SANDUSKY — At the Witches Walk on Saturday we met one of the city’s most promising digital producers, Telly Award-winning Haylie Robinson, a former festival queen turned travel journalist.

Robinson is from Clyde.

“I am a former festival queen turned founder of Finding Festivals, which debuted to over 54 million households on PBS and is now on YouTube, Robinson said. “I’m here at the Sandusky Witches Walk to share some of the community stories because they’re actually a charitable group. And that’s what Finding Festivals is all about.”

Winning a Telly Award is widely recognized in media production as a mark of high-quality work, particularly for local/regional media, digital video series, and corporate storytelling.

Robinson is a one-woman walking producer, publisher, reporter, videographer, sound engineer and promoter who loves her job. Her coverage of the Witches Walk will be at the YouTube channel later this week.

I was honored to talk with Robinson on Saturday. I try to talk with every reporter I see out covering news. I’m so proud to have been part of the news teams at the Sandusky Register, The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria, even a short stint with The Morning Journal in Lorain during the years 1994-2025.

Those three newspapers represent a direct link to the very heart of old print journalism, direct descendants of the Penny Press, the days of Horace Greeley and Mark Twain, descendant from the journalist, Benjamin Franklin, all the way back to Silence Dogood. American journalism as it was, as it became over 300 years, right down to … the end of the road, helping to shape a nation along the way.

A year after I started working as a journalist, on a lark, the Register launched Sanduskyregister.com. We always saw this day coming. I am happy as shit I’m still standing, however, with both feet in this new world, trying to keep up, and trying to slow down.

Reporters like Robinson represent the future of whatever truth is after the first draft of history is written, and after we stop printing it altogether. My role, if I can be so bold, is to bring the best of that old world to her world, to this new, new brave world of digital journalism, of independent journalism, the best practices, the best “news sense,” and a sense of responsibility and community, how important it is for journalists to maintain those practices.

Robinson, however, is doing just fine without me. To borrow a once-popular phrase, she seems to have her “shit together” on all fronts, especially the last part.

“I'm a Clydian, through and through, no matter how far I drive away from town,” she told us.

Robinson explores community traditions, art, heritage, and local culture across Ohio and Michigan as the everywoman for Finding Festivals.

About the Show

• Host and Creator: Haylie Robinson (former festival queen turned travel journalist)

• Focus: Unites communities through local history and annual celebrations, such as the Festival of Sail in Sandusky, Ohio, and the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival.

• Where to Watch: Episodes are available via PBS and online playlists on Hayliestory.

Watch a preview of Haylie Robinson exploring regional celebrations and community festivals:

Please enjoy this video and the photos, and like, share comment and subscribe. We rely on you support.

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But a closer examination of the city’s interim staffing strategy, official statements, and the organizational framework supporting out-of-school programs reveals growing questions about how the city intends to preserve the scope and relational impact of those services.

In statements provided to the Sandusky Register September 30, city manager John Orzech and City Commission President Kate Vargo emphasized that youth recreation remains a top priority, pointing toward the planned opening of Sandusky’s new multi-million-dollar recreation facility next July as a major milestone.

“Investing in our youth helps create a generation of residents who feel connected to and invested in our community,” Orzech stated, adding that the city posted a job opening for a new community programs supervisor to oversee youth operations moving forward.

Vargo echoed those sentiments, telling the Register that youth services are a top priority and central to her work on the City Commission. “I am committed to expanding youth recreation programming throughout our entire community, ensuring that children and families have access to engaging, enriching activities year-round,” she said.

OK but, OK, but and OK but

While leadership seeks to project confidence toward next summer’s facility opening, the immediate, day-to-day management of the city’s out-of-school programs at the former Mills Elementary building relies on a leaner operational structure. With Frisby’s departure, the “mayor has left the building,” one resident familiar with the programming said. She has big feet, they suggested.

According to details provided by the city manager, the current after-school program at Mills serves an average of 45 children daily from 3:30 to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday. To staff the program in Frisby’s absence, the city is utilizing its five existing part-time recreation attendants, with full-time staff rotating supervisory oversight.

