Monday, February 16, 2009
An ‘unusual’ drug case
WAYNESVILLE, Ohio — The arrest of Stephanie Bowser on drug trafficking charges sounds like the plot of the television series “Weeds.”
Bowser was arrested Friday at her Chapman Street home in Waynesville. She faces charges of having her 14-year-old son help cultivate marijuana, and providing a 16-year-old boy with prescription medication to be sold at the Warren County Career Center in Lebanon.
Bowser, 38, also is alleged to have provided her 17-year-old boyfriend with various prescription drugs, and permitted the sale of Xanax at her former residence on Webbshaw Drive in Washington Township.
“It’s an unusual case because she has three juveniles involved,” said Commander John Burke of the Warren County Drug Task Force. “One’s her son and one’s her boyfriend.”
“Weeds” is a Showtime series about a housewife who becomes her suburban neighborhood’s marijuana dealer.
Layoffs in question
CINCINNATI — Longtime Hamilton County sheriff Simon Leis is being criticized for laying off a disproportionate number of front-line workers — the deputies who keep the public safe — while shielding administration from the cuts.
A Cincinnati Enquirer analysis finds the charge is true.
The sheriff laid off or issued layoff notices to 155 of his 1,050 workers since December. An additional 65 positions have gone unfilled. All told, the sheriffs department has seen a 21 percent reduction in the work force since the beginning of 2008.
The analysis found that of those laid off:
UOnly seven made more than $50,000.
U102 (or 66 percent) were either corrections officers, patrol officers, or court security officers.
UOnly three were listed as supervisors or managers.
The distribution of the layoffs raised concerns from the union.
Ax falls on recreation
COLUMBUS — Signs on the doors of 11 city recreation centers announce that they are closing “indefinitely.”
It is a big word to convey that more than a third of the city’s 30 centers are going dark because of budget cuts.
Kids and adults at the centers were more blunt with their opinions. Some were sad, some were disappointed, some simply said it “sucked.”
“I think it’s bull,” said 16-year-old Jodeci Tatum on the last day for Barack Recreation Center on the south side.
“If they shut it down, what’s going to happen to the kids in the neighborhood?”
The $630.5 million general-fund budget that Columbus City Council approved last week is $22.6 million smaller than the 2008 version.
Prison reform urged
COLUMBUS — State Sen. Bill Seitz says sweeping prison reform is the only way to reduce overcrowding and ease strain on Ohio’s budget for incarceration.
In a move uncharacteristic of most conservative Republicans, the Green Township senator last week introduced Senate Bill 22, which would allow more minor offenders to be sentenced to community programs, give more good-time credit to inmates, give the parole authority the ability to deal with parole violators and create sentencing alternatives for parents convicted of failing to pay child support.
The statewide prison population was 50,719 on Feb. 9 and could soar to 60,000 by 2018 without reform, experts say. The annual cost to house an inmate is $24,874.75.
Inspection consolidation
COLUMBUS — Every day, Franklin County’s inspectors drive past Columbus businesses on their way to make sure customers in suburbs and townships aren’t getting short-changed when they weigh a banana or pump a gallon of gas.
In late 1992, when Columbus faced a budget crisis, Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa offered help: His office could take over city weights and measures inspections. Free.
The auditor already provides the service to every Franklin County suburb and township. Businesses also get a break, paying nothing for an annual inspection, which costs a minimum $20 per scale in Columbus.
Back then, Columbus said, “No, thanks.” The savings seemed modest, and the mayor kept his name on stickers, at eye level, on 12,000 scales and pumps across the city. Today, as Columbus lays off police recruits and tells city workers to take off a week without pay, Testa is still willing to talk consolidation; Columbus could save $200,000 and cut seven weights-and-measures jobs.
“I’d be very open to doing it,” Testa said. ‘There’s always efficiency in the economy of scale.’
Ohio News Organization