This is the fifth in our series “Guns and the Village.”
Click here to see all the articles in the series.

On Jan. 28 five young men between the ages of 19 and 23 entered a home on Victoria Avenue in Fairborn to purchase marijuana. During the transaction, one of the visitors threatened the residents with a weapon and attempted to rob them. Instead, the resident pulled out his own gun and shot two of the visitors, injuring one and killing the other, Ta’Vaun Fambrough, a 19-year-old Central State University freshman.

Though the “weapon” brandished by the invaders was a plastic gun, a Greene County grand jury chose not to indict the resident in Fambrough’s death. According to Ohio’s Castle Law, passed in 2008, a person may use deadly force if he reasonably believes it necessary to protect himself or another from bodily harm in his home.

According to Fairborn Sergeant Paul Hicks in an interview last week, some plastic guns are virtually indistinguishable from real guns, and the Fairborn resident, believing his life to be in danger, used his own gun lawfully.

“According to the Ohio Castle doctrine, he had every right to do so,” Hicks said.
According to police personnel in the area, guns have never been easier to acquire than they are today. Evidenced by the spike in guns sales and concealed carry permits across the country, gun ownership appears to be on the rise. While the level of crime in the Greene County and Springfield area hasn’t changed as a result of increased demand for firearms, according to some law enforcement officials, the outcome of violence may be influenced by the prevalence of guns.
“In society today, people in today’s society are quick to use firearms to solve differences of opinion,” Springfield Police Chief Stephen Moody said last week. “It used to be fistfights, but now people just pull out their guns — a lot of times with fatal results.”

While police see that most gun owners are law-abiding citizens who use their firearms in a responsible manner, many officers are concerned with the small population of people with guns who shouldn’t have access to them. Many favor a better background check system to help keep guns out of the hands of known criminals and the mentally ill. Some also express concern with the low level of training and safety measures gun owners are required to fulfill to ensure safe use of their weapons. Police themselves must complete regular training to carry their weapons safely, after all, and the general public would be well served to do the same, some say.

And though police acknowledge that laws that aren’t effective or cannot be reasonably enforced are of little use, some officers believe that some change is needed to avoid the unthinkable acts of violence that the country has suffered because of guns.

“I don’t know what solutions are going to come, but obviously something needs to be done,” Hicks said, speaking for himself, not for his department.

Local gun crime
Last week state attorney general Mike DeWine announced that Ohio issued 78,000 concealed carry licenses last year, more than any year since the licenses became available in 2004. And yet according to many local law enforcement officers, Greene County, including Yellow Springs, remains a peaceful place to live, relatively safe from gun crime.

Though he only recently joined the local police department, Yellow Springs Police Chief Tony Pettiford has lived in the village most of his life and isn’t personally aware of any serious gun-related incidents in Yellow Springs. The most recent attempted bank robbery at WesBanco in March last year involved two handgun-style pellet guns, and no shots were fired. But local police have always had in the property room weapons they’ve seized from people who were carrying them improperly, according to former Yellow Springs Police Chief John Grote.

Per the Ohio Supreme Court’s preemption decision in 2007, federal and state laws regulate the possession, sale, use and transport of guns. According to the Ohio Revised Code, for instance, residents are not permitted to carry a gun while under disability, such as intoxication, or sell or give a gun to someone known to be mentally ill. Police occasionally take weapons from the scene of a domestic violence incident, for instance, and family members of gun owners sometimes surrender weapons to police voluntarily, according to Grote. But crimes involving guns in the village are exceptionally rare, both chiefs agreed.

Gun-related crime in Greene County in general is also low. And what crime there is usually involves handguns. Beavercreek, population 45,000, has had 15 armed robberies over the past four years, all but one involving handguns. The exception was a toy gun, according to Beavercreek Police Captain Jeff Fiorita. The city cites less than a dozen people per year with using weapons under disability, including a recent rash of two in one weekend at the end of February. Accidents are rare, but they do occur, such as one this year in which a man was maneuvering his weapon in his home and shot himself in the hand. Homicides in the city are few and far between, according to Fiorita. The most recent incident in January 2012 involved a mentally ill man, Pardeep Saini, 31, suspected of killing his father in his home with a handgun. Deemed competent enough under involuntary medication, Saini is expected to stand trial for the crime in April.

Xenia, population 25,000, and Fairborn, 33,000, are smaller but denser, and are each accustomed to a couple of armed robberies every year and perhaps one to two homicides, according to Xenia Police Captain Scott Anger and Fairborn Police Sergeant Paul Hicks. The violent crime usually involves criminals who are associated with each other, such as a targeted home invasion or revenge shooting, and they often involve drugs, both officers said. Again, the weapons are typically handguns, they said. The Fairborn incident involving Fambrough was a targeted home invasion between acquaintances, as was the second most recent gun-related death in Fairborn.

Compared to the more rural areas of Greene County, Springfield is about twice the size of Fairborn, and has experienced a comensurately higher rate of gun crime, according to Springfield Chief Moody. In the first three months of this year alone, Springfield has experienced 21 armed robberies, most involving a handgun, and perhaps 15 involving the same suspect. In 2012 the city had five homicides, four in 2011, and 11 in 2008, the highest year on record, though violent crime actually went down by 19 percent in 2012 from the previous year. Moody doesn’t perceive a correlation between crime in the city and the uptick in gun sales and concealed carry licenses, he said last week. And while calls from residents hearing “gunshots fired” have increased, as well as citations for improper concealed carry, Moody attributes that more to the proactive policing of his force. Still, he said, police are finding a lot of guns that need to be seized.

“There’s not a week goes by that we haven’t taken guns off the street.”

Contributors to gun crime
Gun crime in the area does exist, but even police, whose job it is to try and prevent it, can only guess at what to do to stop or reduce it. And not all law enforcement personnel agree on what measures are likely to work. Some said that a better system of background checks is a must, while others said increased mental health funding would be most effective in keeping guns out of the wrong hands. And several officers said that laws that don’t actually work to stem crime shouldn’t be instituted in the first place.

In his opinion, Grote believes that several changes in the law could do something to curb the current gun ­violence.

“Limiting magazine capacity is a start,” he said. Ohio currently limits the legal magazine capacity to 30 cartridges, but Grote feels that limit should be reduced. Though in 1991 the Village began limiting the magazine capacity on assault rifles villagers can own to 20 cartridges (and it still exists in the Village code), the 2007 preemption ruling made the local regulation null and void. Grote also believes that background checks should be required for all gun sales (currently guns purchased at gun shows or on the internet do not require complete background checks). And he advocates increased screening of gun buyers to reduce opportunities for the mentally ill, felons and children to acquire guns.

“People having handguns to protect their homes is one thing, but there seems to be a common thread with the high-capacity military rifles used in mass shootings,” he said. “The AR-style rifle is the highest selling gun in the country, and that’s tough to deal with — I don’t know how to reverse that.”

Springfield Chief Moody also believes that stronger background checks should be instituted, especially at gun shows. He believes that proactive policing, much like his department’s “Justice, Action and Mercy” hot-spot crime reporting program, is more effective than constantly reacting to unknown situations.

But many people throughout the county own all manner of firearms for hunting, target shooting, collecting and dealing, and most abide by the rules and manage them safely without incident, according to Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer. Limiting gun rights will only affect those who are already following the law, thereby doing little to stop the criminals, he said. Taking away guns from legal owners is not an effective way to make the county safer, Fisher said.
Xenia’s Captain Anger doesn’t see any correlation between gun control and gun crime in his city either. Most of the violence he sees occurs between criminal actors who are already violating the law in multiple ways. In fact, Anger finds it comforting to know that there are “good citizens out there” who are armed and may be able to aid in situations where police can’t respond as fast or effectively as they would like on their own.

