Walk aims to conquer childhood cancer

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published April 6 in The Heights Observer
The first CureSearch walk in Cleveland, planned for May 8 at Wade Oval from 9 to 11:30 a.m., will raise awareness and funding for childhood cancer research.
Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children, according to CureSearch. The organization, which works with the Children’s Oncology Group and National Childhood Cancer Foundation to fund research, will play a major role in the Northeast Ohio CureSearch Walk to Conquer Childhood Cancer, according to cochair Stephen Crowley.
Crowley and his wife, Cynthia Van Lenten, are organizing the walk. Posters advertising the event feature photographs of their daughter, Olivia, who was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in 2002. She was 7 years old. For the next three years, she underwent treatment, including chemotherapy in hospitals from Memphis to New York. Described by her father as a vibrant child who loved soccer and wanted to be a comedian, she died in 2005.
"She was full of life, and it made it really hard to see that something like this could happen to somebody like that," Crowley said. "My wife and I did everything we could to try to save her. We spent a lot of energy and resources trying to find a cure for her, so we decided to put the same energy and work into trying to help other children and other families."

TavCo’s new owner launches upscale menu

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published March 2 in The Heights Observer
The Tavern Company has a new owner and a new menu.
Chris Armington, who worked for 12 years at Brennan’s Colony as a bartender, server and manager, now owns The Tavern Company, also known as TavCo. “It’s always been a dream of mine to own my own business,” he says.
After signing the papers last November, his dream came true, and in January, Armington introduced a new menu for 2010. “If you’re a bar on Lee Road, you have to have wings and burgers, so we do that. But we also wanted to offer things that are a little more high end, and not be like every other bar on Lee Road.”
Additions to the menu—such as the seared tuna sandwich with orange pickled fennel and tarragon aioli on a crispy portabella mushroom bun, which replaces the old menu’s tuna melt—provide a more sophisticated take on the restaurant’s previous offerings.

Vice Mayor Adele Zucker retires

by KELLI FONTENOT

Published Dec. 1 in The Heights Observer

After nine years as Vice Mayor for University Heights, Adele Zucker will leave office this month. Her contributions include keeping a close eye on neighborhood services and never having to cut staff, something she attributes to frugal management by the mayor and previous councils.

Looking back, Zucker says she is proud of her accomplishments.

“To be reelected six times, I think that says I served the residents well. Because of them, I’m here, and I just love the city. It’s a great city to live in and bring up your children,” she says.

At the farmers market

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published Aug. 13, 2009 in The Jambalaya News

A familiar sight – juicy green watermelons piled high in the back of a pickup truck – lures shoppers to the end of Bilbo Street at the Charlestown Farmers Market early Saturday morning.

Scotty LeBleu of DeQuincy has been selling these Charleston Grays and Jubilees from Singer for a few months, but he plans to grow his own watermelons next year. It’s a good thing, too. When he came to the market in the spring with his homegrown lettuce, customers couldn’t get enough.

“It stays fresh much longer,” he says. “I picked it like the day before. That’s what’s so good about the market – everything’s fresh.”

Buying natural produce from local vendors is also a simple way to go green. Farmers markets offer products that are not tainted by hormones or pesticides. Unlike a supermarket, a farmers market takes place outdoors and requires a minimal amount of electricity. The vendors live nearby, so they consume less fuel than it would take to transport goods from a farm across the country.

The Charlestown Farmers Market has moved three times since its opening in March of 2005, but it now takes place each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. behind the Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center in Lake Charles. It is one of about 4,800 farmers markets currently operating in America, according to the U.S. Agricultural Marketing Service.

Go Green - Not Broke

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published July 2, 2009 in The Jambalaya News

In some cases, going green is synonymous with going broke.

Hybrid cars and organic produce are expensive, but there are ways to conserve precious energy that will also keep you from emptying your wallet.

A recently completed housing development in Lake Charles is providing a new way to find out just how much energy – and money – people can save by going green.

The developer will have the opportunity to study and compare electric bills of a house with average fixtures to figures from an identical house with energy-efficient upgrades, according to CJ Tech’s Charles Abshire, the electrical contractor.

