Jumpstart To Independence

Travis Gholston, 4, watches a movie with his mom, Jennifer Wilson, 35, at their Maple Street home on Thursday, December 15. Wilson, who shares joint custody of Travis with his father, has set out to live on her own for the first time in her life. Wilson has been dependent on others for most of her life and said that she has found the expenses and challenges of becoming independent to be daunting. She said that she has relied on her faith in God and the numerous local aid agencies to help her get a jumpstart into independence. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

A tired Travis Gholston, 4, waits as his mother Jennifer Wilson spreads layer upon layer of blankets atop his child-sized cot. The youngster’s real bed was repossessed by a local store after Jennifer was unable to keep up payments for it.
Wilson, a single mother with joint custody of her four-year-old son, is one of many local parents who find it nearly impossible to make ends meet, even while working a full-time job.
Wilson said she was caught off guard when her utility bill jumped from $85 in November to $151 in December. That unexpected cost required Wilson to stop payment on the bed.
But she said she knew gaining independence wouldn’t be easy and she wouldn’t be deterred.
“Setbacks are a way of life, but you have to move on,” she said.

How Wilson Got To Where She Is Today
When Jennifer Wilson broke up with her boyfriend in September, she found herself on her own for the first time in her life.
“I had always been dependent on someone else,” Wilson said. “First my mom, then my husband then my boyfriend.”
So Wilson was unprepared for the financial hurdles she would have to clear when it came time to find a place to live for her and Travis.
First she needed a job. With only a high school diploma and a semester of college, it was difficult for the 35-year-old to find a position she was qualified for that would pay the bills.
With the help of the Fairfield County division of WorkNet, Wilson found a job at Storage One, a self-storage and Budget truck rental business in Canal Winchester. Her wage of $9 an hour is the most she has ever earned.
With a paycheck finally coming in, Wilson set out to find a home of her own.
She found the up-front cost of renting an apartment or house to be nearly insurmountable. The expenses included the rental deposit, utility deposits and the cost of getting furniture when she had none of her own.
The costs were in addition to the higher food and medical expenses she was left with once she started working and became ineligible for the state assistance she had been receiving.

Where She Found Help
When she reached out for assistance, Jennifer said she was surprised at the resources she was able to call on in Lancaster.
“I had the desire to move forward in my life, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of JFS and the Lutherans,” she said.
Wilson received gasoline vouchers, utility deposits, food, counseling and winter coats from Lutheran Social Services.
There were clothing vouchers and food from the Salvation Army and food from the Maywood Mission.
“There’s a lot of help out there. People just need to suck up their pride and ask for it,” Wilson said.
She said that she used to have a hard time asking for help, but when it came down to whether she would have food on her table or a home for her son, pride had to take a back seat to survival.
In addition to the state and federally funded help that Jennifer found, she also relied on those closest to her to lend a hand.
Sharon Wilson, Jennifer’s mother, watches Travis each Saturday so Jennifer doesn’t have to pay a day care while she works.
Sharon said she’s happy to do it.
“They are my life,” she said with a smile, while she and Travis watched “A Christmas Story.”
Sharon said it’s tough at times to watch her daughter struggle through trials with money. But she knows whether a person is 18 years old or 35, it’s not easy to become independent for the first time.
“This has been difficult for her, but she had to prove it to herself that she could make it,” Sharon said.

Wilson is Not Alone
According to Laura Holton, the Director of Community Services at Job & Family Services, an average of 5,000 people come through her department each month for assistance of some kind.
“A lot of people think that families are just laying around soaking up all of the free assistance they can without contributing,” said Holton. “But the fact is that most of the people who need food stamps are working one or more jobs and still can’t make ends meet at the end of the month.”
Wilson’s case is the same as the others that Holton speaks of. Wilson said she’ll be eternally grateful for her job and loves what she does. But it’s also harder than she imagined to stretch her pay to cover her expenses.
“Nine dollars an hour sounded great, but once I pay my bills, there is nothing left,” she said.

Looking to the Future
Wilson said that she plans to go back to school in order to qualify for higher paying jobs. “I’ve got one semester of college. I want to pursue my degree in social work,” said Wilson. She wants to be able to help people who are going through the same trials that she has had to overcome. She said that she hopes that Travis will learn the importance of a good education and that he will gain knowledge from her experiences to make it far in life.

Giving Back Where She Can
Wilson still struggles and remains somewhat dependent on LSS and others for help. But, she said she is able to do more on her own each month.
Wilson said that besides the occasional $5 donation into a Salvation Army kettle, she is not yet able to help out other people financially.
But she has found other ways to assist those in need.
“I was able to help out some friends who needed support by telling them where they could go and who to talk to,” Wilson said. “I feel that I’ve been blessed, and now I want to do what I can for other people.”