Since the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that prohibited certain kinds of large capacity semi-automatic rifles expired in 2004, gun laws have gotten progressively looser, according to Columbus Police Department in-house attorney Jeff Furbey. And while his observation is that police are generally unhappy about the resulting increased chance of coming into contact with a gun in the line of duty, there is little evidence that the expansion of gun owners’ rights has affected the overall level of violence throughout the state, he said.

Of greater concern to some in law enforcement is getting more effective treatment for people who are mentally ill and preventing them from acquiring weapons.

“It’s not the gun that worries me as much as the person who has it,” Sheriff Fischer said.

“Legislators will have to do something about the mental health issues and regulate what kind of people shouldn’t have guns — someone who is emotionally disturbed obviously shouldn’t have a gun.”

The Springfield police have adopted an information sharing system with the Mental Health and Recovery Board for Clark, Greene and Madison counties that helps keep law enforcement informed about incidents that occur in the area. According to Springfield Chief Moody, 50 of his officers are also specifically trained in how to de-escalate mental health calls, a program he believes has saved lives. If police know the history of a particular resident, they can be better prepared to handle a situation involving someone with a mental illness.

But police admit that it would be difficult to devise a fail-safe system to identify the mentally ill, which in reality can be anyone on a bad day, several said.

“We are all potential suspects,” Grote said, quoting Miami-Township Fire Chief Colin Altman at a recent school safety meeting. “When people get put in certain situations, you don’t know what they’re capable of or how they will react — anyone can have a momentary mental lapse, it’s a matter of degrees for everyone.”

The argument brings the issues back to guns, where many agree that increased safety requirements might be quite helpful.

Gun safety
Currently, the law mandates little to no safety training for gun owners, allowing citizens to purchase a gun without demonstrating any competency in how to use it. To get a concealed carry license, gun owners are required to take 12 hours of instruction on “what they can and can’t do” with their guns, Sheriff Fischer said. Much about operating a gun safety is “common sense and shouldn’t have to be legislated,” said Fischer, including storing guns in a safe area and keeping them away from children. Again he noted, “the vast majority of gun owners do use their guns in a safe manner.”

But police departments require much more training on a more regular basis in order to ensure their officers, who carry their guns for a living, are using their guns safely. Fairborn police officers engage in 15–20 hours of training four times a year every year, including reviewing use of force policies, weapon use, home safety and active target shooting and scenario drills.

Currently the law allows the gun owners to decide how much training he or she wants to get, but Fairborn Sergeant Hicks believes that the law should require some amount of education for every person who purchases a gun (though he acknowledges the challenges of enforcing such a rule and doesn’t want it to be a financial burden for the gun owner.) He recommends at least annual training on weapon use, safety in the home, and educating family members about the weapon. In his opinion, for instance, guns should be stored with the safety engaged and an additional gun lock so that it takes two different movements to engage the firearm.

“It’s incumbent on everyone that owns a firearm to do that much…accidents are rare, but they do happen — and they’re always tragic,” he said.

Grote agrees that even the short concealed-carry classes don’t come close to conveying all that a gun owner would need to know about how to use a gun safely.

“There’s so much more to it, from understanding how a weapon fires, to how to get a sight picture, when you can shoot, under what circumstances — the training goes on and on,” he said.
Grote is also concerned that people don’t understand the nuances of the “stand-your-ground” law that, similar to the Castle law, allows the use of force for self defense in a lawfully occupied public space. But the justification for shooting someone still has to involve a life-or-death threat.

“Even if someone’s in your house, you can’t shoot them in the back…you have to prove, were they in fact a threat to you?,” Grote said. “It’s just not that simple — you can’t shoot someone for stealing your T.V.”

And if it seems like safely storing guns in a home with children is common sense, one need not look far to be reminded that accidents happen. In 2009, while he was still police chief, Grote’s cousin lost his 3-year old grandson who found a handgun under his parents’ bed and accidentally shot himself at home in Vandalia.

Though police in the area have seen little trouble with guns used by law abiding citizens, since they are the first responders, they are trained to look at any gun as a potential threat, Hicks said.
“It would probably be scary to know what little training the average gun owner has,” he said.

Do something
While area police didn’t all agree on the solutions to reduce gun violence, many acknowledged that the current laws need more bite in order to be effective. And several said something should be done to keep guns out of the hands of people who can’t be trusted to handle them safely and use them properly.

“I applaud the Constitution, but I’m concerned with the people who may fall through the cracks…and the more cracks we can fix and seal up, the better,” Springfield Chief Moody said. “Information sharing is critical. I’m not talking about establishing databases and getting into everybody’s business, but let’s communicate so we can do something to stop the next Newtown or Virginia Tech.”

How important is it to villagers to have local police dispatchers? Village Council members want to hear from the community.

“We need to hear from citizens how valued our current system is. Is money more important?” said Council member Rick Walkey at Council’s March 18 ­meeting.

Prompting the question was a proposal from Village Manager Laura Curliss, which was not on Council’s meeting agenda, to contract local dispatch services to Xenia, in a shared services arrangement to begin August 1. While no action was taken and the issue was discussion only on Monday night, Curliss presented Council with a document she had prepared that would authorize the shared services with Xenia. According to the agreement, “negotiations between Xenia and Yellow Springs have resulted in the recognition that cost savings and service enhancement could be realized through the consolidation of the entities’ separate 911 dispatch services into one contractual service…” Sugarcreek and Bellbrook are also considering contracting with Xenia, she said.

The primary reason to contract out dispatch service is cost, according to Curliss, who told Council that the Village could stand to save about $146,841 per year. The savings is due to the lower cost of paying Xenia about $87,000 for the service in 2014 (which rises to $98,000 in 2018) rather than the $292,000 the Village currently pays for local dispatch service. Curliss presented Council with two contract options, one in which the Village would maintain a presence at the dispatch desk from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, and the other contracting to Xenia for dispatch 24/7. While the cost of the contracts differed, they are both significantly lower than current expenses, she said.
The change would affect police dispatch only; the local police department would remain at its current location.

Contracting out dispatch services to Xenia would also allow Yellow Springs to make use of new technology that allows  police to respond to calls more effectively, Curliss said.

If Yellow Springs chooses to contract its dispatch to Xenia, the move would be a first step toward a more centralized dispatch service. According to Curliss, police chiefs throughout Greene County have for many years been talking about banding together for a central dispatch center, and eventually plan for two centers in the county.

Curliss also presented Council with a letter in support of the proposal from Miami Township Fire Chief Colin Altman. The fire-rescue service began contracting dispatch services with Xenia in 1989, he wrote, and the arrangement has allowed cost savings, improved information sharing among public safety agencies, provided opportunities for new technology, and has resulted in a more efficient dispatch service, Altman wrote.

However, Council member Rick Walkey questioned whether the same change would work for the local police, who receive more non-emergency calls from citizens.

“How would non-emergency calls be handled?” he asked.

Several citizens at the meeting spoke against the proposal. Rebecca Morean spoke of having lived in a Vermont town when, after police dispatch services were contracted out, tensions between citizens and the police increased.

“The dispatchers are the face of the police department,” she said.

