Four Fallen Timbers Students Have Stories Published In Book
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Celebrating family stories – and getting them published – has become a Fallen Timbers Middle School tradition.
Stories by Delaney Cook, Jake Glancey, Gretchen Rudolph and Madeline Speer were among the 11 fifth-grade stories selected for the national Grannie Annie publication. This is the fourth year that the school’s LEAP students have had their true tales selected.
In “My Papa Gene,” Delaney Cook shared how her grandpa, Gene Cook, lived in a sharecropper shack in the cotton fields of Tennessee before his family found factory jobs and moved to Cleveland.
After serving for three years in the Army during the Korean War, Grandpa Cook was the first in his family to graduate from college, and the last nine-letter varsity athlete at the University of Toledo.
Gene served on Toledo City Council for 30 years, and worked as general manager then executive vice president for the Mud Hens from 1978 until his death in 2002.
“I don’t remember him. I was 2 when he died,” Delaney said sadly. But putting his story down on paper helps carry on his accomplishments, she added.
In “Racing Ron,” Jack Glancey tells how his grandpa liked to challenge others to drag race on the streets of Toledo – until an incident that scared him.
One summer Saturday night in 1961, Ron and some friends were challenged to a race from the White Hut parking lot. After hitting 100 mph and pulling away from his competitor, he saw another set of headlights in his rearview mirror and, thinking it was the police, he pulled into a driveway and ducked down low. Instead of the police, the headlights belonged to the man who lived down the driveway.
“Grandpa saw a 6’4” man approach him. The man said he saw Grandpa drag racing and he was going to call the police,” Jake wrote. After that, he promised not to race again.
Gretchen Rudolph chose a lighthearted story from her mother’s small town upbringing in “A Pig Tail Tale.”
Every day, her mom would walk home from school with her cousin and brother, stopping by a bakery to buy 5-cent cookies.
One day before Thanksgiving, the bakery woman asked the children what they were doing for Thanksgiving.
“‘Our family butchers hogs on Thanksgiving.’ The bakery lady chuckled and asked them to bring her a pig tail,” Gretchen wrote.
So they wrapped up a pig tail in a fancy jewelry box with a lavish bow and delivered the package. But when the woman opened the box, she gasped and turned pale. The kids all bolted to the door and began to cry, realizing their mistake.
“Once the bakery lady got back her bearings, she told my mom that it was okay,” Gretchen wrote. And from then on the kids continued to stop at the bakery.
Madline Speer’s great-grandfather’s cousin, Michael Paridon, nearly beat the Wright Brothers in being the first in flight, she explained in “Dreams of Flying.”
Growing up in Barberton, Ohio, Paridon dreamed of building and flying his own airplane. At age 18 he began working as a shop helper and then a designer and drafter for the Diamond Match Company. But his most memorable design was the airplane.
“Mr. Paridon began designing an airplane about two years before the Wright Brothers’ first flight,” Madeline said.
In June 1910 he made a successful flight of 100 yards a few feet above the ground, but during a flight in July, as he soared 100 feet into the air, the controls didn’t work properly and he slammed into the ground. With two young children at home, his wife threatened to divorce him if he flew again. So instead, he went on to invent over 70 machines patented for and by the Diamond Match Company.
“I hope that I am able to pursue my dreams and be as passionate about life and my ideas as he was,” Maddie wrote.
Interviewing and writing about relatives helped connect the students with family members, which fits in with the goals of the Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration, a nonprofit organization. Stories by students from 32 states and four countries have been submitted over the past several years.
Brian Billings, the Fallen Timbers LEAP teacher, said students spent at least a month in the process of writing and reviewing the articles before submitting them.
“They have a lot of natural talent in writing,” Billings said. “They did an excellent job.”
The complete stories by the four authors can be viewed at www.TheGrannie Annie.org.

Superintendent Fears Frequent Fund-Raisers Are A Strain On The Community’s Generosity
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Pointing to almost five pages of district fund-raisers, superintendent Dr. John Granger told the Anthony Wayne board of education during its March 8 meeting that the door-knocking is “more or less out of control.”
Granger brought the list to the board for awareness, he said.
“I want to make them aware that we do a lot of begging,” Granger said. “The band leaders, coaches and clubs can see what others are doing and see that their particular sport or club is not the only one.”
The list details every fund-raising activity at all of the schools, including soliciting donations for charities, selling products to support clubs and hosting events to raise money.
Those holding a fund-raiser must fill out a form to turn in to the building principal, who passes it along to the superintendent.
“As I deny some requests, people may complain to the board members,” he said. “We want our fund-raisers to be more service-oriented instead of door-knocking.”
Events such as the recent Channel 13 basketball game or Anthony Wayne Spirit of Giving Spaghetti Fest are ideal because people can choose whether they want to attend or not, he said.
“The fund-raisers we’ve got to be careful about are the ones where we’re going to homes and businesses and begging for money,” he said. “You ask any business in Whitehouse, Waterville or Monclova about fund-raising and you’ll get an earful.”
Board member Pam Gerhardinger and her husband John own Anthony Wayne Tire and Auto in Monclova, which they estimate has given about $25,000 in money and in-kind services in the past decade.
While John explains that the business owes a lot to the community for its success – either by name association or because of the teachers and students who frequent the shop – they feel barraged with requests for donations.
The Gerhardingers say they’d rather write one check than have constant door-knocking.
While no plans are under way, Pam said she thinks the district needs to make a concerted effort to consolidate fund-raising. That also benefits parents and children, John Gerhardinger said.
“You can only bug Grandma and Grandpa so often to buy cookie dough or pizza,” he said.
During the meeting, board members also:
• Heard that the district is owed $1.4 million in delinquent taxes from Lucas County home owners in the Anthony Wayne school district.
• Welcomed Vincent Laverick, who was hired as a high school English teacher for 2010-11 as well as head soccer coach. Laverick currently teaches English at Tiffin Columbian High School and is assistant coach at Heidelberg University.
• Learned that varsity volleyball coach Meggan Morr withdrew her name for consideration for a 2010-11 supplemental contract. The position will be advertised internally and externally.
• Discussed the results of the community focus group. Although the 48 people surveyed agreed on a need for new facilities to meet increasing enrollment and state mandates for lower class sizes, the group agreed that the next two years are not the time to ask for funding.
• Heard that state Rep. Randy Gardner is sponsoring House Bill 366 to amend state legislation mandating all-day, every-day kindergarten. Legislation enacted in 2009 mandates that all districts offer daily kindergarten within two years. Anthony Wayne does not have the space and would need to hire new teachers, Granger said.
• Approved teacher, administrative and supplemental contracts.
• Learned that the board will hold a work session to discuss the five-year forecast on May 4 before approving it at their May 10 meeting.
• Went into executive session to discuss the sale of property.

The next board of education meeting will be held Monday, April 12 at 6:00 p.m. at the central administration office, 9565 Bucher Rd.