Orzech said one part-time employee who has been with the program for several years “has expressed an interest and willingness in being the lead rec attendant.” That same employee recently applied early, before the job posting, for Frisby’s position, according to the source, and never received an acknowledgment.

The city’s decision to rely on part-time attendants raises practical questions about staff retention, career advancement, and institutional support. Questions about systemic disadvantages that Black employees confront also have been raised, but it's not a topic that gets discussed openly, pretty much anywhere. It’s not unique to the city’s staff; it’s an ever-present workplace issue.

From James Baldwin to Michelle Obama, for minorities, the disadvantages in the workplace, and in life, are to be expected, according the generational lessons of time.

“There's an age-old maxim in the Black community: You've got to be twice as good to get half as far,” the former First Lady wrote in her 2018 autobiography.

Qualified, local part-time staff who possess relevant college degrees and years of direct experience with Sandusky youth often find themselves slotted into lower-tier attendant roles rather than being actively mentored or considered for full-time administrative pathways.

Four out of five of the part-timers working for the city in the out-of-school programming were part of the same programming when they were children, when Frisby was director of the Nehemiah Center at Campbell School more than 15 years ago.

When frontline staff feel overlooked or restricted to entry-level titles and part-time positions, despite carrying the day-to-day trust of local families, the city risks alienating the very homegrown talent needed to sustain these initiatives.

There’s always friction

The transition comes amid broader concerns regarding how the city supports the leaders and staff who build grassroots trust in Sandusky’s neighborhoods.

During her nearly nine-year tenure, Frisby built nationally recognized and state-awarded initiatives—including the Midtown Supper Club, annual Juneteenth community gatherings, and Community Collaboration Days—that depended heavily on deep personal relationships, specialized mentorship, and aggressive community fundraising.

While official news releases frame Frisby’s transition to the Erie County Health Department as a routine career move, former colleagues and observers point to a pattern of systemic friction, administrative rigidness, and communication gaps within City Hall that complicated her department’s work.

Frisby talked with city officials before her final day of employment in an exit interview, she said, in which she re-affirmed with them her adverse experiences as an employee, and told them about the increasing concerns among families who use the Mills School center. There has been no effort to work with the current out-of-school programming staff, or keep them updated at all about the transition to the new center, or about future job opportunities.

Stay Tuned Sandusky made a public records request to city officials for Frisby’s exit interview on Monday.

The central challenge facing municipal leadership is not merely replacing a position on an organizational chart, but recognizing that high-impact youth work relies on human trust rather than physical infrastructure alone. A new recreation facility should provide the space, but it does not automatically generate the mentorship, cultural connection, or neighborhood stability that Frisby and her staff cultivated.

Looking ahead

As the city conducts its search for a new community programs supervisor, community stakeholders are watching closely to see whether Sandusky leadership will address the systemic friction points directly.

To ensure a seamless transition and protect the integrity of local youth programming, city leaders face several key questions:

1. Pathways for Local Talent: How will the city structure career growth, competitive wages, and leadership opportunities for existing part-time staff who have already built deep trust with local children?

2. Programmatic Continuity: Will Frisby’s Midtown Supper Club continue to receive funding? How many “rooms” among the out-of-school programming at Mills School are being eliminated? Will there be a podcast studio at the new rec center, a reading room, a homework room, a sewing room or a chill spot? Which parts of the current programming will be retained; which parts are being eliminated and who made those decisions and how were they determined?

3. Institutional Climate: What steps are city administrators taking to examine internal workplace culture, ensuring that minority staff and program directors receive robust support when navigating administrative challenges, including systemic biases in the workplace?

City officials have expressed confidence that the upcoming hiring process and the completion of the new recreation center will yield expanded opportunities for all Sandusky children. Whether that vision succeeds may depend on the city’s willingness to candidly assess its operational deficiencies and invest meaningfully in the human capital already serving its neighborhoods.

SANDUSKY — A lot of voters are beginning to believe there’s a blue wave coming even as President Donald J. Trump makes multiple stops in the Buckeye State—including Youngstown—in the closing weeks of the Midterm campaigns.