Pi Kappa Phi dinner pushes for America

by KELLI FONTENOT and TAYLOR GRAVES

Published March 11, 2009 in The Current Sauce

At one of a dozen tables in the Friedman Student Union Ballroom Tuesday night, junior journalism major Cody Bourque leaned over his plate of lasagna to turn on his iPhone without using his hands.

The rest of the people at his table chuckled as they watched him repeatedly hit the touch screen with the tip of his nose.

"I'm updating Twitter," he said.

Across the table, another diner - who was blindfolded - said, "I feel so left out of this joke."

A few people chuckled, but a long pause followed as everyone realized the depth of his comment.

While the statement was offered in jest, it illustrated the alienation that people with disabilities encounter on a daily basis. Bourque explained that his work with such people and their families has inspired him to support Push America.

At Pi Kappa Phi fraternity's benefit banquet for Push America Tuesday night, three people at each table received a colored poker chip. Each color represented a different disability that the person was expected to portray for the rest of the evening. The rest of the people at the table were instructed to help their friends.

Chaplain's Lake construction captures community focus

By KELLI FONTENOT
Published Sept. 17, 2008 by The Current Sauce

Chaplain's Lake, a body of water once admired for its aesthetic appeal, was drained over the summer, and the city has now finalized the rest of the construction plans. The recent activity in the now-empty basin near the north end of the lake has caught the community's attention.

For the past two weeks, a CAT marsh buggy has been treading through the muddy remains of the lake, swirling a 50-foot metal arm around in the slimy material.

The sludge is actually a mixture of lime, alum and silt, according to Regional Construction owner Pat Johnson.

"It's just dirt, mainly," Johnson said.

When water from Sibley Lake goes through the water treatment plant's filtration system, all the sediment from the bottom of the lake enters the system. The water treatment plant backwashes the water, leaving sludge that is carried through a water line and deposited in Chaplain's Lake, which runs alongside Jefferson Drive.

Continued construction brings traffic to standstill

By KELLI FONTENOT
Published Sept. 10, 2008 by The Current Sauce
Students who live off campus may have noticed an increase in heavy traffic this week. The lag, in part, is due to the blocked intersection of Front Street and Church Street, currently under construction as part of the Front Street brick project. Project manager John Bell plans to have the intersection finished by Friday.

It took five months to complete the first two phases of construction, and with just two months before the first event of the Natchitoches Christmas Festival, Bell and his company, Progressive Construction, are racing against the clock to finish laying down the bricks.

The crew typically works from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week. As of Friday, the crew started working in shifts to cover full 24-hour days, which will continue until the bricks can be returned to the Church Street intersection. Bell's goal for the intersection completion is less than a week away - Sept. 12. The anticipated deadline marks the beginning of the annual Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival.

Charter group settles on five

By KELLI FONTENOT and ED COX
Published July 23, 2008 by The Dalles Chronicle

MOSIER — The Wasco County Home Rule Charter Committee has decided that five is the magic number — of commissioners, that is.

In finally resolving one of its longstanding questions at the Mosier Grange Thursday night, the committee charged with proposing a reorganization of the county’s government unanimously settled on the idea of electing four commissioners by district and one chair at large. Still unresolved is the issue of whether the charter would call for a hired county administrator.

Cancer survivor makes time for others

By KELLI FONTENOT
Published June 23, 2008 by The Dalles Chronicle

When Luanna Odom waves at her husband, Dan, the bright smile on her face could convince anyone that she has led a life without suffering. Odom’s strength is evident, and few would guess from her positive attitude that 12 years ago she faced a life-altering diagnosis.

Odom is a 12-year survivor of breast cancer and an 11-year survivor of lung cancer. When she entered the hospital for treatment, Dan was by her side all along.

“My husband was my biggest support. I’d have exercises to do, and he’d come home from work and say, ‘Well, have you done them?’”

Odom is a member of the Cancer Crushers, one of the 22 teams that registered for the eighth annual Relay For Life this year. At Wahtonka High School on Saturday, supporters from the tri-city area walked the track and donated money to cancer treatment organizations in the hopes of coming closer to a cure. Odom stood in the shade of her team’s tent and waved at her husband as he passed by on his motorcycle.