Paul Abendroth recommended that before Council moves ahead with the change, it needs to understand exactly what the local dispatchers do, and figure out how those things will be done.
Speaking for himself only, retired police officer Dennis Nipper expressed his concern about police officers’ safety when they return to the Bryan Center at night and would not have the assistance from police dispatch that they currently have.

“You’ve got the officer alone” with the person being arrested, he said. “No one is speaking about the safety of the officers.”

However, Council will not move ahead unless the question of officer safety is answered, according to Council member Gerry Simms.

“We won’t approve anything that would put citizens or the police in jeopardy.”

Council President Judith Hempfling also expressed caution, and the need for more information.
“We need to think critically about what are the gains, what are the losses,” Hempfling said regarding contracting out the dispatch service. “Sometimes bigger is not better. High tech is not always getting what you want.”

However, Council member Karen Wintrow urged Council to learn more about what technology would be available in Xenia that isn’t available in Yellow Springs, and understand if that new technology could help improve citizens’ safety.

Council will revisit the issue of contracting the police dispatch at its next meeting on Monday, April 1.

The Village currently employs two full and five parttime dispatch officers.  According to Curliss, if the Village contracts with Xenia now, the dispatchers can put their names on a list of dispatchers that the county will give priority to when hiring for four new positions.

Other items of March 18 Council business will be in next week’s News.

One evening when Teresa Newsome was on duty as dispatcher at the Yellow Springs Police Department, she received a call from a worried villager. The woman’s elderly husband, who had some dementia, had taken a walk and, after several hours, not returned. Newsome knew both the woman and her husband, and she dispatched a police officer to look for the man. Hours passed, the man’s wife became almost hysterical with concern, and Newsome and the officer continued working together to find the man. After dark, police discovered him on the bike path, where he had fallen. His wife believed that if he hadn’t been found, he would have lain there all night, and possibly died.

“Afterwards, she said ‘this is something that only a small town would have done,’” Newsome said, referring to the woman’s gratitude. “I don’t think Xenia would persevere like we did. We get to know people.”

Most calls handled by Yellow Springs dispatch don’t involve life or death situations, of course. But even in the least significant situations, the relationships between villagers and police dispatchers appear to make a difference, according to four dispatchers interviewed for this article.

Dispatcher Ruth Peterson knows many villagers through her work driving a bus for the Yellow Springs schools, a personal connection that she believes is a relief to some villagers when they need to call the police.

“Usually when people call, they’re not in their right state of mind, they’re upset about something,” she said. “I feel like when they know they’re talking to Miss Ruth from the bus, I can hear them calm down. Their whole manner changes.”

The question of whether Yellow Springs should keep its local dispatchers came up at Village Council last week, when Village Manager Laura Curliss proposed that Council consider outsourcing its police dispatch service, while maintaining the local police department.

Yellow Springs would save a considerable amount of money if it consolidates dispatch with Xenia, Curliss said in an interview last week, especially considering state cuts to municipal budgets.
“We have to look at long-term sustainability for maintaining safety,” she said. “There would be a significant savings to the Village to contract with central communication to take all of our calls.”
Curliss also stated that if the Village sends dispatching to Xenia, it could benefit from more up-to-date technology.

While Village Council initially intended to discuss the dispatch issue at its April 1 meeting, it has postponed the discussion until April 15, according to Council President Judith Hempfling this week, so that Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, currently on medical leave, can participate.

Why go to Xenia?
At Village Council’s March 18 meeting, Curliss presented an agreement she had crafted for the Village to enter into shared dispatch services with the Xenia police, which calls for the Village to move dispatch to Xenia by Aug. 1, 2013. Council began discussion on the issue but did not vote.
The agreement grew from meetings with other Greene County municipalities over the past several months, Curliss wrote Council in a memo. Prompting a move toward dispatch consolidation is a state decision to disburse 911 funding of about $330,000 a year to only one dispatch center, rather than to the three centers that currently receive the funding (Yellow Springs does not currently receive 911 funding). While the overall vision of county police chiefs is for one central dispatch center, they see having two facilities as an initial step toward that goal, with Xenia as one center and Beavercreek/Fairborn as the other. Along with Yellow Springs, Bellbrook and Sugarcreek are other small towns considering consolidation with Xenia, she said.

Currently, the Village employs two full-time and five part-time dispatchers. While their Yellow Springs jobs would be gone, they could for a year be put on a preferred hiring list for a lateral move to the four new positions that Xenia plans to add, should the consolidation occur, Curliss said. The dispatchers would compete for the four jobs with dispatchers from Bellbrook and Sugarcreek. (According to Xenia Police Chief Randy Person last week, while he has verbally agreed to that arrangement, a formal agreement regarding hiring dispatchers has not been reached).

The Village in 2012 spent about $217,000 on its local dispatch personnel, a lower amount than the $292,000 that Curliss presented to Council. The $292,000 amount, from the Village’s 2013 budget, included a third dispatcher position that the Village has considered adding to replace current part-timers, but has not actually added.

Curliss presented two alternative scenarios for dispatch consolidation with Xenia: in one scenario, all dispatch 24/7 would go to Xenia. The cost of 24/7 dispatch service in Xenia would within four years rise to about $98,000. The savings to the Village General Fund budget of $3.2 million would eventually be about $119,000 a year, using the 2012 Village budget figures, or $194,000, using the 2013 figures.

In the other scenario, the Village would maintain a dispatcher from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and Xenia would take over dispatch on evenings, nights and week-ends. The cost to the Village for Xenia dispatch would be lower in this scenario, although the cost of a full-time dispatcher would need to be added.

And the cost of running a dispatch department goes beyond personnel, according to Curliss. For example, she said, to stay current the local dispatch office would have to pay about $120,000 to upgrade to a new console in order to use its new MARCS radio system, which, according to Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, will allow enhanced communication between departments during emergencies.

“The costs of running a modern state of the art communications system continue to rise,” Curliss said in an interview last week. “It becomes more difficult for jurisdictions to support unless they join forces.”

Due to rising costs of technology, Curliss believes the time is near when a small town simply can’t afford to maintain its own dispatch.

Another reason for consolidation is efficiency, according to Curliss. While local dispatchers currently handle about 5,300 calls a year for police services (and more for non-police), Xenia employs four dispatchers who last year dispatched 70,000 calls for police and emergency services, which means they probably initially received more than 100,000 calls, Chief Person said.
“The only way to fully use a dispatcher’s time is to have more call volume,” Curliss said.
The Bryan Center would continue to be open to the public until about 10 p.m. even if dispatch is moved, as monitors will be in the building, Curliss said, adding that there are various options for providing customer service, including extending the hours of the utility office, depending on what service Council wants to provide.

Xenia Police Chief Person, in an interview last week, stated that cost and efficiency are the main reasons to consolidate dispatch services. Regarding technology, he said that Yellow Springs basically uses the same systems that Xenia does, and has access to the same information in almost all situations.

However, according to Officer Naomi Penrod, who is acting chief during Pettiford’s medical leave, the Village dispatch system needs upgrades because “what we have now are pieces and parts that we’ve put together to get by.”

Overall, Person believes that more experience and training is the reason his staff — which already handles Yellow Springs 911 calls, as well as Miami Township Fire Rescue calls — could provide excellent service.

“In an emergency situation, one person is not totally inundated,” he said, stating that because there are four dispatchers on duty in Xenia versus only one in Yellow Springs, an emergency is less overwhelming. And the Xenia dispatchers have handled far more serious crimes, such as burglaries, than have Village dispatchers.

“Realistically, how many robberies take place in Yellow Springs?” he said.