New internal data from Democrats helps explain this cautious optimism, according to an article in the The New Republic. Trump’s favorable rating in the broader Youngstown media market—Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties—is 11 points underwater, at 43–54.

“Trump is unpopular in this region because he’s broken his promises to make things more affordable,” a Democratic pollster told the news magazine. “And people are really struggling here.”

𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙢𝙥 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙈𝘼𝙂𝘼 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙊𝙝𝙞𝙤. 𝙄𝙩𝙨 𝙑𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙃𝙞𝙢.

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The visit highlighted a major federal initiative allocating $1 billion in funding toward rural healthcare systems across Ohio, with an emphasis on stabilizing maternal health programs, expanding emergency access, and supporting regional clinical infrastructure across Erie County.

𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙆 𝙩𝙤 𝘽𝙀𝙎𝙏-𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝙑𝙊𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙂𝙐𝙄𝘿𝙀

The delegation was hosted locally by Erie County Treasurer Caleb Stidham, who is currently seeking election to the Ohio House of Representatives. During the visit to Firelands Health, officials discussed how federal grants and rural health subsidies will directly assist regional care providers who face rising operational costs and staffing challenges. The stop highlighted the ongoing effort by state and federal lawmakers to deliver targeted funding allocations directly to mid-sized hospital networks serving non-metropolitan populations.

Following the healthcare presentation at Firelands, the visit shifted toward campaign mobilization ahead of the upcoming election. Oz and Moreno joined local party officials and campaign supporters for a regional rally endorsing Republican congressional candidate Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. The dual-purpose visit underscored the strategic political importance of Erie County, as national policy announcements on healthcare access continue to play a central role in regional campaign messaging.

He also questions Commission President Kate Vargo’s “hot mic” moment, when she expressed frustration with law director Stewart Hastings.

“I’m so pissed at Stu right now,” Vargo can be heard saying after a commission vote on Monday failed

𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙆: 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮

Ethan Unzicker, a city resident and an emerging City Commission observer and blogger, posted a new video at his “Eyes on Sandusky” page at Facebook, explaining his concern about commission’s practice of approving legislation on an emergency basis.

After the theatre was nearly destroyed in 2020 by a freak windstorm, Sandusky City Commission pledged $1 million for the its restoration. Half of that amount was paid right away with the balance to be paid when the restoration was completed. The project was derailed, however, by construction mismanagement and missteps and is still not complete.

Commission President Kate Vargo, who was recently appointed to the newly formed theatre board review board, was disappointed on Monday when two city commissioners temporarily derailed making that final payment early in an effort to jump start the re-start on the project.

In a 4-2 vote, commissioners Tim Schwanger and Richard Koonce refused to support approving the payment on an emergency basis, delaying the payment by about two weeks. The city’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Oct. 26.

The theatre incurs about $100,000 a month in interest charges on loans. The Sandusky payment is needed to complete a refinancing plan to finish the restoration.

The call came in at 9:35 this morning, according to a news release from the Norwalk police. Police, fire and North Central EMS responded. The child was taken to Fisher-Titus Medical Center where it was pronounced deceased.

As with any death involving a young child, a questionable death investigation was initiated and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office was requested to assist, police said.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.

CLAY TWP. — A Clay Township police officer killed Friday morning while responding to a separate traffic incident has been identified as 26-year-old Sergeant Jacob Roesler.

The two-vehicle collision occurred on State Route 51 near State Route 795 in Ottawa County.

Official Department Statement

In a formal release issued Friday afternoon, the Clay Township Police Department confirmed the loss of Sgt. Roesler, honoring his service and calling for support for his family and the agency:

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the loss of Sergeant Jacob Roesler, who was involved in a fatal crash this morning while responding to a separate crash.

Sergeant Roesler, who was 26 years old, served with the Clay Township Police Department for three years with honor and a deep commitment to protecting and serving others. He was a dedicated public servant who made a lasting impact on our department and the community he swore to protect. Jacob loved the outdoors, his family, friends, and his dog.

While we are mourning the loss of Sergeant Roesler, we are also keeping the other person who was injured in this crash in our thoughts and prayers.

