MON

TODAY

58/38

TUE

43/32

Encore Theatre

LCC,
Lima Sr.
get wins

991 North Shore Drive

Lima, Ohio

Jan. 15, 16, 22, & 23 @ 8pm

Jan. 17 & 24 @ 2pm

419.223.8866

SPORTS 1C

53/42

Breaking news at limaohio.com

Issue 31, Volume 132

Sunday, January 31, 2016 $2

An opportunity gap

TOP OF THE NEWS

Police recover painting

resembling a Picasso
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkish police and media say police have
recovered an oil painting that looks
like a Picasso in a sting operation in
Istanbul.
The state-run Anadolu Agency
said Saturday that police posed as
buyers for the painting, detaining
two suspects who tried to sell it for
$8 million.
Anadolu said the painting, which
shows an abstract nude female figure brushing her hair, is an authentic work by Pablo Picasso stolen
from a woman in New York. But a
statement from Istanbul police said
the painting hasnt been authenticated yet. The painting must still
be sent to Istanbuls Mimar Sinan
University to be examined, Anadolu
reported.

TALKING POINTS

Sheriff s funeral
LIMA Hundreds of family
members, friends and law enforcement workes from all across Ohio
joined to say goodbye to Putnam
County Sheriff Michael Chandler
during services Saturday at First
Assembly of God Church.
Page 1B

Craig J. Orosz | The Lima News

Dasan Clair, 14, is greeted outside West Middle School in Lima in November. Lima police officers, firefighters and local men lined up to welcome pupils on
their way into four city schools with high-fives and words of encouragement. Lima City Schools set up the event to get students excited about education.

Cardless ATMs

Limas blacks feel disparity

NEW YORK JPMorgan Chase

customers will soon be able to withdraw cash or initiate other transactions using their cellphone at Chase
ATMs being upgraded later this
year.
Page 1D

By David Trinko

LIMA Life in Lima can be a battle

of perceptions for African-Americans in
the city.
No matter their personal ethics or
efforts, they often feel stuck in a city
that doesnt necessarily offer equal
opportunity for all its residents.
As an African-American male,
theres already one strike against us,
said Jamie Dixon, a 27-year-old service coordinator for National Church
Residences, an organization that helps
provide affordable senior housing. If
you grew up on the other side of the
tracks, thats another strike. I have to
dig myself out of a hole that I didnt
even create. I have to prove myself that
Im reliable and quick to do the job and
that I have morals and respect.
For Sharetta Smith, a Perry and Ohio
Northern graduate who now works as a
magistrate in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
and edits the Urban Voice newspaper in
Lima and Chattanooga, those perceptions weigh down peoples ambitions.

GET THIS

Fugitive found in
trailer park tunnel
SITKA, Alaska (AP) Authorities arrested a fugitive convicted
on drug and theft charges after
finding him hiding this week in
what they called an elaborate
tunnel system dug underneath a
trailer home in Alaska.
The tunnels narrowed as officers
walked further in, forcing them to
trudge through on their knees and
then on their stomachs. Police in
the city of Sitka say they eventually spotted Jeremy Beebes foot
sticking out of another hidden
entrance, catching him after an
officer pulled back the skirting
around the trailer.
Police Lt. Lance Ewers said
Beebe, 42, had failed to report to
the police department on Jan. 12
after he was sentenced to nearly
two years in prison, the Sitka
Sentinel reported (http://bit.
ly/1TqXO0W).

CMYK / .eps

CIVITAS MEDIA

2016 Published at Lima, Ohio

52 pages, 7 sections

DES MOINES, Iowa

First there was the promise
of political change in Barack
Obamas historic 2008 election. Then the pledge to
upend Washingtons ways
Facebook f Logo

A NEWS
People & More:
2A
Nation: 3A
Weather: 8A
B REGION &

Happy New

Jaime Dixon,
27, Lima

People begin to live down to those

expectations, she said.
You have to do deal with people
based on how they perceive things,
she said. If you have a group of people
that feel like they dont have opportunities, they will live like they have no
opportunities. You live out your perceptions.
Those perceptions have been on
display since late last year, when online
See GAP | 5A