Curliss also believes it’s important to be able to handle an emergency situation, no matter how rare.

“We don’t have the situation often, but when you get that emergency” you want to be prepared, she said.

Loss of human connection?
Curliss said she doesn’t understand the concern that if local dispatchers move to Xenia, villagers would lose the human connection with dispatchers that they now enjoy.

Xenia dispatchers are human, too, she said, and “the human connection should be that you call for help and the dispatchers send the right help. They don’t come to help you themselves.”

When a call comes in, the dispatcher’s interaction should be “professional and to the point,” she said. “They should stay on the line only if there’s a reason to do so.”

According to Xenia Chief Person, his dispatchers are well-trained to connect callers to the appropriate resources. Because they constantly revolve between the three dispatch desks — one for Xenia calls, one for Greene County calls and one for fire and EMS — they are able to help each other out when needed.

“There’s a synergy that occurs when multiple people are dispatchers,” he said.

But Xenia dispatchers are not familiar with those who call for help, according to Kim Crisswell, a 13-year veteran of the dispatch office, who was working last Friday. Asked if she ever knows the individuals who call in, she said she does not.

“No,” she said. “I’m covering the whole county.”

Things are different in Yellow Springs, where each of four dispatchers interviewed said that knowing those they serve is important to their job.

“There’s a lot of special  touches that we give that people won’t get from Xenia,” said Yellow Springs dispatcher Larry Campbell, who is the face villagers see behind the police dispatch window during weekdays. He plans to retire in December after 20 years as a dispatcher, and 44 years with the Village (however, if dispatch moves to Xenia in August, he will lose part of his retirement benefits, Campbell said).

For instance, there are several elders in town who Campbell checks in with, on a regular basis, just to make sure they’re okay.

“I care about them,” he said. “And I’m not the only one who does that sort of thing.”

Elderly people who call at night frightened by a noise sometimes just need to hear a caring voice on the phone, according to Teresa Newsome.

“If they know you, they say, it’s nice to hear your voice,” she said. “I think they find it reassuring that they know me.”

And if the person is very upset, Newsome will ask him or her to stay on the phone with her until an officer shows up at the door.

Overall, said Newsome, it seems that if dispatch moves to Xenia, “it will center around crime and emergencies rather than helping people.”

While the dispatchers interviewed all said they get satisfaction from the human connection they feel on the job, they dispute that they don’t have enough to do. They are taking calls from villagers regarding neighbor disputes, harassment, animal complaints, custody issues, lost bikes, domestic violence, noise complaints, welfare checks, disorderly persons and a host of other issues.

Yes, there are more calls some days than others, but the dispatchers have other tasks as well. On a recent morning, in between getting calls from a villager who locked herself out of her car, dispatching a police officer to unlock the car, then dispatching the officer to check homes of villagers who are away. Campbell continually checked the three computer screens in front of him. On two screens, Campbell updated police service calls into the New World system, while keeping an eye on  the LEADS screen (Law Enforcement Automated Data System) which provides national, state or area alerts. He also continually scanned the 10 different views inside and outside Bryan Center provided by surveillance cameras, as part of maintaining building security. He also wrote down significant events or alerts to add to the update given to an officer at the end of each day.

The dispatcher’s job also includes manning the dispatch window, and most days dispatchers respond to requests for lost items, give directions, collect money for parking tickets and in general provide customer service.

But this wasn’t an extremely busy day, the sort sparked by weather emergencies or power outages. On those days, local dispatchers field hundreds of calls to keep villagers informed, according to dispatcher Randall Newsome, who wonders how Xenia dispatch would handle those situations.

The knowledge that local dispatchers have of villagers is not just an extra frill, according to overnight dispatcher Rita Check. In many cases, that knowledge helps an officer stay safe, or solve a problem. For instance, when a local mother calls in because her teenage son hasn’t returned home, the combined knowledge of the dispatcher and officer on duty proves helpful.
“Chances are the officer knows him or I know him and we know who his friends are, so the officer knows where to look,” she said. “Unless you need that service, people may not know how knowledgeable we are.”

And if a local person has mental issues, the dispatcher is likely to know that, and make sure the officer who responds is prepared, according to Newsome.

As the overnight dispatcher, Check sometimes receives calls from people who she suspects are just lonely. While she doesn’t let those calls prevent her from responding to others, she recognizes that a caring voice on the phone can make a difference, she said.

“Some people just need to know there’s someone out there,” she said.

To Teresa Newsome, the extra mile that Yellow Springs dispatchers sometimes go adds up to something more, a sense of community.

“I look around and see the amount of crime in Beavercreek and Xenia and then look at Yellow Springs and we’re so fortunate,” she said. “I can’t help but feel that the lack of serious crime is because we’re a community. We know people.”

Most of the dispatchers interviewed said they don’t plan to add their names to the list for a lateral transfer to Xenia. The part-time dispatchers felt they would be at a disadvantage compared to full-time dispatchers from Bellbrook or Sugarcreek, and the 12-hour shifts sounded too long and uncomfortable to Teresa Newsome.

Officer safety?
At last Monday’s Village Council meeting, long-term Village police officer Dennis Nipper, who is now retired but still working part-time for the department, expressed his concern that if dispatch leaves Yellow Springs, officer safety could be compromised. Stating that he was speaking only as a citizen, Nipper reported that the dispatchers are especially important at night, when an officer, who may be working alone, brings a suspect into the department.

“You’ve got the officer alone,” with the suspect, a situation that could turn dangerous, Nipper said at the meeting.

Each of the four dispatchers interviewed stated that she or he felt their presence enhanced officer safety. Specifically, if at night an officer  takes a suspect into the department interview room, the dispatcher keeps a close eye on the image provided by a surveillance camera, to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of hand. If it does, the dispatcher quickly calls for backup from the county, or from a local officer such as Nipper, according to Newsome.

In response to that concern, Police Chief Pettiford said in a phone call that, “Officer safety is always number one.”

A dispatcher in the building at night can be helpful, he said, but there are also alternatives. For instance, if there are no dispatchers and an officer is bringing in a suspect, the officer could call for back-up from  another department to meet him or her at the door of the Bryan Center, so that the officer doesn’t enter the building alone.

“If it was me personally, I’d be on the radio calling for back-up,” Pettiford said. There is no charge to the Village for back-up support from another municipality, he said.

Most importantly, he said, the discussion about moving the dispatch office is at the beginning, and, “We’re in talks and a lot of things still need to be talked about. There are several things we need to iron out if Council chooses to go that direction.”

Since early last week, the village has experienced about six burglaries to homes in Yellow Springs, included the theft of both men’s and women’s jewelry. The sudden increase in incidents prompted local police to issue a Hyper Reach alert by telephone today to all village homes, urging residents to increase home security by locking their windows and doors. 

According to Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, police are looking closely at a person of interest, but could not release any information about the suspect. 

All of the burglaries have occurred during the daytime, with the perpetrator entering homes through unlocked windows and doors, without the use of forced entry.

“We’re not trying to cause a panic, but we just want to be proactive and encourage people to take extra precaution,” Pettiford said Friday.

An update on this story will appear in next week’s Yellow Springs News.

Last Friday morning, April 19, the Yellow Springs Police Department issued a Hyper Reach alert to all village residents, informing villagers of a rash of burglaries that have occurred in the village with increasing frequency over the past four months. The alert, a digital voice recorded phone call, urged residents to lock their windows and doors as a matter of precaution against what appears to be a series of daytime thefts and attempted break-ins.