Today, we mourn alongside Sergeant Roesler’s family, friends, and fellow officers as we grieve this unimaginable loss during this incredibly difficult time.”

Investigation & Roadway Status

The initial crash was reported early Friday morning near the intersection of SR 51 and SR 795.

• Investigating Agency: The Ohio State Highway Patrol is handling the crash reconstruction and investigation.

• Other Injuries: The driver of the second vehicle involved in the collision was injured in the crash and is being kept in thoughts and prayers alongside Roesler’s family, according to police statements.

• Road Closures: SR 51 and surrounding intersections experienced extended closures Friday morning while emergency crews and crash reconstruction investigators remained on scene.

Department leadership noted that funeral arrangements will be announced as they become available.

This is a developing story. Check back with Stay Tuned Sandusky for updates.

Supported by a newly established governance structure, renewed foundation commitments, and a fresh project team, leadership just announced a comprehensive roadmap to complete the multi-million-dollar restoration of the 107 Columbus Ave. landmark.

To navigate the final stretch of construction and enforce fiscal accountability, a newly seated Board of Review chaired by Jeremy Normington-Slay has assumed oversight of the project alongside members Jim Miller, Pat Shenigo, City Commissioner Kate Vargo, Bob Waldock, and Eric Wobser.

Working with owner’s representative Tom Einhouse—a former Playhouse Square executive—and general contractor John G. Johnson Construction Co., the team is deploying performance bond settlement proceeds and new philanthropic gifts to close the remaining funding gap.

Additional investments from the Erie County Community Foundation, Dorn Foundation, Mylander Foundation, Schlink Foundation, Erie County EPIC Board, and the Erie County Visitors & Convention Bureau, alongside continued support from Civista Bank, are stabilizing the completion schedule.

Beyond restoring the main stage house destroyed in the June 2020 storm, the expanded facility will feature a Broadway-capable stage, a new 175-seat black box theater, an art gallery, Frohman’s Pub, enhanced concession areas, and dedicated home space for the Caryl Crane Youth Theatre.

According to a recent economic impact analysis from the Greater Sandusky Partnership Policy Center, the venue is projected to generate $43.6 million in economic activity, $3.56 million in tax revenue, and support up to 113 full-time equivalent jobs during its first five years of operation, cementing its role as downtown Sandusky’s primary cultural and economic engine.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates about the emerging plan.

A freak storm nearly destroyed the 1920s vaudeville venue in the downtown district in 2020. An ambitious renovation plan got derailed three years later due to mismanagement of the construction project.

Now, as the…

Read more

COLUMBUS — Ohio had the steepest decline in homeownership affordability between 2020 to 2025, according to new reporting from the National Housing Conference.

The number of occupations able to afford a typically priced home with a 10% down payment fell nearly 41% across Ohio’s metropolitan areas from 2020 to 2025, according to the second annual Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough report.

“This report shows that home ownership is becoming a luxury in Ohio, and that jobs that used to be considered solidly middle class — like being a firefighter or mail carrier — are getting shut out of the American dream,” said Marcus Roth, spokesperson for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

Mansfield, Cleveland, Springfield, Toledo and Akron ranked among the 25 largest affordability declines in the country, according to the report.

“Ohio’s numbers show just how quickly the path to homeownership can disappear for working families,” National Housing Conference President and CEO David M. Dworkin said in a statement.

In Ohio, 67% of occupations could purchase a home with 10% down in 2020, but that dropped down to 26% in 2025, according to the report.

When it came to renting a two-bedroom apartment, 77% of occupations in Ohio could afford to do so in 2020. That number dropped to 69% in 2025, according to the report.

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Mansfield experienced the biggest loss in homeownership affordability in Ohio. A typically priced home was $115,041 and the annual income needed to qualify for that home was $28,483 in 2020.

In 2025, a typically priced home in Mansfield rose to $188,863, which requires an income of $62,931 — a 121% increase, according to the report.

Elementary and special education teachers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, firefighters, and postal service mail carriers could afford a typical Mansfield home in 2020. But by 2025, firefighters, postal service mail carriers, executive secretaries, and loan officers could no longer afford a typically priced Mansfield home.

