State

Columbus’ own rapper/singer Chris Dickerson won the 2013 Most Improved Artist award at this year’s Ohio Hip Hop Awards Show (OHHA). Dickerson used to be known as Distinct 1 when he was a rapper, but people started calling him D1 and it stuck. The 29-year-old won the award “…for most improved all around - music, image, marketing, live performances, etc. The nomination process is partially chosen by fans and the Ohio Hip Hop Award panel, but the actual voting process is all done by the fans,” D1 told the Free Press.

I have a crystal ball in front of me, and I’m gazing deeply into it. I’m seeing a future, one that is bright, yet has a common feel. One that seems unfamiliar, yet refreshingly new. I’m seeing a vibrant cannabis marketplace. Cannabis-based goods and services are being exchanged between buyers and sellers for a price, much like other products. Entrepreneurs are establishing companies that make their wares available for purchase; consumers are perusing these offerings and buying the ones that fulfill their particular need at the time. The market is regulated to ensure a level playing field, but success or failure is determined by market forces like solid business plans, supply and demand - not the blunt end of a battering ram or a cash-only black market profiteer. There has been an evolution among the five medical marijuana ballot initiatives fielded in Ohio over the past five years, with the most recent one, the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment, quickly gaining speed as its aims for the 2014 ballot.

The last year has been historic for the cannabis movement. A record number of statehouses have brought up legislation to legalize cannabis for medical and even recreational purposes. One person actively pushing for cannabis rights in Ohio is Toledo resident Kevin Spitler. He is hosting the first annual “Ohio Medical Marijuana Expo” this Saturday in Toledo. I sat down with Kevin and tried to get readers a better idea of what he is trying to accomplish with this first of its kind event here in Ohio. M.R. First off Kevin, could I get a bit of background information on you for the readers? K.S. 40 years old and an Ohio native, I migrated to Michigan in search of relief in 2009. I became more and more involved in helping people along the line of education and found several avenues to do this. After several endeavors Med Joint Community Compassion Center was created. Med Joint took the lead in community involvements as well as safe access, Community involvements like a food drive which dropped off over 10,000 pounds of food to a local food pantry. I am now involved with Ohio Rights Group in the effort to help legalize Medical Cannabis as well as Industrial Hemp.

Cheryl Shuman. If you are unsure who she is, that will soon change. In some circles, she is already an icon. Coined the “Martha Stewart of Marijuana,” Shuman may be one of the most recognized faces in the burgeoning Cannabis industry. And an industry it is. In the report, “The State of Medical Marijuana Markets, 2011,” See Change Strategy estimated that, “A national market for medical marijuana is worth $1.7 billion in 2011 and could reach $8.9 billion in five years.” As an architect of this industry, Shuman began with a subject she knew well: the media. A master at media relations, Shuman has built the largest Cannabis media source in the world, producing content for such outlets as CNN Piers Morgan Live, Katie Couric's show, Katie, The View, Good Morning America, Fox Business News and many other international media outlets, taking them from $150,000 in gross revenues when she started to more than $6.5 million in revenue within a mere 18 months.

Ohio Republican Senator Bill Seitz (District 8) is at it again. His Senate Bill 193 is out to purge Ohio minor parties from the ballot. On Friday, September 20, former Ohio State Representative Charlie Earl announced that he is running for governor as a Libertarian candidate next year. By Tuesday, Seitz was holding hearings on his new bill that would make it difficult for Earl to stay on the ballot. Earl ran as the Libertarian candidate for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010 and received nearly 5 percent of the vote. In his announcement, Earl claimed he had “Tea Party support.” The bill requires minor parties to get 3 percent of the presidential vote in order for their party to stay officially on the Ohio ballot. Essentially, minor parties will be removed from the 2014 ballot on the grounds that they did not pass a vote test – that was not in existence in 2012.

To Governor Kasich and Respected Leaders of the State of Ohio, On this momentous day, September 28th, 2013 as Ohio residents gather at the historic Malabar Farm State Park for the 37th Annual Heritage Days and the unveiling of the Big House renovations, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the true value of Malabar Farm and the invaluable lessons that Louis Bromfield taught us decades ago and that still hold true today. The $500,000 in improvements were announced late last fall and came with a promise not only for cosmetic improvements but also a return to “healthier soil and water, two things that Bromfield always strived to maintain on his farm,” according to Director Zehringer in a news report published last fall. Ohio soil and water is under siege and gravely threatened by the introduction of flowback waste created by the process of hydraulic fracturing in the attempt to extract fossil fuel resources from deep shale deposits. Last year in Ohio, almost 600,000 gallons of toxic, radioactive liquid waste was injected into Ohio soil via Class 2 Injection wells. Approximately 60 percent of this fracking flowback waste came from outside Ohio.

As the sun rose over the hills surrounding Malabar Farm in Richland County, Ohio this past Saturday morning, chasing away thick fog, so too did Frack Free Ohio's action team, arriving just outside the entrance a little before 8am to hold a demonstration intended to engage the thousands of visitors to the park's 37th annual Heritage Days. Dubbed our “Rapid Response” team, the entire action was basically planned and initiated over a 48-hour period and team members were exuberant over the results. We literally engaged thousands of people entering the park, many who seemed to have never heard of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. And many others who had. It was also a re-dedication of Louis Bromfield's Big House and we hoped to catch the attention of Governor John Kasich, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director James Zehringer and Representative Mark Romanchuk as they arrived for the 10am ceremony. A steady stream of cars began a little after 9am and did not let up until much later in the day.

Nine Tables is exactly that. Nine Tables. Most often it is three 4 tops and six 2 tops. The concept is simple: for three nights per week, Nine Tables aims to serve twenty to thirty people per evening in a personal, slower paced manner similar to dining in Europe. Guests are invited to have a long, slow dinner at their own pace. Your table is yours for the entire evening from 5 pm to midnight if you choose. Tables are not “flipped” so when your dinner is complete your table gets the rest of the evening off. At first thought, one might think this would be a formal, stuffy experience…far from it, an evening at 9 Tables can be anything you want it to be. Most often it will be informal, fun and relaxing. The atmosphere is intimate, the small space is dark and cozy but there is enough space between tables for each group to have their own experience but also close enough to encourage camaraderie. The restaurant is BYOB and it is not uncommon for people to trade bottles or share during the evening. The best table to reserve is set up next to the chefs prep table which allows full access to all the action and to Chef Bill throughout the evening.

Don't ask, please, why I decided to do it, but I did. I started my own business on the side. Truth be told, I have an abundance of idle time in my work here at the Free Press (please don't say anything to Mrs. Peaves or the nasty little cuss who is the managing editor, neither of whom read what I write). And so, with that time, I went into business for myself. What that business is, isn't important. It was the motions I had to go through to start that business that is at issue. Like any new business owner, I assumed I would need a business phone and, of course, a calling card. I believe you Americans refer to them as business cards. Either way, I needed some, or so I thought. An acquaintance designed and printed my card, though not exactly in the timely manner he had described. Eventually he proudly delivered them to me. At the time he brought them around, I was on hold with the telephone company, had been for 20 minutes.