According to Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford this week, police are investigating “a person of interest,” and will continue to investigate the reports, which appear to be related. According to police reports over the past month, several witnesses have noticed suspicious persons in their neighborhoods and reported the incidents to police. Some of the reports have matched the information police have about the suspect, which has helped them to build a case. Pettiford urges residents to continue to report any suspicious activity they see in the village.

“If you see something, say something,” he said. “Even if you’re not sure, go ahead and give us a call. You never know what’s going to turn up.”

Seven burglaries and two attempted break-ins have occurred in the village since January, according to Pettiford. All have occurred during the daytime while residents were away from their homes. And most of the incidents have involved homes with easy access, where the suspect gained entry through open doors and windows or by cutting screens to unlatch the doors. There haven’t been any broken windows or signs of major forced entry, Pettiford said.

And in all cases, except one, where a television was taken, the suspect has taken only jewelry, presumably to pawn for cash, Pettiford said. Police have been checking pawn shops in the area, but have found nothing yet from Yellow Springs, he said.

The first burglary occurred on Jan. 28 at a West South College Street address, followed by a break-in on Feb. 27 at a Kenneth Hamilton Way address. On March 25 a West Center College Street resident reported a theft, followed by two similar reports on April 10 and 11, at addresses on High Street and Xenia Avenue. The most recent report of a burglary occurred on April 15 at a Suncrest Drive address.
Two other incidents of attempted break-ins occurred on April 9 at a home on Glen View Road and April 21 at a home on Suncrest Drive.

The department issued last week’s warning in an attempt to be proactive by encouraging villagers to make simple adjustments to prevent further break-ins, Pettiford said.

Police do not believe the suspect to be a violent or dangerous threat to the village, but urge villagers to use common sense measures to keep their valuables secure.

Yellow Springs police have been investigating a burglary that took place sometime during the afternoon on Monday, April 29, at a Marshall Street residence. The intruder forced open a screen door on the back deck of the home, according to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford today, and took antique rings and a gold necklace.

The April 30 break-in was the most recent of a string of burglaries in the village that began the end of January. Since then, seven burglaries and two attempted break-ins, all taking place in daytime when residents were away from their homes, have taken place, with the most recent one on April 21.

On April 19, police issued a Hyper Reach alert to all village residents warning them of the burglaries and urging villagers to lock doors and windows. All of the previous burglaries except the latest involved the intruder entering through unlocked doors and windows; only this week was forced entry involved.

In an April 25 article in the News, Chief Pettiford stated that the police had identified a “person of interest” in the crimes and are continuing to investigate. The person is not believed to be dangerous or violent, but police do continue to urge villagers to lock their homes.

Oliver Simons
5ft. 10in., 170lbs,
Brown Hair and
Green Eyes

UPDATE May 8, 9:40 p.m.: At 8:40 this evening Xenia police arrested Oliver Simons at his home at 290 E. Market Street in Xenia, in connection to a string of burglaries in Yellow Springs. According to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, police also arrested Bianca Stone, who also lives at the Xenia residence. Simons is being charged with burglary, and Stone will be charged with receiving stolen property. Both were taken into custody and are being held in Greene County Jail.

No one else was home at the time of the arrest, and police do not at this time suspect any other accomplices, Pettiford said.

At the residence police found jewelry, cash, drugs and drug paraphernalia, all of which they recovered as evidence in the ongoing investigation. 

Village police will continue working with the Greene County ACE Task Force and the Greene County Prosecutor to match the recovered items to the items that were reported stolen. 

“We’re still collecting evidence — this is still an ongoing investigation,” Pettiford said this evening.  

Simons and Stone are both former residents of Yellow Springs. They will wait to be arraigned by a Greene County grand jury. 

1 p.m. May 8: On Tuesday night, May 7, Yellow Springs police and the Greene County ACE Task Force raided the home of a suspect they believe is responsible for the series of residential burglaries that have occurred in the village over the past five months. The suspect, Oliver Simons, former village resident who currently lives at 290 E. Market Street in Xenia, was still at large as of Wednesday morning. Police issued a warrant for his arrest yesterday.

Simons is the chief suspect in the investigation of a string of daytime burglaries that have taken place at various addresses throughout the village since January. Police do not believe him to be dangerous, but according to Pettiford, he has a criminal history involving illegal drugs. They believe that narcotics may have been present at the home in Xenia.

The ACE Task Force has been involved in the investigation since the burglaries began in January. The evidence police have gathered about Simons “puts him in several houses” in the village, Pettiford said Wednesday.

Visit ysnews.com for continuing updates on the story.

Read the initial police press release of Wednesday, May 8, here.

Oliver Simons
5ft. 10in., 170lbs,
Brown Hair and
Green Eyes

UPDATE May 8, 9:40 p.m.: At 8:40 this evening Xenia police arrested Oliver Simons at his home at 290 E. Market Street in Xenia, in connection to a string of burglaries in Yellow Springs. According to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, police also arrested Bianca Stone, who also lives at the Xenia residence. Simons is being charged with burglary, and Stone will be charged with receiving stolen property. Both were taken into custody and are being held in Greene County Jail.

No one else was home at the time of the arrest, and police do not at this time suspect any other accomplices, Pettiford said.

At the residence police found jewelry, cash, drugs and drug paraphernalia, all of which they recovered as evidence in the ongoing investigation.

Village police will continue working with the Greene County ACE Task Force and the Greene County Prosecutor to match the recovered items to the items that were reported stolen.

“We’re still collecting evidence — this is still an ongoing investigation,” Pettiford said this evening.

Simons and Stone are both former residents of Yellow Springs. They will wait to be arraigned by a Greene County grand jury.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, the Yellow Springs Police Department along with members of the Greene County ACE Task Force and uniformed members of the Xenia Police Department executed a search warrant at 290 E. Market Street in Xenia, Ohio.

This is the residence of Oliver Simons who is the number one suspect in a rash of burglaries in Yellow Springs, Ohio. A large amount of stolen items were recovered at this residence along with drugs and drug paraphernalia.

At this time, Oliver Simons has not been apprehended and an arrest warrant has been issued for him. If you know of his whereabouts or have any leads that may assist us in his apprehension, please contact the Yellow Springs Police Department at (937)767-7206.

At this time, more charges are pending with other subjects that have also been involved in these burglaries.

The Meadow Lane residence of Kira Lugo was burglarized on Monday, May 6, when a perpetrator entered through an unlocked door and stole cash and rare coins from her home.

Police believe the burglary is connected to the rash of daytime break-ins in the village, according to Chief Tony Pettiford this week. There have now been nine burglaries and two attempted break-ins since January. Police are still investigating a possible suspect. Visit ysnews.com for updates.

Lugo said she left for work on Monday at 11:30 a.m. and returned at 5:40 p.m. to find dirt and leaves scattered around the hallway. Cash was stolen from the bedrooms of her two children. In addition a child’s coin collection that included foreign currency and gold coins was missing. Meanwhile, laptop computers and televisions were untouched. The suspect likely entered through an unlocked carport door. Lugo said she now fears another break-in.

“You’re uneasy,” Lugo said. “You don’t know if they’ll come back. I don’t want to leave my kids alone. You don’t want to feel that way in this community.”

After Lugo posted an account of her burglary on the “Yellow Springs area” Facebook page, Judith “JuJu” Wolert-Maldonado, who lives nearby, organized a neighborhood watch group called South Yellow Springs Watchdogs. Those who live on East Herman Street and in neighborhoods south of there can join the group by emailing Wolert-Maldonado at southyswatchdogs {at} gmail(.)com with their name, email, phone number and the street they live on.