“In Mansfield, more than four out of five occupations could afford a typical home just five years ago,” Dworkin said.

“Today, fewer than one in three can. When teachers, firefighters, EMTs, postal workers and other essential workers are increasingly priced out of the communities they serve, it is not just a housing problem—it is a workforce and economic problem.”

The average annual salary among occupations that lost the ability to purchase a home with a 10% downpayment between 2020 and 2025 was $70,283.

“Ohio needs more homes at prices its workforce can afford,” Dworkin said.

“That means building and preserving housing near jobs, reducing unnecessary costs and delays, and aligning federal, state and local policies around increasing supply. A good job should still provide a realistic path to a stable, affordable home.”

People remain renters longer when they are unable to afford to buy a home, so that means more demand for rental housing, Roth said.

“There’s a huge (rental housing) shortage, so with so many more people that used to be in that category of homeowners or future homeowners now are solidly renters,” Roth said.

“That increased demand has driven up the cost of rents, so we’re seeing the impact in the rental market too.”

A full-time Ohio worker needs to be making at least $23.82 an hour to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO’s annual Out of Reach report.

Ohio also has a shortage of 266,000 affordable and available rental units, according to to the 2026 Gap Report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

NEW UPDATE 1:50 p.m.

UPDATE 12:20 p.m.

CLAY TWP. — A police officer was killed this morning in a traffic crash in Clay Township.

Sgt. Jacob Roesler, 26, was responding to a different crash, according to a Clay police news release.

“Today, we mourn alongside Sergeant Roesler’s family, friends, and fellow officers as we grieve this unimaginable loss during this incredibly difficult time,” the department said. “We ask that you keep Sergeant Roesler’s loved ones, as well as the members of the Clay Township Police Department and the entire law enforcement community, in your thoughts and prayers during this time.”

The crash occurred Friday morning on Ohio 51 and involved another vehicle. Roesler was a three-year veteran of the Clay police, according to the release.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.

*

Previous post, today at 8:05 a.m.

Road closed after fatal traffic accident

CLAY TWP. — A person was killed this morning in a traffic accident on state Route 51 and Route 795 in the township this morning, in Ottawa County.

The Ohio Highway Patrol is investigating. Troopers on scene report that all lanes of traffic are closed for an extended period of time. Motorists are advised to proceed with caution in the area.

Detour routes are being maintained. The coroner has been contacted.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.

The change impacts Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky, The Bellevue Hospital, and all Firelands Physician Group providers.

Firelands Health

Patient Helpline: Call our care transition team at 419-557-5530 or visit firelands.com/insurancesaccepted for information. A care specialist can assist in identifying approved plans.

The decision follows failed contract negotiations regarding terms required to support patient care. While the system sent direct notification letters to patients who used Anthem Medicare Advantage over the past two years, health leaders issued a public alert to ensure all policyholders across the region have time to adjust their coverage.

“Although the organizations have been unable to reach an agreement, Firelands Health appreciates the discussions with Anthem and remains focused on helping affected patients prepare for the change,” the health system stated in a news release.

The network termination applies strictly to Anthem Medicare Advantage plans. It does not affect patients covered by Anthem commercial insurance, Anthem Medicaid, or Anthem MyCare Ohio. Firelands will also remain in-network with most other major Medicare Advantage carriers.

• The announcement comes just ahead of Medicare’s annual open enrollment period, which runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, giving affected residents a window to review their options and switch to a participating plan or traditional Medicare before the 2027 cutoff.

  Medicare Open Enrollment

  Dates: October 15 – December 7
  Purpose: Annual window for Medicare beneficiaries to review coverage, switch Medicare Advantage/Part D plans, or transition to Traditional Medicare.
  Effective Date: Changes made during this period take effect January 1, 2027.
  Key Action: Affected residents should verify whether their current doctors, networks, and hospitals remain in-network for 2027 before the December 7 deadline.

The high-profile case took a dramatic turn this week when court records revealed that former local business owner Robert Lee Stein had fled the country while on bond.

Read more

As of this morning, 3,821 registered voters have visited the elections board office on Columbus Avenue, according to board director Alex Jones.

