease their homes or apartments have some options when it comes to paying rent during the COVID shutdown but, in the end, the rent will still be due.

DeWine signed an order on April 1 that asks commercial lenders to delay collecting rents from businesses for at least 90 days. This, however, does nothing for residential tenants who may be struggling to stay current.

Ohio courts have been asked that landlords and property managers delay eviction and foreclosure proceedings to help the jobless during the pandemic.

Section 4024 of the CARES Act provides a temporary eviction moratorium as well as a moratorium on fees and penalties related to nonpayment of rent for those living in federally-subsidized housing. This also goes for those living in a property where a landlord holds a federally backed mortgage. This was signed into law on March 27, 2020.

The CARES Act states that renters cannot be served with an eviction notice until July 25, 2025 and that the notice must provide 30 days to leave the property.

According to the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, tenants are still legally obligated to pay their rent right now under their lease agreements just like they always would be. However, late fees and penalties cannot be charged during this time and that landlords are not allowed to turn off utilities, change locks, or throw out possessions because someone is behind on rent.

About 32 percent of total households in Ohio are rentals, according to 2017 statistics. In the last five weeks, 964,556 Ohioans have been placed out of work as a result of the state lockdown.

According to a Central Ohio property manager, some tenants were under the impression that rents could go unpaid during the state lockdown. Mark Hanes, who manages about 500 units, said once renters became aware that rents would still need paid, most have been able to stay current.

“Some of the people were confused in the beginning of all this and they thought they wouldn’t need to pay rent at all, that the government would be paying for them,” said the property manager. Hanes said that special payment arrangements are often made for those who fall behind.

Legal Aid Society of Columbus has COVID-19 legal updates and community resources that can be accessed here.

Courtney Valine, who manages a complex in East Ohio consisting of about 90 units, said only a couple renters have fallen behind since the economy shut down and those were brought current when stimulus checks were received.

Valine said that the complex has always worked with renters who fall behind, and even more so now that many people are not bringing in a paycheck.

In terms of helping to pay rent, the CARES Act provides the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with an additional $17.4 billion in funding including monies for rent assistance, housing vouchers, public housing, and housing for the elderly.

Our apologies to Rep. Jay Edwards for an error in a previous article that mistakenly paraphrased the representative as saying that a state moratorium prevents landlords from evicting due to late payments.

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus should have been credited with stating that landlords are not allowed to turn off utilities, change locks, or throw out possessions because someone is behind on rent, not Rep. Edwards.

 

He is a vital part of the Cincinnati Bengals, although some people might not know his name.
LaMorris Crawford gives encouragement and inspiration to the team in the background and likes it that way. He spends time on his knees for them instead of in the huddle.

I know that he holds Bible studies with Andy Dalton and his wife and has baptized several on the team. When I spoke with players Alex Erickson and C.J. Uzomah this past season in the clubhouse, they both told me that LaMorris is important to them and the Bengals organization. They depend on his leadership and guidance.
But recently, the team chaplain, and a friend of mine, just recovered from a bout with COVID-19.
For a short while, LaMorris, who is 40, thought he was dying.
He stumbled into the bathroom at home and knew something was wrong. He had a high fever, fell to the floor, and was not able to move for about 45 seconds.
When he was able to stand up, he said the room was sideways.
“I didn’t realize I was standing on one foot,” he told me. “Everything was on a slant. The room moved.”
Megan, his wife of 14 years, led him to bed and helped him change his clothes. His shirt was soaked with sweat.
She did not waste time and drove him to the hospital where tests were run.
“That feeling hit me again in the waiting room,” he said. “I can’t put it into words how horrible I felt. In my heart, I knew I was dying.”
Eleven days passed before he received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19.
LaMorris is healthy and on the go during the off-season. He preaches and travels all over the nation. He is in and out of airplanes and airports. My wife and I just recently attended a marriage seminar that he and Megan conducted at a church in our area.
He said he took precautions by washing his hands often and using sanitizer, but the virus still got to him.
“When a crisis hits, your natural thought process is that it will never happen to me, not that it could not,” he said. “But I was shocked that it did.”
A lot of things went through his mind during his recovery. He was in bed most of the time, and he had visions of his family having to go on without him.
He thought of Megan not having a husband and his children not having a dad.
“I never met my father, and don’t know who he is to this day,” he said. “And I could not imagine my kids without their father. I always had visions of spoiling my grandchildren, and in my mind, I was never going to walk my daughters down the aisle or watch my sons turn into young men. I know all my kids will impact the world one day, and I want to be around to see it. So those thoughts of me not seeing that really hit me heavy.”
For two weeks, he quarantined himself, and Megan took care of him. She later developed symptoms of fatigue, loss of taste, and a headache (associated with COVID-19,) but she is feeling good now. Two of his children had low fevers and the other two had stomach aches.
“I think it ran through our whole family,” he said. “I’m blessed to have a faithful wife who stood by me, and I know God saw us through this.”
LaMorris is almost 90 percent recovered and expects he will be back to his normal self in a couple of weeks. As a man of God, he never takes life for granted, but he now has an even better perspective on how fragile life can be.
“All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose,” he said. “We know God is present in everything we go through. I love my family dearly and love them more now if that’s possible.”
The NFL season is still scheduled to begin on time, and LaMorris is expected to be there cheering on his Bengals. He will be their spiritual leader and will pray for them daily. But, for a short time, he didn’t think he would live to see another kickoff.
The team chaplain for the Bengals, and my friend who wrote the foreword for my book, Bengal Believer: 40 Who Dey Votions for the Cincinnati Fanatic, was ready to die and meet the Lord. But God spared him.
Who Dey!

Del Duduit is an award-winning writer and author who lives in Lucasville, Ohio with his wife, Angie. They attend Rubyville Community Church. Follow his blog at delduduit.com/blog and his Twitter @delduduit. He is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary Agency.