There will be a meeting of the South Yellow Springs Watchdogs on Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. Neighbors can email Wolert-Maldonado for the meeting location. Chief Pettiford will be in attendance.

Wolert-Maldonado said the watch group could organize bicycle or walking patrols during the day to look for suspicious activity in the neighborhood.

“I’m spooked to know I’ve been home when it’s happening and feel bad I wasn’t out there to see someone,” Wolert-Maldonado said. “At best [the watch group] will bring neighbors together and get to know who we are … If we can prevent robberies, that would be great too.”

Since the end of January, burglaries have occurred on West South College Street, Kenneth Hamilton Way, West Center College Street, High Street, Xenia Avenue, Suncrest Drive and Livermore Street. Attempted break-ins occurred on Glen View Road and Suncrest Drive. All have occurred during the daytime while residents were away from their homes. Most of the incidents have involved homes with easy access, where the suspect gained entry through open doors and windows or by cutting screens to unlatch the doors. And in all cases, except one, where a television was taken, the suspect has taken only jewelry, presumably to pawn for cash, according to Pettiford.

Lugo, who has lived in the village with her family for four years, is saddened by the theft of her son’s coin collection, which he had been putting together for years. And she regrets that the village seems to be a less safe place.

“I like the feeling of not having to [lock doors],” Lugo said. “Here you never felt like you had to and that was a good feeling, and now it’s sad that it’s been taken away.”

Two local burglary suspects Oliver Simons and Bianca Stone Chappelle were indicted last week by a Greene County grand jury on felony charges related to nine thefts that occurred in Yellow Springs since January. The two former Yellow Springs residents were arrested on May 8 and served today in Greene County Jail, where they are awaiting a court date.
The suspects are charged with a host of first, second and third degree felony counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy to commit engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, burglary, money laundering and receiving stolen property. Simons was indicted for additional burglary and money laundering felonies, and both were also charged with four misdemeanors of receiving stolen property.
Yellow Springs Police and the Greene County ACE Task Force continue to investigate the case, and now believe it may involve thefts that occurred in the village before January 2013, according to Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford this week.
Simons, 34, and Chappelle, 33, both have a history of theft. Chappelle was charged with an unrelated burglary in February, and was still on probation for the incident when she was arrested this month.
See more on the story in this week’s Yellow Springs News.

Xenia residents Oliver Simons and Bianca Stone Chappelle were indicted last week by a Greene County grand jury on felony charges related to burglaries that occurred in Yellow Springs. The two former Yellow Springs residents were arrested on May 8 and served on May 20 in Greene County Jail, where they are awaiting a court date.

The suspects are charged with burglarizing at least nine homes in the village between January and May, and both selling stolen items and laundering the proceeds. Simons was indicted with 10 felonies, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first degree felony; conspiracy to commit engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a second degree felony; burglary as a second degree felony; two counts of burglary as a third degree felony; two counts of money laundering, a third degree felony; and three counts of receiving stolen property, a fifth degree felony. Chappelle was indicted for single counts of the same offenses (except the third degree felony burglary), and both were also charged with four misdemeanors of receiving stolen property.

In most cases, the degree of the charges depended on the value of the items taken, according to Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford. First degree felonies in Ohio are punishable by 3–10 years jail time and up to $20,000 in fines. Second degree felonies come with 2–8 years in prison and up to $15,000 in fines. Those convicted of first-degree misdemeanors get up to six months in jail and as much as $1,000 in fines.

Yellow Springs Police and the Greene County ACE Task Force continue to investigate the case, and now believe it may involve thefts that occurred in the village before January 2013, according to Pettiford this week. Many of the stolen items have been found or recovered from pawn shops in Xenia and Greene County, and some have been returned to their owners. Police are still analyzing the evidence, as well as the illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia that were recovered at the Xenia home where the suspects were arrested.

Simons, 34, and Chappelle, 33, both have a history of theft. Chappelle was charged with an unrelated burglary in February, and was still on probation for the incident when she was arrested this month. Simons has served time in state penitentiaries in both Ohio and New York for similar activities.

Yellow Springs resident Trista Lindstrom, 17, was killed in a car accident on Saturday, June 1, shortly before 7 p.m. The vehicle, driven by a 16-year-old girl from Cedarville, was pulling out at the intersection of Clifton and Grinnell Roads, just outside Yellow Springs, when it was struck by a water truck near the stop sign. Lindstrom was a student at the Greene County Career Center and had previously attended Yellow Springs High School. The 16-year-old driver was treated for minor injuries at an area hospital and released.

Yellow Springs High School counselors Dave Smith and Lynda Sikes will be at the school all this week from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for grief counseling. The school has also summoned Mills Lawn counselor John Gudgel and other school-based mental health therapists for support if the need arises. The service is not limited to students. The school encourages all parents and community members to reach out if they feel the need to talk.

A viewing will be held on Wednesday, June 5, 4–7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Funeral services will follow on Thursday, June 6, at 11 a.m.

See more on the story in this week’s Yellow Springs News.

While Oliver Simons, the local man who police say is behind a string of nine burglaries in the village this year, is now locked up at the Greene County Jail in Xenia awaiting trial and facing serious jail time, back in town friends, family, victims and community members are left dealing with the aftershock of his alleged crimes.

Simons’ father regrets not being stricter with his now 34-year-old son when he was young. Friends recount the now-apparent warning signs of drug abuse that they say is a likely motive in the burglary spree. Victims lament the loss of precious personal items and the violation of being burgled.

And those who know Simons as a talented musician and an intelligent and caring Yellow Springs native find a tragic situation in the burglaries, not just for the burglary victims but for the accused perpetrator as well, who is seen as a victim of his own drug addiction.

Simons and 33-year-old Bianca Stone Chappelle, a couple living together in Xenia, were indicted this month by a Greene County grand jury on felony charges related to burglary and money laundering. Between January and May they allegedly entered local homes forcibly and through open doors and windows during daytime hours and took cash, jewelry, currency and other valuables. The couple, who remain jailed pending release on bond, are to go on trial in June.

To one burglary victim, Connie Crockett, the impact on the community is the most harmful outcome.

“It’s tragic,” Crockett said. “The first people hurt are of course the family. We are auxiliary to that….It’s not real to me that I was betrayed by someone I knew because I didn’t witness it. But it rends the fabric of community. To me that’s a greater loss.”

Trying to make sense of it

Simons’ friends and family are trying to understand what went wrong.

“It’s a shame this happened,” said one longtime friend, who asked not to be named. “The only reason he could have done this was out of pure addiction. He’s not a bad person, he cares about people and people’s privacy. Something must have got the better of him.”

Added Steve McQueen, another local friend: “I don’t think he purposely meant to cause the fear — and it’s the fear you never get over. At that point, I can only say drugs took over. I don’t think it was something that was well thought out or calculated.”

Friends and family suspect Simons’ need to support a drug habit was a major factor in the burglaries. Simons has fought drug addiction since the late 1990s, when he began taking methadone for heroin withdrawal, according to his father, Jeff Simons. He has also struggled with the abuse of the benzodiazepine Klonopin, a drug prescribed to treat anxiety. Police recovered drugs and drug paraphernalia, including syringes, at Simons’ and Chappelle’s Xenia home.

