OxfordPress.com

Now the Manchester is ‘dingy’

By Ed Richter | Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 10:59 PM

Apparently the Middletown’s downtown hotel has been downgraded by Newsweek magazine in its latest issue.

In this week’s story about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and about how some staffers dispatched by Sen. John McCain, the GOP’s presidential nominee, to come to Middletown to assist the governor while she was “holed up” here. The story referred to the Manchester Inn & Conference Center, not by name, but as “a dingy Ohio hotel.”

Last month in a Newsweek article, McCain staffer Nicolle Wallace described the Manchester’s $89 a night rooms as being “unposh.”

So what’s worse? “Unposh” or “dingy”?

Palin and her family flew to Middletown and stayed overnight at the Manchester the night before McCain announced her as his running mate on the GOP ticket at a rally in Dayton last month.

Middletown was obviously picked because Hook Field’s runway could accommodate the jets bringing the Palin family to Ohio and was close enough to Dayton, but just far enough not to catch the attention of the national press covering the McCain campaign.

Again, we know the Manchester isn’t the Ritz Carlton or anything “posh.” But as one of its owners, Perry Thatcher recently said, “the Manchester doesn’t intend to be a posh hotel, just a good hotel serving Middletown.”

It’s just too bad Middletown and the Manchester continues to get a bad rap when this story gets retold in the national press.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown

What did they expect ‘inn’ Middletown? A Ritz-Carlton?

By Ed Richter | Friday, September 5, 2008, 04:10 PM

Maybe she should have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express or the Drury Inn & Suites.

Apparently, Nicolle Wallace, a communications adviser for John McCain’s campaign, was quoted in this week’s (Sept. 8) Newsweek magazine, which is already on the newsstands, described the Manchester Inn and Conference Center where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stayed the night of Aug. 28 as being “very unposh.”

Wallace probably didn’t know that according to the Manchester Inn’s Web site, the hotel was built in 1922 by local business leaders who saw the need for a first class hotel to serve Middletown and the surrounding area.

While the McCain/Palin crew reportedly paid a rate of $89 per room, we’re left scratching our heads and asking what were they expecting, considering that the McCain staff and Palin family secretly flew into Hook Field Municipal Airport on two corporate jets….. Maybe if they (the McCain people) would have called ahead, perhaps they would have had more time to consider other places.

Continue reading "What did they expect ‘inn’ Middletown? A Ritz-Carlton?"...

Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment More: Middletown

Here they grow again

By Ed Richter | Sunday, August 31, 2008, 02:22 PM

As the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency reviews information from the recent public hearing to grant the final permits for SunCoke Energy to build a $340 million in Middletown, it looks like SunCoke is getting ready to begin its third phase of its project in Haverhill, Ohio.

On Friday, Aug. 29, the Portsmouth Daily Times reported that SunCoke is planning to begin its third phase of 200 coke ovens, which is double the size of the first and second phases which were 100 ovens each, as early as April 2009. That investment in Haverhill and Scioto County is reported to be about $800 million and will result in about 140 new full-time jobs, according to the news report.

However, the news report said SunCoke is searching to purchase environmental credits from another company to comply with state and federal air pollution laws. In addition, there is some concern about rail capacity to haul the coal to the plants to make the coke. The site does have the ability to receive coal via the Ohio River.

Also on the horizon is the possibility that the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works will announce in the future that it will build its new mill in Haverhill. However, the steel company says it’s still looking at its options in Haverhill and in other states to build its new facility.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown

Middletown’s loss is Cincinnati’s gain

By Ed Richter | Sunday, August 31, 2008, 12:16 PM

Just as soon as Middletown City Manager Judy Gilleland completes her restructuring of City Hall and its departments, she’s going to have to begin a search to fill a key position.

Bill Murphy, the city’s well-respected economic development director, has accepted a position with the Cincinnati USA Partnership and will be joining that regional economic development organization in mid-September.

In his new position, he will be the new director of the business information center and working with other economic development professionals to attract new businesses to the region.

Murphy as been with the city since October 2005 and before that served in a similar position in Fairborn.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown

Observations from the Ohio EPA hearing about SunCoke 3

By Ed Richter | Thursday, August 21, 2008, 10:36 PM

Observations by Journal Staff Writer Justin Thompson:

The four members of tonight’s Ohio Environmental Protection Agency panel look a little weathered at the end of the three-and-a-half hour meeting about SunCoke’s application to construct a coke plant in Middletown, off Yankee Road.

Citizens were not above questioning the legitimacy, credibility and logic of the EPA.

The word “absurd” was tossed out more than once, particularly at the idea of “netting” pollution credits.

As soon as a representative from the Ohio EPA announced the meeting was over, much of the crowd spilled out, forming small contingents of concern. Here were residents of a neighborhood near Yankee Road; there are opponents of the Haverhill, Ohio, SunCoke plant; and next to one of the doors, a group with no other dog in this fight than pure environmental concern.

“I am not giving up,” a woman said toward the back of the auditorium, reassuring cohorts that she will “go down sinking” as long as the process continues.

But beneath the handshakes, congratulations and spouts of “you did what you can,” many crowd members are aware that the permit and the construction are inevitable.

Check Friday’s Journal for more coverage on the OEPA public hearing or visit www. middletownjournal.com.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown

Observations from the Ohio EPA hearing about SunCoke 2

By Ed Richter | Thursday, August 21, 2008, 10:04 PM

As observed by Journal Staff Writer Justin Thompson:

The informal question and answer session lasted just more than two hours. And now the hearing actually begins. This half will be on the record, with a court reporter transcribing all the comments.

And if the first few speakers are any indication, members of the audience have no intention of keeping to the five-minute speaking time that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has imposed on the hearing.

This time around, the panel will be forced to listen silently to the public concerns, including one man’s worry that AK Steel, SunCoke and Ohio EPA administrators are just an “old boys’ club” that will bend pollutant regulations and look the other way when necessary.

One component of this concern is the Ohio EPA’s standard pollutant measuring schedule.

Levels of pollution will be monitored every six days, like “clockwork” a woman said. A woman told the panel that if she ran a large company, she would remove the filters and run more efficiently in the days between the monitoring.

That gentleman is not alone in his distrust of the two companies. Several other speakers questioned the Ohio EPA’s refusal to account for AK’s past violations when considering this permit application by SunCoke.

The two sites will be considered as one entity when calculating air pollution limits — a process that will have SunCoke’s new emissions offset by a decline from other area facilities — which has prompted claims that the two are one when convenient and separate when necessary.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown

Observations from the Ohio EPA hearing about SunCoke 1

By Ed Richter | Thursday, August 21, 2008, 09:39 PM

As observed by Journal Staff Writer Justin Thompson:

The most common reaction that attendees at Thursday’s Ohio Environmental Protection Agency hearing concerning a permit application for SunCoke Energy’s proposed $340 million coke plant had sounds something like this: “You didn’t answer my question.”

Time after time, the audience posed a question, the panel responded, the questioner followed up and panel members weighed in with waffly answers that did little to qualm the concerns of the audience.

One woman queried about the air quality. The panel deflected. She asked another, more pointed question. Again, the panel talked around the answer.

She then broke her concerns down into a yes or no question: “will the air be worse in a year than it is now?”

The four men on stage traded glances, but said nothing. A spokesperson decided to answer, again with a nebulous response. The audience laughed.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Middletown