“Setbacks Are A Way of Life, But You Have To Go On.”
Trials including the repossession of Travis’ bed have built resolve in Wilson, who said that even when bad things have happened, she still has found things to be grateful for.
“We’ve still got a roof above us and food in our bellies, so we’re okay tonight,” she said. “I know that God will provide what I need.”
In fact, Wilson said that God has been there for her and Travis even while things looked to be at their worst. On Monday, Wilson filled her car with Christmas gifts for Travis, all from local donations to Lutheran Social Services. Also, Travis’ father is set to send a mattress and Wilson’s friend is providing a bed rail and box-spring to give Travis a new place to sleep. (Story Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Jennifer takes a reservation for a moving truck at her job in Canal-Winchester. Wilson said that her wage of $9 an hour is the most that she has ever made. Getting this job was one of Wilson's first steps toward financial independence. Wilson has received aid from several local aid agencies, including Job and Family Services, Lutheran Social Services and the Salvation Army. She attributes her burgeoning success on the help that they have provided. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

With a photo of her son sitting on Santa’s knee on the counter beside her, Jennifer replaces an empty toner cartridge on the fax machine at her job at Storage One in Canal-Winchester. Wilson said she’ll be eternally grateful for her job and loves what she does. But it’s also harder than she imagined to stretch her pay to cover her expenses. “Nine dollars an hour sounded great, but once I pay my bills, there is nothing left,” she said. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Jennifer packs donated Christmas gifts into her car outside of Lutheran Social Services on Monday, December 19. Wilson said she would not have been able to put presents under the tree for her son Travis had it not been for the charity of the Lutheran’s Christmas gifts program. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Sharon Wilson tries to calm her grandson Travis who was feeling a bit rambunctious while she babysat him on Saturday, December 17. Sharon watches Travis most Saturdays in order to save her daughter, Jennifer, day care expenses while Jennifer works in Canal-Winchester. “They are my life,” she said with a smile. Sharon said it’s tough at times to watch her daughter struggle through trials with money. But she knows whether a person is 18 years old or 35, it’s not easy to become independent for the first time. “This has been difficult for her, but she had to prove it to herself that she could make it,” Sharon said. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Jennifer opens up her arms to her son upon entering her mother's apartment on Saturday, December 17. Travis makes a habit of hiding behind the bathroom door and acting like he is not there when Jennifer arrives. Then when she acts like she doesn't know where he is, he leaps from behind the door and "surprises" her. Jennifer's mother, Sharon, baby sits Travis on Saturday's while Jennifer is at work in order to cut down on day care costs. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Travis screams out gleefully while playing a game of ball with his mother at their Maple Street home on Thursday, December 15. Wilson said that although she cannot offer Travis as much as some parents can, they still have fun together and that she is still able to raise him with love and good values. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Travis waits as Jennifer spreads layers of blankets atop his child-sized cot. Travis' real bed was repossessed by a local store after Jennifer was unable to keep up payments for it. Wilson said that she would not be deterred by such setbacks, but instead relies on God to provide new avenues of hope to match against each hardship. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Jennifer gives Travis a kiss goodnight. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

House Fire

Lt. Ralf Lucker, of the Lancaster Fire Department, cuts away at the roof of Paul and Deb Purtiman's home at 5664 Borah Hill Road in Berne Township on Thursday, December 29. Paul Purtiman, who works the night shift, was awoken Thursday afternoon by the sounds of someone pounding on his front door. Russ Branaghan was on the other side of door trying to alert the homeowner of flames seen on the exterior of the house. Tonya Branaghan said that she and her husband, Russ saw the flames while driving past the house and knew they had to do something. So, while Russ knocked on the door, Tonya called 911 on her cell phone. Paul and Deb Purtiman said that they were upset to see the extensive damage to their home, which they built in 1991. But, they said they are grateful that everyone, including their dog Lacey, escaped injury. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Vandalized Memorial

Michael Astley stands among the fallen crosses in a memorial display to fallen soldiers from the war on Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 75 and 100 of the small wooden crosses run over by a vandal on Friday night. Astley, who owns Aunt Eek's Store in Stoutsville, set up the crosses on his property at 9800 U.S. 22 along with a sign that reads "The Cost of War: Final Formation." He said that a lot of people have come to his house to offer help in rebuilding the display. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