“We’re averaging 395 voters a day in office,” Jones said.

In 2024, when President Donald J. Trump was on the ballot, 20,263 voters cast their ballot early, and in 2022, another off-year election, 11,767 voters cast their ballot early, according to Jones.

State authorities from Michigan and Ohio and Huron County deputies located 36-year-old Brandon Lee dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound by using cellphone tracking and Flock Safety camera networks. They traced Lee’s vehicle across state lines into Huron County.

When police called Lee’s phone, one of his young sons answered and informed officers that his father had died and that they were in a cornfield.

Police used drones and K-9 units—located the vehicle, the deceased suspect, and the two boys (ages 4 and 6). The children were transported by ambulance to Fisher-Titus Medical Center in Norwalk for evaluation and were reported to have suffered no physical harm.

How the Incident Began

The investigation originated in Inkster, Michigan (west of Detroit), around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to a report filed by WKYC TV-3 News in Cleveland, which provides this account:

According to the Inkster Police Department:

• The mother of the two children reported that Lee entered her bedroom, struck her with a firearm, and tied her to the bed before fleeing with their two sons.

• After freeing herself, the mother called Lee, who threatened self-harm and harm to the children. She immediately contacted 911.

• Inkster Police Chief Tamika Jenkins stated during a press conference that the incident appears to have stemmed from a recent breakup.

Inkster police officers drove to Norwalk Wednesday evening to reunite the two young boys with their mother in Michigan. The Huron County Sheriff’s Office is leading the local portion of the ongoing investigation.

This update relies on primary reporting by WKYC Channel 3.

For full details, timeline updates, and media footage, read the full report by Tyler Carey and Hunter Bertram:

👉 Read the complete WKYC report:
Suspect found dead in Norwalk cornfield after kidnapping 2 young sons

Stay Tuned Sandusky will continue to monitor local public safety updates across Erie and Huron counties.

PORT CLINTON — It has been nearly four months since former Port Clinton firefighter and EMS worker Rebekah Huskey-Archacki filed a formal criminal affidavit against Trevor Johnson, a major-crimes investigator with the Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The private-citizen criminal filing—submitted under Ohio Revised Code § 2935.09(D) in the Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas on June 16, 2026—accuses Johnson of tampering with evidence, tampering with records, falsification, failure to report a crime, and complicity.

Allegations of retaliation and cover-up

Read more

Before we talk about the press releases, the glowing city statements, or the sanitized newspaper headlines, I need to be transparent with you: Tondra Frisby is my friend.

I’ve sat across from her, watched her work up close for more than 15 years, and seen firsthand the fierce, unrelenting love she has for Sandusky’s kids. I’ve also watched what happened to her behind closed doors when the cameras were off and the city banners were put away.

Earlier this week, the Sandusky Register published a story announcing that Tondra was leaving her post as Sandusky’s youth program supervisor to become the youth engagement director for the Erie County Health Department. On paper, it was framed as a seamless, happy promotion—a local leader stepping up to a bigger county stage. Health Commissioner Pete Schade saw her extraordinary value, knew the trust she holds in this community, and created a role to let her do what she does best.

City Manager John Orzech and City Commission President Kate Vargo issued statements thanking Tondra for her service, reassuring the public that youth recreation remains a top priority as the city prepares to open its new multi-million-dollar recreation center next summer.

It was a neat, comfortable narrative. It was also nowhere near the full picture.

Two Farewells

If you want to understand how municipal institutions actually treat the people who hold them together, look at how Tondra left.

When her resignation became official, City Hall offered no public ceremony, no formal resolution, no official citywide send-off, not even a card. A handful of white colleagues took her out to a quiet lunch.

Meanwhile, the real farewell happened where it always does—among the people who actually built and relied on her programs. The long-time, underpaid part-time staff—the Black and brown workers who are paid less and get fewer hours than what the rotating summer interns from privileged backgrounds get—joined with neighborhood families and local kids to throw her a roaring, emotional celebration filled with tears, pride, and hope.

That contrast tells you everything you need to know about the gap between Sandusky’s leadership and the community Tondra served.

