SPRINGFIELD TWP. Farm grows better lives

The aviation program flew young people to the Cleveland Browns game.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Doug Taylor doesn't want this story to be about him, and he asks with a smile that his picture not appear in the paper.
Instead, Taylor, who lives with his wife, Kathy, on the Beight Farm on state Route 617, wants to focus on the programs he started in 1994 to show troubled young people that they can have a positive future.
"I wanted to provide them with a positive experience outside of their environment and hopefully introduce them to career fields, anything that could hook them into dreaming about being a productive member of society," he said.
The local officials who have worked with the programs stress that Taylor, as well as other volunteers in the farm's programs, play an important role in improving the lives of young people.
Some of the programs
The programs, based at the farm, include summer camps, outdoor activities and an aviation program.
"These are people who take time out of their busy lives to help these kids. It means a lot," said Judge Theresa Dellick, who oversees Mahoning County's Juvenile Court.
Atty. Joe Maxin describes Taylor as "the driving force, the backbone" of the programs. Maxin volunteers with the farm's aviation program.
"He loves the children. He has that fatherly instinct, that stern but liberal instinct," Maxin added.
Taylor started the programs in 1994 after moving to the Beight Farm from Licking County, where he had worked as an assistant county prosecutor handling juvenile cases. The young people he prosecuted often came from a troubled environment, but he found that little could be done for them except to sentence them to probation or jail.
"I saw a need for something in between complete incarceration of the kids and standard probation. They needed a halfway point," he said. "Obviously, if they get put on standard probation, they end up right back in the environment to begin with. If it's absolute incarceration, I see that as an absolute negative."
The right move
Taylor got the opportunity to provide that "halfway point" when he and his wife decided to move with their two daughters to the Beight Farm, which has been in his family for at least five generations.
The 88-acre farm has many large trees and 55 acres of planting land, as well as a landing strip, a basketball court and a pavilion.
Young people are brought to the farm by area juvenile justice and school officials and community organizations to learn about the land and take part in agricultural projects, Taylor said.
"It took them out of this purely classroom environment. Some of these kids work better when they're working with their hands," he said.
Judge Dellick said young people in the county's juvenile justice center must demonstrate positive behavior and accomplishments to be allowed to participate in farm programs.
"It's something they look forward to," she said.
Flight to Browns game
Recently, Taylor, Maxin, Atty. Ron Knickerbocker and businessman Tim Bodnar used their personal airplanes to fly some local young people to Cleveland to see the Cleveland Browns game. The trip was part of the farm's aviation program, designed to introduce young people to the possibility of a career in flight.
The three attorneys and Bodnar make several flights a year for the aviation program, taking young people camping or to different cities around the state. During the trips, the young people are taught about navigation, weather, radio operation and airplane instruments.
"Every once in awhile you find a kid and it really clicks," Taylor said.
Taylor has continued to work as a criminal and personal injury attorney from an office on the farm while also helping to run the programs. He's the only attorney with an office in Springfield Township.
Taylor's wife serves as the farm's executive director. The programs are funded through private donations.
hill@vindy.com