Columbus Monthly / June 2010 / 35 years

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35 years

The ups and downs of the city have played out in the pages of Columbus Monthly since 1975: triumph, tragedy, scandal, colorful characters, bizarre political theater and embarrassing gaffes, including a few of our own.

1975

From the archives

The big daddy of Gonzo

We tagged along as “counter-culture kamikaze” Hunter Thompson roared into town for a lecture at Mershon Auditorium.

            Thompson announced that he was going to talk on the radio, and that he would need some lubrication. Where could they get some booze? Pull over. He spotted a combination chop suey joint and carryout. He charged inside and emerged with a cold six-pack of Black Label tucked under his arm. The poptops popped. The foam sprayed.

What were they thinking?

After a newsstand clerk snitched on him to a TV reporter, Gov. James Rhodes claimed he bought a copy of the blockbuster August issue of Hustler magazine featuring nude photos of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for research purposes. “I’ve always been a historical buff on first ladies,” he said.

 

Who or what was the subject of the cover story in Columbus Monthly’s first issue, in June?

1. Cornelius Greene, Ohio State’s first African-American quarterback
2. The Channel 6 news strike
3. The Rev. Leroy Jenkins
4. Victorian Village

1976

As told to Columbus Monthly

“I think some of my answers are abrupt and some of them tend to be long; that does not mean they are circular. On the other hand, perhaps some of them are circular.”

—Columbus Mayor Tom Moody

Riverside Hospital discovered a miscalibrated cobalt machine had overradiated about 400 cancer patients, sparking years of litigation.

 

This man became editor of the Citizen-Journal, a position he’d hold until the paper’s final printing on Dec. 31, 1985. What’s his name?

 

1977

What were we thinking?

Photography editor Jeff Rycus defended that notorious symbol of 1970s tackiness—the leisure suit. “It offers more flexibility than a traditional suit,” he said. “You can be casual, but still dressed for the occasion.”

1977

From the archives

Pumping Iron

Arnold Schwarzenegger mixed with Columbus Mayor Tom Moody and Worthington Mayor James Lorimer (later a partner in the Arnold Expo) during a press junket in Columbus for the Ohio premiere of Pumping Iron, the documentary that put the future governor of California on the map.

When Schwarzenegger addressed the gathering, it was apparent that he is as good a politician as the two he sat between. He praised Columbus as a great sports city, which has, of course, never been an unpopular opinion in this town, and insisted that bodybuilding had never found a better audience than it had here. And he made it all seem gracious and eminently reasonable.

A Franklin County jury declared Jack Carmen innocent of the brutal murder of 14-year-old Christie Mullins, culminating one of the most gripping legal dramas in Columbus history.

 

The Columbus Clippers made their debut, playing at Cooper Stadium. However, it wasn’t called Cooper Stadium until 1984. What was its name from ’77 to ’84?

1. Red Bird Stadium
2. Jets Stadium
3. Franklin County Stadium
4. Mound Street Stadium

1978

Jack Hanna was named director of the struggling Columbus Zoo.

 

Nationwide Plaza in northern downtown was dedicated in May. The insurance giant’s original plan had been to build its headquarters in what other part of Central Ohio?

1. Bexley
2. Canal Winchester
3. Muirfield
4. Delaware County

1979

Accused campus serial rapist Billy Milligan became a national sensation after he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was diagnosed with 10 separate personalities.

In the first post-Woody season, quarterback Art Schlichter led Ohio State to an undefeated regular season record before losing to USC 17-16 in the Rose Bowl.

 

On the cover of our September issue, a banner across the top assured readers: “Inside: NOTHING about                       ”

1. Robert Redford
2. Brubaker
3. Woody
4. Harold Enarson

 

1980s

1980

What were we thinking?

If the cleavage, safari hat and cheesy backdrop don’t make you cringe, then the juxtaposition of the suggestive photo with the cover line (“Controlling your own little jungle”) is sure to do the trick.

 

This Democrat unseated Samuel Devine, the Republican who’d held the Ohio 12th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1959. Name him.

1981

From the archives

The school board’s angry man

We profiled Bill Moss in the early years of his nearly quarter-century tenure as Columbus’s most outspoken and unpredictable politician.

In his public role, Moss can be alternately harsh and charming, bombastic and persuasive, sullen and effusive. It’s impossible to predict from one week to the next how he’ll behave, what issue he’ll sink his teeth into, what political office he’ll decide to run for next. At his best, he’s a powerful speaker with excellent recall for facts and figures; there aren’t many politicians around who can whip Bill Moss in a head-to head debate if Moss has done his homework.

 

Roughly 500,000 people descended on downtown for the first of what would become an annual Columbus tradition. What was it?