A small American flag waves in the cold breeze above the vandalized anti-war display on Michael Astley’s property in Stoutsville. The display, which has 676 small wooden, white crosses, was the target of a vandal’s vehicle on Friday night. According to Astley, a driver drove through the display, turned around in a nearby field and drove through again, mowing down 75 to 100 of the crosses. Tire prints, like the ones seen on the fallen cross under the flag, are visible on many of the crosses that were either torn out of the ground completely or broken off at their bases. Astley said that he plans on replacing the crosses and said he will not be deterred by the incident. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Michael Astley said that he expected an angry response to the anti-war display on his property at 9800 U.S. 22. However, he never imagined it would take so long, or what the reaction would be.
In late September, Astley and a group of like-minded friends set up a display of 676 small white crosses in memory of the soldiers who have been killed in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to remind people of the human cost of the war.
The display was the target of a vandal’s vehicle on Friday night. According to Astley, a driver drove through the display, turned around in a nearby field and drove through again, mowing down 75 to 100 of the crosses. Tire prints were visible on many of the crosses that were either torn out of the ground completely or broken off at their bases.
In addition to the display, Astley’s group called People for Peace, hold regular candlelight vigils on the property to protest the ongoing war.
“I am a Christian,” said Astley. “We are expressing our Christian beliefs. Jesus was all about peace.” He said that he wants people who are for the war to ask themselves what aspects or principles of war fit in with Jesus’ message of peace and love.
Astley said he had to practice the principal of turning the other cheek on Saturday morning when he found the damage done to his display. “I was angry,” said Astley. “But, my anger only lasted a few seconds.” He said that the damage was unfortunate, though he accepts it as a reactionary response from people that disagree with him. “They say the war is for our freedom but they want to take away my freedom by stopping my protest. It’s a contradiction.”
Astley said that he does not expect the culprits to be found, though he did file a report with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
Astley has a fresh set of crosses ready to replace the ones that were torn down. “We’ll keep putting them back up until the war is over.” (Story Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Some Waddle, Others Fly

Two geese move swiftly above the heads of a small gaggle of geese that waddled their way across the frozen surface of Buzzard's Roost Lake in the Slate Run Metro Park on Saturday, December 24. Although ice and snow were prevalent in the waning days of autumn, the winter season has entered with day after day of temperatures above freezing. All of the ice is now gone. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Christmas In A New Home

A small fiber optically lit Christmas tree sits on a shelf above Crestview Rehabilitation Center resident Susan South, 89, as she talks about her first Christmas at Crestview. Although South says she will miss having her family around her on Christmas day, she looks to the other residents and staff at Crestview as another family to be with. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

If you didn’t realize it yet, I post images from the previous month in order to eliminate any perceived competition to hits on my newspaper’s Web site.
That being said, I realize that portraits and other assignments from before the holidays are already quite dated. What can you do?
Hopefully holiday pics won’t generate the same feelings for you as those homeowners who refuse to stop lighting their outside Christmas lights until Easter.
The good news is that February is almost here and with it January photos so you won’t have many more twinkling lights to endure.

An Unexpected Day Off

Aaron Wortman, 14, and a handful of other Amanda-Clearcreek students took advantage of their day off of school by sledding down a hill on the Amanda-Clearcreek schools main campus on Tuesday, December 13. "I hope we get a few more," said the eighth grader about the second unscheduled day off of school this year. The school district closed on Tuesday because of insufficient water pressure in the district buildings. School was canceled in September due to heavy morning fog. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Gallery Opening

Jane Dover, of Lancaster, and Steve Stoffel, of Pataskala, study the various art pieces at the grand opening of the Monarch Gallery on Saturday, December 10. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Everything is Ducky at the Y

Lifeguard Carnell Mattlin, 41, of Lancaster, floats in the sea of 1,400 rubber ducks, making sure that each of them are floating with their heads up prior to the United Way's FairShare Duck Race at the Robert K. Fox Family Y in Lancaster on Saturday, December 10. The FairShare program allows people to automatically deduct a portion of their paycheck to go directly to the United Way. This is done through annual fund drives by individual companies. The FairShare givers from Fairfield County businesses were given a rubber duck, which they could enter into the race at the Y for prizes. The prizes were a 46" television for first place, a MP3 player for second place and a $100 gas card for third place. The Fairfield County Branch of the United Way has collected $1.55 million towards their goal of $1.7 Million for the fund drive this year. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette) This bejeweled rubber duck was one of many that were decked out for the United Way's FairShare Duck. Other decorated quackers included a synchronized swimmer and a Santa duck. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