Lima in Black and White is an eightday series that begins a discussion

about the stark differences between
Limas black and white populations
when it comes to income levels,
jobless rates, poverty levels, crime
rates and education attainment.
The disparities were cited last fall
in a study done by 24/7 Wall St., an
Internet financial research company.
It rated Lima No. 7 among the 10
worst cities for blacks. The series
looks at why the disparities exist and
what can be done about them.
TODAY: The gap
Monday: The job market
Tuesday: Challenges facing schools
Wednesday: Police and trust
Thursday: Who are leaders?
Friday: Entertainment vacuum
Saturday: Young and black
Sunday, Feb. 7: Midwest as the new
South

CMYK / .eps

OHIO
Region News: 1B
Obituaries: 2B
Courts: 6B
C SPORTS
Sports: 1C

the change and disruption

have come too slowly, or
failed altogether. On the eve
See profiles of the
of the first voting contest in
presidential candidates on
the 2016 presidential elecPage 6D.
tion, these voters are pushing
for bolder, more uncomproafter the 2010 tea party wave. mising action, with an intensity that has shaken both the
But for some Americans,

D BUSINESS/
OPINION
Business: 1D
Opinion: 4D
E LIFESTYLE
Lifestyle: 1E

Puzzles: 5E
TV: 5E
F CLASSIFIED
Z COMICS

LOTTERY

DAILY (Saturday)
Pick 3: 6-3-1 day, 8-5-6 night
Pick 4: 9-6-8-5 day, 5-1-3-3
night
Pick 5: 4-9-1-5-5 day, 4-0-97-6 night

Republican and Democratic

establishments.
Candidates with deep ties
to party leadership have been
unexpectedly challenged by
a billionaire businessmanturned-reality television star,
See VOTING | 8A

Rolling Cash 5: 6-13-24-31-36

CLASSIC (Saturday): 5-1920-34-48-49
KICKER: 311935
Jackpot: $2.3 million
LUCKY FOR LIFE
(Thursday): 1-14-24-35-43
Lucky Ball: 4

POWERBALL (Wednesday):
3-12-40-52-67
Powerball: 21, Power Play: 2
Jackpot: $96 million
MEGA MILLIONS (Friday):
20-28-49-51-52
Mega Ball: 6, Megaplier: 2
Jackpot: $63 million

SMILE! Whole Health Dentistry

Ben Warnock, DDS

J Ellis, DDS
Erin Ellis, DMD
Deborah Champion, DDS

419-228-2233
ON SITe LaB

Save

Save

PReMIUM

IMPLaNTS

Save

$100 $100 $75

Complete or
Partial Denture
TLN Expires 02/15/16

Whole
Health
Dentistry

TLN Expires 02/15/16

Whole
Health
Dentistry

CUSTOM

Complete or
Partial Denture
TLN Expires 02/15/16

Whole
Health
Dentistry

Save

$50

STaNDaRD

Complete or Partial
Whole
Denture
Health
TLN Expires 02/15/16

Dentistry

aCCePTING
NeW PaTIeNTS!
1ST vISIT

$99

*New patients.
*Includes cleaning,
exam and X-rays.
Whole
*Does not include 3D Scans. Health

TLN Expires 02/15/16

Dentistry

Coupon must be presented at time of initial payment and may not be combined with other offers. Same day service in most cases.

40834273C

Whats your take on

todays news? Go to
limaohio.com and visit
us at facebook to share
your thoughts.

AbOuT This series:

INSIDE

AP White House Correspondent

Facebook f Logo

in black and white

America and its politics in flux as 2016 voting begins

By Julie Pace

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

LIMA

i have to dig
myself out of a
hole that i didnt
even create. i have
to prove myself
that im reliable
and quick to do the
job and that i have morals and
respect.

dtrinko@civitasmedia.com

LOCAL

The Lima News

Sunday, January 31, 2016 5A

LIMA

in black and white

Segregation: How Lima, Allen County rate

By Amy Eddings

aeddings@civitasmedia.com

LIMA John Logan takes

a pragmatists view in studying the black/white divide in
Americas communities.
Every place is a little bit
terrible from an African-Americans point of view, he said.
Limas not special.
The Brown University sociologist directs the US2010
Project, a research initiative
that uses U.S. Census data to
track recent social and economic trends in our cities and
suburbs. At The Lima News
request, he used the projects
online database to see whether
Lima is, as 24/7 Wall St. found,
one of the 10 worst cities for
black Americans.
Allen County, it turns out
especially the city of Lima
was more racially integrated
than many of the other communities on the 24/7 Wall St.
list.
The study by Brown University, located in Providence,
Rhode Island, uses an Index of