1. Columbus Arts Festival
2. Festival Latino
3. Red, White & Boom!
4. Arnold Classic

1982

Evan Whallon, music director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra since 1956, retired.

 

Just one year after Jerome Schottenstein purchased a chain of department stores, he announced he was closing them. Which chain was it?

1. Molly’s
2. Jolly’s
3. O’Malley’s
4. Halle’s

1983

Woody Hayes returned to Ohio Stadium for the first time since his firing five years earlier to dot the “i” during the OSU band’s “Script Ohio” performance at the Wisconsin game.

 

What Columbus landmark closed?

1. Ohio Penitentiary
2. Deshler Hotel
3. Christopher Inn
4. Union Station

1984

From the archives

The toughest SOBs in town!

We celebrated the city’s meanest, roughest, no-nonsense whip crackers, including cover boy Bernie Karsko, the Dispatch’s fearsome city editor.

He’s been known to send green reporters back to the same crime scene five or six times, each time demanding some new piece of information. His acid questions quickly eat through a flimsily researched story, and his compliments are few and far between. . . . He may manage through intimidation and fear, but he manages. Stories coming from the Dispatch city desk have probably never been more accurate or more thorough. Karsko may not be Mr. Charm, but in the newspaper business, nice guys are often the ones who wind up in court being sued for libel.

 

Who is this Ohio State freshman?

1985

As told to Columbus Monthly

“He has tremendous potential, but so far he’s really been more of an irritant.”

—A civic leader commenting on Les Wexner, the Limited Brands founder who made Columbus Monthly’s list of the city’s most powerful people for the first time.

 

Which Ohio governor ordered the closing of 71 savings and loan institutions to combat the financial crisis of the mid 1980s?

1. Jim Rhodes
2. Dick Celeste
3. George Voinovich
4. Rutherford B. Hayes

1986

Chef and restaurateur Kent Rigsby opened Rigsby’s in the gritty Short North neighborhood.

 

Who is this Columbus radio personality (photographed in the 1950s)?

1987

Former Battelle engineer Tommy Thompson, backed by several Columbus business heavyweights, set off in search of sunken treasure.

 

Ohio State president Ed Jennings fired football coach Earle Bruce, who subsequently sued the university and Jennings for $7.5 million. Bruce’s lawyer, meanwhile, speculated publicly that his client was fired for what reason?

1. Jennings’s “overt disregard of the Ohio State football program.”
2. Jennings’s “desire to feel at least somewhat productive during his tenure.”
3. Jennings’s “carousing and excessive drinking.”
4. Jennings’s “lifelong nincompoopery.”

1988

Columbus Mayor Buck Rinehart appointed Watergate figure Jeb Stuart Magruder to head a city ethics commission.

 

What was the name of the sculpture Mayor Buck Rinehart tried to give to the city of Genoa, Italy, without the knowledge of city council?

1. “Souls in Flight”
2. “Brushstrokes in Flight”
3. “Flight of Emptiness”
4. “Flight of the Conchords”

1989

What were they thinking?

Col. Jack Walsh, the superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol, was fired for taking a free trip to South Africa as a guest of the apartheid government.

 

Two people were trampled, a 7-year-old girl and a man were hospitalized and one man lost three teeth when what occurred?

1. A helicopter dropped coupons for free turkeys over the Westerville mall parking lot before Thanksgiving.
2. The Super Nintendo entertainment system was released at City Center the day after Thanksgiving.
3. The Goodyear blimp dropped what turned out to be fake dollar bills at the Ohio State-Iowa game.
4. Panzera’s Pizza gave out free pies to the first 50 people through the door to mark its anniversary.

 

1990s

1990

Columbus boxer James “Buster” Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in Tokyo, stunning the world.

 

The city of Dublin had a PR nightmare on its hands after it dumped millions of gallons of sewage into the Scioto River. A lift station designed to pump the northwest suburb’s sewage to the city’s main pipeline on the opposite side of the river routinely overflowed, earning the area around the station what nickname?

1. Defecation Station
2. Commode Cove
3. Tampon Bay
4. The Bog of Eternal Stench

1991

From the archives

Fame, fortune and hamburgers

Wendy founder Dave Thomas is more than just a savvy entrepreneur and businessman. He’s a star.

Little kids came up for autographs. Diners poked each other. Nobody needed an introduction. Even the restaurant staff, under strict instructions to act natural, couldn’t keep it up. Work ground to a halt. Thomas put on an apron and flipped a few burgers for the cameras. The staff crowded around and stood on tiptoe to get a look.

“He’s cooking!”

“He’s got the salt shaker now.”

“This is exactly what they told us not to do.”

 

“You want culture? Try PBS,” was stated in an ad for what?

1. Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon
2. The Columbus Chill hockey team
3. The Ohio State Fair
4. Baskin-Robbins frozen yogurt

1992

Months after giving their renowned art collection to the Columbus Museum of Art, Babs and Howard Sirak were accused in a lawsuit of looting the estate of Babs’s mentally incompetent son, the late Bill Sirak. In July, the couple were ordered to pay the estate $2.8 million.

 

Who served as president of the AmeriFlora board of trustees?

1. Les Wexner
2. John Galbreath
3. John B. McCoy
4. John F. Wolfe

1993

Les Wexner married Abigail Koppel, a 31-year-old mergers and acquisitions attorney, in an exclusive ceremony at Wexner’s New Albany mansion.

 

How did Columbus police chief James Jackson respond to a burglary attempt at his home by Kirk Marshall Banks Jr.?

1. He shot him.
2. He subdued him until police arrived.
3. He hid in a broom closet.
4. He gave him the $62 he had in his wallet and picked him out of a lineup the next day.

1994

What were we thinking?

In a feature titled “Seven reasons Columbus will never have a big-league sports franchise,” we dismissed the city’s latest effort to attract a top professional team in football, baseball, basketball or hockey. “In the mad rush for a big-league team, Columbus isn’t even close. To borrow a bit of sports jargon, it’s not even in the game.”

 

This gubernatorial candidate pitched a tent and held a 27-day hunger strike (after which he was hospitalized) on the Statehouse lawn because Gov. George Voinovich wouldn’t debate him. Who is he?

1995

Forty-five members of the Short North Posse street gang were convicted on a slew of drug and weapon charges.

 

What garden tool did the Ohio General Assembly vote down as Ohio’s official state tool?

1. Trowel
2. Shears
3. Hoe
4. Lopper

1996

As told to Columbus Monthly

“There was really no city or state government that had an ax to grind with me in Columbus. . . . My most fond memories are of Columbus. I think I was treated exceptionally well there.”

—Larry Flynt, who founded Hustler magazine in Columbus.

 

Heisman Trophy-winning former Ohio State running back Eddie George appeared in this commercial for which product?

1997

What were they thinking?

A headline from the Lantern: “Bucks go down in Beaver Stadium, 31-27”

 

Columbus school board member Loretta Heard won reelection, even after what was revealed?

1. She’d enrolled her two children in a private school.
2. She’d been receiving Workers’ Compensation payments for 10 years for sustaining a nonexistent head injury at her former workplace.
3. She’d been receiving Workers’ Compensation payments for the past 20 years for being an amputee, which she was not.
4. She’d been receiving Workers’ Compensation payments for nearly 40 years for being “permanently and totally disabled,” which she was not.

1998

Whitehall rejected a plan to limit residents to three cats per household.

 

“The only thing worse than running for secretary of state would be being secretary of state” was a quote by which politician, who wound up running for (and becoming) secretary of state?

1. Ken Blackwell
2. Bob Taft
3. Sherrod Brown
4. Larry Householder

1999

From the archives

Goodbye to the mayor we never knew

Three months before Greg Lashutka stepped down as mayor of Columbus, we explored his legacy of job growth, riverfront development and run-on sentences.

When the mayor strolled through the lobby, he greeted the boy and asked him a question. Not a simple question (“How do you like school?”), but a multifaceted inquiry, asked in lengthy, convoluted sentences. As Lashutka awaited an answer, Brendan looked up earnestly at the 6-foot-7 mayor. “I’m only 6 years old,” Brendan said.

 

What attraction debuted in town?

1. Value City Arena
2. Easton Town Center
3. The Arena District
4. Nationwide Arena

 

2000s

2000

The Garage, the pioneering gay dance club, went out of business.

In Columbus Monthly’s 25th anniversary issue [June 2000], we named—for the sixth time in our publication’s span—the top 10 most powerful people in the city. Listed were nine men, and, for the first time, one woman. Who was she?

2001

A fire destroyed Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman’s Berwick home. After he and his family escaped from the flames, the mayor reentered the house to rescue the family dog, Missy, cowering in a bedroom closet.

 

What is the name of this former Columbus Public Schools superintendent, who was succeeded by Gene Harris?

2002

Ohio State offered a football scholarship to an unheralded player from Cleveland named Troy Smith. Described as “an athlete,” the future Heisman Trophy winner was the last signee of his recruiting class.

Which weatherman could be heard snoring during a live broadcast?

1. Ben Gelber
2. Jym Ganahl
3. Mike Davis
4. Bob Nunnally

2003

From the archives

The Miracle Man starts over

Despite a slew of legal troubles and a shrinking flock, the Rev. Leroy Jenkins was combative as ever, lashing out against the maker of a biopic about him and selling his “miracle water” in defiance of state officials.