The Blindness of “Good Intentions”

I know John Orzech. I know Kate Vargo. They are, by all accounts, decent, well-intentioned, accomplished people. I like them personally, and I don’t believe either of them wakes up in the morning plotting how to undermine a Black woman running youth programs.

But institutional bias rarely looks like a mustache-twirling villain. It looks like comfortable, well-meaning white leaders who are completely blind to their own privilege—and completely indifferent to the quiet, systemic friction inflicted on employees who don’t fit the City Hall mold.

For nearly nine years, Tondra did something miraculous. She didn’t just run programs; she created safe havens at the former Mills Elementary. She brought life to that building like it was in the old days, when she was a student there in the 1960s.

She built the two-time, state award-winning Midtown Supper Club, where kids learned culinary arts alongside master chefs and cooked annual banquets for hundreds of residents and raised tens of thousands of dollars for city programs. She spearheaded Juneteenth celebrations before it was a national holiday. The celebration this year attracted 5,000 people. She fought to have fireworks at the Juneteenth celebration every year for the last five years, “because it’s only right.”

She established Community Collaboration Days, and out-school spaces for children who are too often ignored, politically powerless, and blamed for society’s ills. She built legendary programs for kids who had no one else fighting in their corner.

And yet, over the last four years, the environment inside City Hall grew steadily colder.

It escalated after Tondra raised a formal complaint about a city employee using an explicit racial slur in a professional setting. Instead of receiving unyielding institutional protection, Tondra experienced the slow, subtle burn of bad management and cold-shoulder bureaucracy.

At one point, during an 18-month stretch where Tondra underwent two life-threatening surgeries and spent weeks hospitalized, the city placed her on an administrative list of employees accused of “abusing sick time.”

Think about that. A dedicated public servant fighting for her life in a hospital bed was flagged by city administrators as a time-card problem.

The Challenge to Sandusky

Pete Schade and the Erie County Health Department didn’t just hire Tondra—they rescued a vital community asset that Sandusky leadership failed to protect. In her new role, Tondra will have county-wide resources to keep mentoring kids, training adults in youth mental health, and building safe networks across Erie County.

But Sandusky City Hall is left with a glaring question it can’t press-release its way out of.

City officials promise that an interim team of part-time attendants will hold down the out-school programs at Mills, and that the new rec center coming next July will expand opportunities for “every child in Sandusky.”

A shiny new building is easy to cut a ribbon on. But a building doesn’t build trust. A building doesn’t stay up late cooking with kids, listening to their hopes, dreams and challenges, or making them feel seen in a world that routinely writes them off. Tondra Frisby did that.

If Sandusky’s white leadership genuinely wants to honor Tondra’s legacy, they need to stop pretending her departure was just a routine career move. They need to pause, reflect and recognize the systemic blind spots that put the city in her rear view mirror, and ensure that the grass-roots, soul-nourishing programs she built aren’t quietly phased out because they serve the “wrong” kids.

Tondra is moving on to bigger things. The question is whether City Hall is capable of learning the lesson she left behind.

Defense attorney Peter Pattakos submitted the proposed findings of fact on Tuesday following an order from McGookey. The filing reiterates the same central claims Pattakos previously lodged in three separate affidavits of disqualification rejected by the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court: that county prosecutors tampered with the jury during Ford’s May trial by improperly replacing a juror, and that the state added a retaliatory perjury charge.

Ford faces felony charges in connection with allegations that she forged loan documents and used her ex-husband’s identity to secure a modified mortgage and COVID relief funds. Her initial trial ended in a mistrial in May after jurors deadlocked, and prosecutors immediately announced plans to retry her.

In the latest filing, Pattakos argues that McGookey cannot impartially rule on the dismissal motion due to an “appearance of impropriety and bias,” calling for her recusal alongside a full dismissal of the charges.

The state previously dismissed Pattakos’ arguments as “spurious and unsupported,” arguing the juror was properly removed for sleeping and noting that the Chief Justice already found no evidence of judicial or prosecutorial misconduct.

Judge McGookey is expected to issue a ruling on the motion to dismiss and recusal request.