After the Kill

Lonnie Prichard, 28, closes the bay door after hauling a group of deer into the skinning room from a storage freezer at Rieser's Deer Processing on Tuesday, December 6. Prichard's task is to remove the head, hooves and hides of each animal and to hang the skinned carcasses in a holding cooler where they will stay until the butchers are ready to cut them down into roasts, steaks, burgers and whatever other product that the customer specifies. Like most deer processing businesses in Ohio, the week of gun hunting season and the week immediately following is the busiest time of year for the Rieser shop. This year Rieser's checked over 200 deer for processing. Business will slow down again with only bow hunters bringing in their fresh kills. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Mike Rieser, 59, says that if he could teach deer hunters one thing, it would be the importance of a clean kill and proper gutting.
Rieser, a veteran deer butcher, has operated Rieser’s Deer Processing at 10151 State Route 158 for 11 years. He says the amount of product the hunter will be able to get from a deer depends largely on what happens before it gets to the butcher.
“If it’s shot all to pieces, you’re not going to get much good meat,” Rieser said.
Rieser said most customers choose to have a variety of cuts from their deer, but some request that all the meat be made into burgers.
It’s the client’s choice.
Rieser also encourages his clients to clean and gut the deer properly soon after the kill so the meat will not be contaminated.
If a first-time hunter doesn’t know the proper procedures to prepare deer carcasses, Rieser says to call the processing center and he’ll walk them through it over the phone.
Rieser’s Deer Processing usually employs two or three people during deer season, from the first week of October through the last week of January.
The bulk of the season is devoted to bow hunters, but the biggest rush that Rieser and other processors see is the week of and the week after the gun season. Rieser adds six employees at that time to keep up with demand.
This year he said he checked in more than 200 deer from gun hunters.
Workers tag deer carcasses at a check-in station before they are taken out of a hunter’s truck to ensure there’s no mix-up when the carcass is placed along with others into a holding freezer.
The deer are taken from the holding freezer to the skinning room where the head, hooves and hides are removed from the rest of the body. The body is placed on a hook and guided into a cooler where it stays until butchers are ready to cut it into the product specified by the customer.
Rieser does the final butchering along with Fred Eiginger and Jack Horlocker, both 67, at a long table in the main room of the processing building.
Each man deftly cuts through the large pieces of the deer, transforming them quickly from a pile of skinned body parts into clean cuts of steak and roast.
The pieces of the animal that aren’t big enough to make into steaks can be ground for burger or used for jerky or bologna.
“Hardly any of the animal goes to waste,” Rieser said.
The hides that are not saved for mounting are sold to a tanner, and the scraps from the body that are unusable are taken to a rendering plant to make fertilizers and dog food filler.
Terri Hoshor, 49, wraps and stamps a label on the final roasts from the animal and packs all of the cuts into a box with the tag that was put on the deer when it was checked in.
Rieser’s base charge for a deer is $80. The price includes skinning, cutting and wrapping. He charges extra to have the deer carefully skinned for a mount or to have jerky or bologna products made from the animal.
Rieser expects to be finished processing the deer from gun season by Thursday. (Story Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Each deer that is dropped off at Rieser's Deer Processing is given a tag that stays with the deer right up until the packaged meat is given to the customer. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette) Mike Rieser selects the next deer carcass to cut up on Tuesday, December 6. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Mike Rieser slices into a deer loin at his deer processing business on Tuesday, December 6. Rieser says that hunters who make clean kills, without causing excess trauma to the deer, will be able to get a better yield of meat from the animals. “If it’s shot all to pieces, you’re not going to get much good meat,” Rieser says. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Adam Kevelder picks up a measured amount of ground deer meat that is ready for packaging at Rieser's Deer Processing on Tuesday, December 6. Customers are able to get roasts, steaks, burgers, jerky and bologna from their deer at Rieser's. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

Snow Catcher

Sanderson Elementary School student Emily Johnson, 7, catches snowflakes on her tongue as she and her classmates from Debi Palmer's second grade class come in from recess on Thursday, December 1. (Copyright Ken Ritchie/Eagle-Gazette)

I was at this school earlier in the day to shoot photos of an exchange teacher from Japan. When I went to the assignment with the reporter, the guy from Japan wasn't doing anything but talking to the reporter, so I decided to come back later in the afternoon when I knew he would be giving a presentation about life in his country to the kids.
The second shoot was fairly standard, but as I glanced out the window of the classroom he was talking in I saw the kids from recess running around in the snow. I knew I had what I needed from the teacher so I quickly made my way to the entrance from the playground.
The kids were already in line and filing into the building so I had just a couple of seconds to adjust my camera from the classroom light and color settings and squeeze off about four frames before they were all inside.
I think I chose this little girl because of the red coat, and she was luckily one of the only kids who did not immediately smile look directly at the camera.