The reverend is a resilient fella. Gotta give him that. How can any minister survive so many fiascoes, disappointments and embarrassing headlines? How can he sell his home base of three decades, Healing Waters Cathedral in Delaware, and somehow start over at 66, an age for retiring, not rebuilding? And how can any faith healer—let alone an ex-con with a boatload of troubles—continue to preach in an era when more people believe in Prozac than prophets?

It makes you wonder: Who does Leroy Jenkins think he is—a miracle worker?

What was the name of this former Michigan Wolverine who later played with the Columbus Clippers? (You read that right.)

2004

The Ohio State Fair disqualified three exhibitors for allegedly outfitting their cows with hairpieces.

 

What former Ohio State football coach took the head coaching job for the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League?

1. Earle Bruce
2. Woody Hayes
3. John Cooper
4. Mark Dantonio

2005

From the archives

The insider goes down

In Roger Blackwell’s federal trial, it was his word against the statements of his ex-wife and a former friend. This time, the marketing guru and Ohio State professor couldn’t win over the toughest audience of his life.

Blackwell built a good part of his fortune by hiring himself out as a keynote speaker; he was known for his passionate presentations. But on June 6, when he took the witness stand, he looked like someone backed into a corner. He was fidgety and nervous. When his attorney, Thomas Gorman, asked questions about his ex-wife, Tina Stephan, Blackwell couldn’t resist making sardonic remarks about her, particularly about how she’d never used a washing machine before she’d met him.

 

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman dropped out of the 2006 governor’s race after what took place in October of 2005?

1. His birth certificate was released showing he wasn’t born in Ohio.
2. His campaign adviser was caught soliciting a prostitute.
3. His wife was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
4. His mother died suddenly.

2006

What were they thinking?

In an interview with Columbus Monthly, U.S. Rep. Deb Pryce identified Mark Foley as one of her closest friends in Washington, D.C., just before the Congressman resigned amid accusations he’d sent sexually suggestive e-mails and instant messages to teen-age Congressional pages.

 

In what Columbus Monthly described as “Columbus’s hottest political race in years,” which politician stood on a flatbed truck, blaring Van Halen outside her opponent’s campaign headquarters?

2007

As told to Columbus Monthly

“We’re going to look back and say, ‘This is one of the best things that ever happened to the city of Columbus.’ ”

—Skybus investor Jack Ruscilli on the Columbus discount airline, which went bankrupt a few months later.

 

Gordon Gee announced his return to Ohio State, where he’d been president from 1990 to 1998. For which school has he not served as president?

1. Tulane
2. Brown
3. Colorado
4. Vanderbilt

2008

Vanessa Stout and Cindy Stankoski, two assistants in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, accused their supervisor, Tony Gutierrez, of sexual harassment. Their complaints set off a chain reaction that forced AG Marc Dann to resign two months later. ART: JAN. 2009 COVER STORY

2008: Zoombezi Bay debuted after the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium purchased the water park from Six Flags in 2006. What was the park’s name before the reopening?

2009

What were we thinking?

Woody Hayes dead-ringer Roger Thomas starred in one of our favorites covers of recent years. His shirt sleeves, eyeglasses, ball cap and sneakers are perfect, but why did we make him flip hot dogs with a spatula? Thankfully, smoke mostly obscures our mistake.

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Which team knocked them out in the first round?

1. Vancouver Canucks
2. Dallas Stars
3. Nashville Predators
4. Detroit Red Wings

2010

Penn National Gaming spokesman Eric Schippers, responding to casino critic Chuck Hootman, co-owner of Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails at the Columbus Metropolitan Club, said he was disappointed he wasn’t welcome at the downtown restaurant since he’s “such a fan” of its                         .

1. Veggie wraps
2. Pot roast sandwiches
3. Western omelets
4. Eggplant fries

 

“If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.”

—a sign in the office of OSU president Gordon Gee

 

Answers: 1975: D; 1976: Dick Campbell; 1977: C; 1978: D; 1979: A; 1980: Bob Shamansky; 1981: C; 1982: D; 1983: A; 1984: Chris Spielman; 1985: B; 1986: Bob Conners; 1987: C; 1988: B; 1989: A; 1990: C; 1991: B; 1992: D; 1993: A; 1994: Billy Inmon; 1995: C; 1996: Tylenol; 1997: D; 1998: A; 1999: B; 2000: Abigail Wexner, wife of Limited Brands founder and CEO Les Wexner; 2001: Rosa Smith; 2002: D; 2003: Drew Henson; 2004: A; 2005: C; 2006: Deborah Pryce; 2007: A; 2008: Wyandot Lake; 2009: D; 2010: B.