Dissimilarity to measure segregation. It captures the degree

to which two groups live in different census tracts. A number
of 60 or higher is considered
very high.
Milwaukee, which tops the
24/7 Wall St. list of Worst Cities for Black Americans, along
with Detroit had an index
value of 79.6. Not much had
changed since 1980, when the
number was 83.9. Peoria, Illinois, No. 6 on the 24.7 Wall St.
list, was at 69.
Lima, though, showed more
moderate segregation that
has eased over those same 25
years.
The US2010 Projects
analysis found Allen Countys
dissimilarity index was 51.6,
down from 63.4 in 1980. For
the city of Lima itself, it was
at very low 28.5 in 2004-2006,
down from 54.1 in 1980, meaning that the citys residential
neighborhoods have become
pretty integrated.
Its probably a sign that
racial disparities of all kinds
are lessening in Lima, he

wrote in an e-mail, improving

opportunities for black families
and children. In the long run
that is healthy for the whole
community.
Its an advantage that Lima
has over other Midwest cities.
However, Logan said, the same
doesnt hold true for the rest of
Allen County.
This value of 51.6 (in Allen
County) is below the national
average of 58 or 59, but its still
high, he said. It means blacks
are living in neighborhoods
that are twice as black as the
region is.
Those neighborhoods, he
said, are likely to be more disadvantaged than white neighborhoods. In a 2014 study,
Logan found that even when
blacks move to the suburbs,
where schools, parks and other
public services are often better,
racial divisions and disadvantages follow.
He pulled up Census data
from 2004-2009 show that the
average black family in Allen
County lived in a neighborhood with a 66 percent higher

Every place is a little bit

terrible from an AfricanAmericans point of view.
Limas not special.

John Logan

share of poor people as compared to the average white

familys neighborhood.
This persistent black/white
divide holds true even for affluent blacks.
In Allen County, black families earning $75,000 or more
lived in communities where
20.4 percent of their neighbors
were poor. White families earning that same amount had a
poverty exposure of just 10.9
percent.
Even low-income whites
had it better. Those earning
$40,000 or less had a poverty
exposure of 16.2 percent.
This means the average lowincome white family was living
in a better community, with
less poverty and all the problems that poverty brings, than
affluent black families.

Why do (affluent black families in Allen County) live in

neighborhoods with so many
poor people? Logan mused.
Its the most surprising piece.
Its not peoples income. Race
is having an effect in where
people live.
He belives this is due to an
unseen, segregationist hand in
the housing market. Its against
the law for real estate agents
to steer people to homes based
on race. It is also illegal for
banks to make race-based lending decisions, but Logan said
housing segregation is more
subtle now than in the 1960s
and 1970s. Its an unwelcoming
stare during an open house or
a cold shoulder at a neighborhood grocery store or its having your child be the only black
child in an elementary school.
Its partly related to the history of how places (like Lima)
were settled, said Logan, and
its clearly still having an effect
today.
Reach Amy Eddings at 567-242-0379 or
Twitter, @lima_eddings.

Gap
From page 1A

publication 24/7 Wall

St. released a list of the
10 worst cities for black
Americans. It ranked
Lima as the seventhworst city in the entire
nation, based on eight
measures, with most of
the top 10 being other
Midwestern cities.
The Lima News begins
an eight-day series today,
looking at the conditions in Lima and seeing
where statistics and residents stories overlapped.
Reviewing the stats
The numbers in the
24/7 Wall St. report can
be misleading from the
beginning, based on its
very definition of what
is Lima. The study
used the Lima metropolitan statistical area,
as defined by the U.S.
Census. That means its
numbers, based heavily
on the 2014 American
Community Survey from
the Census, included all
of Allen County, not just
the city limits of Lima.
That distinction
includes a number of
villages and townships
where fewer minorities
live. The report labeled
Lima as having 12.2
percent black population, when thats Allen
Countys percentage. In
the city of Lima itself,
26.4 percent of residents
were black, according to
2014 U.S. Census.
The most jarring statistic from 24/7 Wall St.
was on the black median
household income as
a percentage of white
income. The report said
the typical black household in Lima made just
36.5 percent of what a
typical white household
earned annually, the
biggest difference anywhere in the country.
It placed the median
annual income for whites
at $49,125, more than
$31,000 greater than the
black median income of
$17,908.
Those numbers dont
jive with the 2014 American Community Survey
for Lima, though. That
showed the median
household income for a
white family in Lima was
$19,586, while the black
average was 21.3 percent
of that at $15,409.
On the other hand,
the 24/7 Wall St. report