Simons is best known locally as a musician who played in local bands. He was a one-time member of Paul’s Apartment and more recently was in the classic rock band 767. He is adept at the mandolin in styles ranging from bluegrass, folk and Celtic to Latin, rock and funk, and can also play guitar and bass guitar. In the fall he started a music instruction business for local kids with a friend, telling the Yellow Springs News that he hoped to give back to the community.

Simons declined to be interviewed for this article.

Simons was born at his home outside Cedarville in 1978 and grew up in the village. The son of Jeff Simons and Christina Hess, who died of cancer in 2011 at age 58, Simons’ childhood was steeped in music, seeding a lifelong love. Both parents, who later divorced, were musicians — Jeff played classical guitar and Hess, who was also a solo performer and songwriter, played guitar with the local Celtic band Heartstrings. Simons’ stepfather, Chris Moore, is a jazz cornettist. The younger Simons first played the mandolin as a youth at the Antioch College Shakespeare Festival.

When Simons was 16 he dropped out of Yellow Springs High School. He would have graduated with the class of 1997. Instead, he became a follower of the Grateful Dead known as a “dead head,” during which he saw about 200 live shows and was likely first exposed to hard drugs, one longtime friend said.

John Gudgel, who was the YSHS principal when Simons dropped out, said Simons was “an engaging kid” who got along well with others, had no discipline issues and just lost interest in school. He regrets that YSHS couldn’t do more to keep him.

“You feel like as a school we have not been successful meeting the needs of our students, which saddens me considering what has taken place in recent weeks,” Gudgel said. “When you don’t finish school it limits opportunities.”

Simons later earned his high school equivalency while in jail.

Jeff Simons said he disagreed with his son’s decision to quit school, even though Simons was not a good student at the time. Though his parents divorced when Oliver was five years old, he and his father had a lot of good times together in his childhood, his father said. But Simons said he wishes he had been harder on his son when he began experimenting with drugs as a teen.

“I really regret not having been more forceful, more demanding, more hard-ass about [drugs],” he said. “I couldn’t foresee [the burglaries] happening, just like I couldn’t foresee him putting a needle in his arm because he was petrified of needles. I just never conceived that it would be this.”

The younger Simons then spent many years traveling around the U.S. and Mexico with friends, playing music. While living in New York City he played music for a Celtic musical and taught music lessons, according to one friend. He was in and out of methadone clinics while there and would disappear for a week at a time before turning up on the street, his longtime friend said. Simons slept in halfway houses and on the street and was often hospitalized, according to his father. According to Stephanie Blackburn of Xenia, a lifelong friend of Oliver’s mother and a chemical dependency counselor, during that time Simons was likely adjusting his prescribed methadone doses. She said he had “an addiction mindset.”

“He thought — ‘I’m bigger than this. I can do no wrong. I’m strong, I’m powerful.’ I would argue with him,” Blackburn said.

Over the years, Simons also tried to quit benzodiazepines, which he has used for the past decade, but would suffer epileptic seizures, a serious withdrawal symptom. The drug has anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, sedative, and hypnotic properties. In January 2012, Simons was admitted several times to Greene Memorial Hospital for seizures, one time staying for more than a week, according to his father.

When Simons returned from New York City last summer he was no longer using methadone or heroin and was focused on starting the music instruction business for local youth, his longtime friend said. Simons was even sending money from New York before he returned, to help pay for a teaching space.

“He wanted to come back here and make his family happy that he was doing something constructive,” said the longtime friend. At one point he had four students, according to McQueen, but the business never quite got off the ground.

McQueen and Gigi Davis, who both became close friends of Simons over the past year, said Simons wasn’t using hard drugs to their knowledge. McQueen said Simons was extremely laid back with a great sense of humor and that he was grateful to Simons for encouraging him to return to playing the drums. Davis, who gave Simons a place to live for a time, said Simons was generous, “always made sure people were cared for” and one time spent all day helping her move when she only had one day to do so.

But late last year Simons stopped hanging out with local friends and stopped returning their phone calls. According to McQueen, Simons and Chappelle, now a couple, got married in New York and were living in Xenia. Both of their phones were disconnected. Simons stopped using Facebook.

“He went from being social to not being social at all — he flipped,” McQueen said. He now recognizes Simons’ hiding from his friends as indicative of drug use and wishes he would’ve done more. However, McQueen saw no signs of criminal behavior and his concerns were allayed since the couple continued to drive Chappelle’s three children, who were living with them in Xenia, to Yellow Springs Schools.

“I feel like I could have done something,” McQueen said. “Maybe I should’ve reached out more. By respecting their space, it turned into something where they obviously got into trouble.”

Police said that between January and May, Simons and Chappelle burgled nine Yellow Springs residences, stealing cash and valuables which were taken to pawn shops, including some out of the area. Police said that there is physical evidence linking them to the crimes and they are not looking for other suspects. Neither Simons or Chappelle had previously been convicted of such a serious offense. But Simons did have frequent run-ins with the law and one time spent three months in a Franklin County jail for failing to appear in court after he was given probation for stealing Indians tickets from a Cleveland hotel room in 1998, his father said. Chappelle was charged with theft in February and has several other misdemeanor charges dating back to 1998.

Anna Francis, one of those burglarized, had precious jewelry of sentimental value to her and her partner stolen, including family heirlooms. Francis believes there is little chance of recovery, because while police said they found some items in Simons’ and Chappelle’s Xenia residence, much had already been sold to pawn shops. Although Francis was somewhat relieved to hear that the suspects were locals, the burglary was still a disturbing experience.

“It was definitely a feeling of being violated and just feeling not safe, especially that evening after discovering it happened,” Francis said. “It took a few days to get past that feeling. I’m still suspicious of people. I’m always looking around now.”

Crockett, another victim who also had been good friends with Oliver’s mother, said she found Simons as a child “smart, engaging and creative.” The burglar entered through her window and stole irreplaceable gold jewelry from Tiffany’s which Crockett’s late husband had given to her over many years. She said the burglaries didn’t make her more afraid. Instead, Crockett said the “the human tragedy of this being one of our own” has made her feel less stable in the village.

Drugs an ugly mix

In interviews, friends and family kept returning to the fact that drugs must have played a major role in burglaries. Simons’ longtime friend said Simons was expert at hiding his drug addiction and that though he had many good qualities, drugs were his undoing.

“[Oliver] is very personable, intelligent, well-read, well-traveled, talented — that’s enough right there to get you by,” his longtime friend said. “The drugs just ruined him. It’s a shame.”

Blackburn, the family friend and chemical dependency counselor, said Simons would give lip service to quitting hard drugs because that’s what his mother wanted to hear. Over the years Hess would try to support Simons’ creative side, one time buying him a mandolin so he would have a “creative emotional outlet,” Blackburn said.

“On the non-judgement side, you have a craving your body needs,” Blackburn said of his dependency. “[Hess] cared about him deeply. She tried the tough love with him but she would end up reaching out to him and helping him in constructive ways, not just sending cash.”

His mother’s death in May 2011, which family members did not expect, hit Oliver hard, his longtime friend said.

Blackburn said Simons could have benefited from better detoxification programs, such as those that monitor methadone doses in inpatient settings and deal with both the benzodiazepine and opiate addictions. Instead, such services are being shut down across the state, she said.

Jeff Simons said it was likely his son’s addictive personality together with an “ugly mix” of drugs that created the irrational and delusional thinking that he could get away with the burglaries. Simons added that the legal system didn’t fail him.

“I’ve dealt with judges, detectives, cops, public defenders and every one of them did their best to help Oliver,” Simons said. “I never met a single one of them that was out to get him. If anything, they would say he doesn’t belong in this. He’s a good kid, a smart kid. He’s got to get his act together.”

