COLUMBIANA COUNTY People pay support after JFS runs ad

Not all of the money came from men listed in the ad.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- It pays to advertise, especially when it comes to collecting child support payments.
August child support payments in Columbiana County shot up by $70,000 over August 2003.
The county's Job and Family Services in August ran a small ad in area newspapers last month listing the names and birth dates of 30 men behind at least $20,000 in their support.
The men were in the top 10 percent of delinquencies in the county.
Eileen Dray-Bardon, the agency's director, said not all of that $70,000 came from the men listed in the advertisement.
But of those who were listed in the ad:
USix men reported their employers and are making payments through wage withholding.
UNew addresses were reported for two men.
UOne man is disabled and unable to work and make payments.
In support cases not mentioned in the ad:
USeveral people said they would make payments so their names would not appear in an ad, including one parent who made a $6,000 payment.
UOne woman asked the agency to forgive $40,000 in back payments owed to her. That can be done in some situations, according to Susan Stryffeler-Heim, the head of the support division. The agency makes sure the person is not being pressured to drop support. But waiving support also gets the debt off the total of uncollected support.
Over the next year
The agency will track the 30 cases for a year to see how much money is collected.
Agency officials are also eyeing other changes in how it collects support, especially through warrants. It will meet with county Sheriff David L. Smith to discuss outstanding warrants. Some may be for indictments for nonsupport, while others may only be for failure for to show up at a hearing.
To increase collections, the agency is considering writing to people and asking themselves to turn themselves in, publishing the name of those with outstanding warrants, or even have a county roundup of those facing warrants.
wilkinson@vindy.com