Richard Parrish | The Lima News

Even if the whole study could be unfounded, the reality is that the perception is there that blacks dont have the opportunities, the Rev. Lamont Monford, pastor at
Philippian Missionary Baptist Church, said about a study that listed Lima among the 10 worst cities for black Americans. Above, Monford addresses concerns in December
2014 on tensions between minorities and law enforcement in the Lima community.

underreported the unemployment rate difference

between the demographics, saying 22.9
percent of blacks were
unemployed. In 2014 in
Lima, about 16 percent
of whites were without
jobs, compared to 28
percent of blacks, according to 2014 U.S. Census
figures.
Even if the whole
study could be unfounded, the reality is that the
perception is there that
blacks dont have the
opportunities, said the
Rev. Lamont Monford,
pastor at Philippian Missionary Baptist Church.
I think Lima is very
unique, and we have to
think outside of the box.
Lima Mayor David
Berger declined to be
interviewed for this
series.
Economic opportunity
There are concerns
that black employees
dont get the same
opportunities as their
white counterparts.
Bryan Risner, who previously worked at a Lima
location of a cell phone
company, said he hit a
glass ceiling after a few
promotions.
I was never going
to go somewhere, said

If you have a group of people

that feel like they dont have
opportunities, they will live like
they have no opportunities.

Sharetta Smith
Perry and Ohio Northern graduate and
magistrate in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Risner, now 39. If youre

not the right color you
were frozen where you
were at.
Joe Patton, the
administrator at the
OhioMeansJobs center
in Allen County, said
communication is a bigger barrier than actual
racism. He said its an
issue of people not having the right skills for the
right jobs. He said many
employers are actively
reaching out to the black
community.
We have availability
to place people in all
different types of jobs,
he said. A lot of times
people dont understand
whats available.
Educational concerns
Limas black students
do have trouble earning
the proper education to
advance their lives. But
so do other students in
the Lima schools district, where poverty is

a concern, said Bryan

Miller, director of the
schools Closing the
Achievement Gap program.
While Miller admits
dropout rates continue
to be a problem at Lima
schools, he said the
CTAG program has
helped dozens of black,
at-risk students obtain
their diplomas. He said
that when the program
started, only 47 to 48
percent of black males
were graduating. Since
implementing CTAG,
Miller said that number
has averaged out to 78
percent in the eight years
since the program took
effect.
Beyond the districts
graduation rates, students dont see themselves reflected in the
educational workforce.
Lima schools officials say
they have trouble recruiting qualified minority
teachers. Of the districts

616 contracted staff

members, an estimated
50, or 8 percent, are
minorities. Only 26 are
black teachers, administrators or part of the
CTAG program.
It may be discouraging to people who look
at someone and cant see
themselves doing what
they do because they
cant relate as much,
said Kaleb Russell, a
senior at Lima Senior
who had fewer than five
black teachers in his 12
years in the district. Its
very important we have
a diverse group of role
models to follow and people we can look up to.
Minorities in uniform
Theres a similar disparity on Limas police
and fire departments.
The Lima Police Department has one black officer out of 84 officers on
staff.
That leads to distrust
of the police and courts
system, said Kim Parks, a
black woman and owner
of a local day-care center.
The citys pinpoint policing, which tries to target
high-crime areas, only
adds to African-American
residents worries.
Nobody around here
wants to apply because

they dont feel they could

do their job efficiently,
Parks said. They would
feel like they have to follow in the old boys network and they dont want
to do that.
Its not for lack of trying.
The LPD created several study sessions for
the Civil Service tests
to become an officer
but had little turnout.
Now, its working with
the Lima schools to put
resource officers into
schools to build a better relationship. That
includes the Red to
Blue program, trying
to interest students in
trading in their Spartans
red for a policemans blue
uniform.
For people like Smith,
real opportunities could
revive the American
dream for the Limas
black residents.
We have young people
who are vibrant, and they
have fresh, innovative
ideas, she said. When
they start contributing
to a community, its awesome.
Lima News reporters John
Bush, Craig Kelly, Danae King,
Lance Mihm and Greg Sowinski
contributed to this report. Reach
David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on
Twitter @Lima_Trinko.