I WILL TRY TO ADD OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS AS THEY OCCUR


excerpt from
Mansfield News Journal
Thursday, March 25, 2004 
Campus leaders take on new roles 
MANSFIELD -- New roles await a staff member and a student involved in student activities 
at the Ohio State University-Mansfield/North Central State College campus. 
Elise Riggle, coordinator of student activities, has been appointed to a two-year term as 
associate member relations coordinator for the 2004-2005 National Association for Campus 
Activities (NACA) Mid-America Regional Leadership Team. 
Riggle, who joined OSU-Mansfield in 2001, holds a master's degree in the area of student 
affairs and higher education. She has been involved in NACA activities since 1999. 

Brian G. Goodson, a history major, has been selected to attend The Ohio State University 
Leader Shape Institute scheduled June 15 to 20 at the OSU Wooster/ATI campus. 
The program, which is offered by colleges and universities across the nation, helps 
student leaders assess their strengths, learn the value of feedback and reflection and 
understand the dynamics of power, communication and teamwork. 
All costs for the program are covered by Coca-Cola, the OSU Office of Student Affairs and 
the OSU Alumni Association.




excerpt from
The Mansfield News Journal
 Friday 14 Oct. 2005
By Linda Martz

Mock trial raises awareness of housing discrimination

 MANSFIELD -- Jurors believed an HIV-infected man and his 14-year-old daughter were harmed so seriously after a homeowner backed out of selling his house to them, that the fictitious family was awarded $80,000 in damages in a mock trial Wednesday. It was paper money, given in a made-up court case.
But those involved in the mock trial -- realtors, city officials and social service agency staffers -- believe a similar situation could easily happen in Mansfield because of peoples' fear of HIV/AIDS.
The Mansfield Board of Realtors sponsored the mock trial. It featured real-life attorneys Marilyn Tobocman, principal attorney general for the Ohio Attorney General's office, and Mansfield attorney Joseph Olecki; and former judge Paul Christ. Those acting the parts of the buyer and seller, witnesses and the jury all live and work in north central Ohio.
The fictitious case was brought against a couple whimsically named "Bubba Licious" and "Dee Licious," who initially agreed to sell their home at 1543 Perfect Place to "Willie Wonka" for $285,000.
Both parties signed a purchase agreement. But witnesses testified the homeowners backed out after a neighbor named "Betty Busybody" confided that she believed both Willie and his 14-year-old daughter, Tina, were infected with HIV. She testified she knew of the illness because she was a retired nurse who had been present when Willie's daughter was born, already infected, to a mother who later died.
Betty Connelly, who played Busybody, testified she shared information about the would-be home buyer's condition because she cared deeply about her neighbors. She was afraid children around the neighborhood might get infected being around Tina, she told jurors. "We just were more or less concerned about our children. I'm sure everybody here might feel the same way," she testified.
Willie told jurors he'd kept quiet about the illness he and his daughter have because he was afraid how people would react, particularly to his daughter, an A student and competitive swimmer.
"I felt that it was not anybody's business. When people know, they treat you as a target. They think that maybe you're infectious -- that you're poison," he said. Willie, played by Michael Seveigny, who sells real estate in real life, testified he signed papers agreeing to back out of the purchase agreement only to recover $15,000 in earnest money.
When his daughter learned the homeowners backed out of selling by telling the realtor they were afraid people in the neighborhood might get infected, "she cried for hours, all day," Wonka testified.
Lori Robinson, real-life case manager for the AIDS Resource Center Ohio, testified that the HIV virus could not be transmitted as easily as many people believe. Tobocman, who tries housing discrimination cases for the Ohio Attorney General's office, said afterward that discrimination cases have always been based on fear. The fear of AIDS is no different than the fears people used to have of living around Irish immigrants, or African-Americans, or landlords' fears of accepting families with children as tenants, she said. Over the years, Congress has given legal protection to various classes who experience discrimination, making civil lawsuits a legal remedy, she said.
The $80,000 jury award was far higher than most Tobocman had cited to the jury, based on discrimination lawsuits around the U.S.
Mock jurors said the Wonka family suffered significant harm, including public embarrassment, emotional stress and the daughter's possible loss of a college swim scholarship.
Brian Goodson, a former housing support specialist with AIDS Resource Center Ohio, served as one of the jurors. Part of the compensation came because Wonka's "name is out there as an individual with AIDS."
Deanna Kreiger, who runs a Mansfield real estate company, also sat on the jury. She believes everyone involved in discriminating against the man and his daughter "should have to go to some kind of class" giving them the facts about HIV/AIDS.
Betty Connelly, playing Busybody, said afterward she believes discrimination against someone with HIV/AIDS "could very well happen" in the community.
The mock trial was meant to raise awareness, she said. Those working in real estate probably have a higher awareness than the general public of discrimination laws, and they try to be "so careful" not to get enmeshed in discriminatory situations, she said.
lmartz@nncogannett.com (419) 521-7229

Walt Butler/NewsJournal

Attorney Henrietta Hangum, left, played by Marilyn Tobocman, the chief litigator for the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, argues a point during a mock trail Thursday in Mansfield. Hangum was representing Willie Wonka, right, played by Mansfield Realtor Nate Purdy. Wonka filed a lawsuit alleging he was being discriminated against because he is infected with the HIV virus.



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