Update at 5:15 p.m.: About 20 officers from various jurisdictions and agencies were involved in today’s search in Glen Helen and surrounding areas for a suspicious man who appeared to be carrying a gun. According to Greene County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant James Combs late this afternoon, the search is now over. The officers have covered a large area and not found the man, who they believe has left the Glen area.

Beginning at about noon, officers from Greene County Sheriff’s Department, Yellow Springs Police, Cedarville Police, the Greene County Parks Department and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources responded to a call from Glen Helen that a suspicious man believed to be carrying a gun was in the Glen. The first priority was making sure the children in Eco Camps were safe, Combs said. After that, the officers fanned out, with one police dog, through the Glen, John Bryan Park and the Birch Boy Scout Camp area.

“We pulled out all the stops,” Combs said. “We treat these things seriously.”

The officers were looking for a white man about 6 ft. tall who was dressed in hunters’ camouflage. When the man was confronted by a camp counselor a little after 11 a.m. and asked to leave, he pulled up his shirt and revealed what appeared to be a gun. When told that the police would be called, he ran away.

The sheriff officers do not plan to continue the search tomorrow, although they will keep an eye on Glen Helen, Combs said. Glen Helen Eco Camp will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., as usual. The usual end-of-camp parent program will take place at 2 p.m. Parents whose children do not wish to return to camp may pick up their children’s belongings between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

The Antioch College campus lockdown has been lifted, according to Tom Brookey and all offices will resume with normal hours tomorrow. 

Shortly before noon today, the Greene County Sheriff’s office recommended that the Boy Scout camping trip at Camp Bryan also go into lockdown, according to Jim Nolan, executive director. The campers were assembled in the dining hall when leaders received the message. The camp remained under lockdown until about 3:45 p.m., when authorities cleared the campers to return to their regular activities.

Update at 4:15 p.m.: According to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, the Greene County Sheriff officers who were looking for an alleged armed man in the Glen are winding down their search, and have not found anyone.

A report that a man had been taken into custody is inaccurate, according to Pettiford, who spoke to the sheriff’s department at around 4 p.m.
Officers are standing by the Outdoor Education Center where parents are picking up their children for the night, Pettiford said, but the Eco Camps will reopen tomorrow.

Update at 3:19 p.m.: According to the Greene County Sheriff at 3 p.m., there was no new information to report about the supposed gunman seen in the Glen earlier today.
Due to high traffic volume, the YS News website stalled temporarily between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. today. The site is currently back online, but in the case of another break, please refer to our News Facebook page at facebook.com/ysnews for updates.

Update as of 1:56 p.m.: Law enforcement authorities recommended this afternoon that families of Eco Campers and YS Kids Playhouse youth retrieve their children from Glen Helen and Antioch College as soon as they are able. The recommendation is a safety precaution to reassure parents of the safety of their children, according to Glen Helen Director Nick Boutis. The Glen will accommodate campers as long as parents need them to stay at the Glen, including overnight, if necessary, he said.

As of 2 p.m. police and Greene County Sheriff’s officers were using K-9 units to search the preserve for the suspect, seen earlier by a naturalist, who thought he might have a gun. Firearms are not allowed in the Glen, according to Boutis.

“This is not because of a danger, but because of risk aversion and reasonable precaution,” Boutis said this afternoon. “We’re encouraging parents as soon as it is convenient to come here and sign their kids out. For parents who are working and those who aren’t able to come in the near future, we are entirely set up to care for the kids that are here.”

Original post 1 p.m.: Just before 11:30 this morning a man dressed in camouflage with what may be a firearm was seen walking in the Glen. According to Glen Helen Ecology Institute Director Nick Boutis, when a Glen naturalist approached the man, he lifted up his shirt to expose what the naturalist perceived to be a gun. The suspect then fled, Boutis said.

Taking all necessary precautions, Glen personnel immediately contacted the Yellow Springs Police and Greene County Sheriff, who by 12:15 had secured the nearly 60 Eco Camp youth into a safe area of the Glen. According to Boutis, the authorities are currently working to locate the suspect and assess the safety of the preserve.

“The likelihood that anybody is in danger is pretty small, but this is the sort of thing where we absolutely want to be sure we are doing everything to make sure that we don’t place the kids or the staff that are here in harm’s way,” Boutis said. “Everyone is in a protected situation now.”

While Glen Helen and Antioch College are temporarily closed to the public, Eco Camp will continue until further notice from law enforcement authorities.

The News will post further updates on the situation as they become available throughout the day.

Click here to read about potential charges against the camp counselor.

According to the Greene County Sheriff’s Department this afternoon, last week’s alleged gunman situation in Glen Helen was found to be “unsubstantiated,” according to a Sheriff’s Department press statement released at 2:30 p.m. The Glen Helen Eco Camp counselor who reported seeing a man with a gun near the cabins today admitted that he had fabricated the story.

“The reporting person was confronted with the investigative analysis in a follow-up interview and what was gathered by responding deputies at the time of the reported event,” the press statement said. “The staff member, on July 3, 2013, admitted to investigators that the claim was false. No such person existed as it was reported.”

The incident began around 11 a.m. last Thursday, June 27, when the counselor reported seeing a man who was acting suspicious and, when confronted, pulled up his shirt to reveal a handgun. The counselor called the police, and over the afternoon about a dozen officers from various jurisdictions combed the Glen, but found nothing. The Glen was closed and children in Eco camps were kept inside. Antioch College was also in lockdown for the afternoon. Police called off the search after not finding anyone late in the afternoon, but the incident sparked heightened fears and concerns in the village, especially among parents of the campers, many of whom came to pick up their children early.

According to Valerie Webster, Antioch College vice president for administration and finance, the counselor who made the false report has been placed on suspension and college officials are working with the sheriff to understand if legal action should be taken.

It is not known at this time why the counselor made the false statement.

Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford, whose officers assisted in last week’s search, said today that the lack of corrorborating evidence last week was a red flag to him.

“No one else saw him that day and it was like he just disappeared,” Pettiford said. “When that happens, it always makes me a little suspicious.”

That suspicion, he said, was “one reason not to go forward” with using the Village’s Hyper-Reach phone system last week to alert people to the alleged gunman.

Click here to see the July 3 post on the witness’s false report.

Tremendous tax dollars were wasted during the search in the Glen last Thursday for an alleged armed man, who never existed, Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said in an interview yesterday. The false testimony provided by an Eco Camp counselor that set in motion a pointless four-hour, multi-jurisdiction man hunt throughout the nature preserve and John Bryan Park also caused serious worry for many parents and those in charge of the youth in the Glen at the time.

“We don’t take these things lightly,” Fischer said. “It was a crime against the public.”

The Sheriff’s office is currently working with the Greene County Prosecutor to settle on the charges that will likely be brought against the counselor, whose name has not yet been released.

Though authorities “had their suspicions” about the accuracy of the story last week, Fischer said, police and sheriff deputies continued to provide additional security to the area around the Glen for several days before pronouncing the area safe again. And it was only by routine measure that authorities called the counselor back on Wednesday to question him again and compare his statement with evidence police had gathered.

Fischer declined to specify the details of the police interview but described the typical interview process.

“We call in the person, compare notes from our road guys, and if there are inconsistencies in the stories, we ask him to clarify,” he said.

The camp counselor eventually confessed to having fabricated the story about the armed man in the Glen, an offense for which he could be charged with creating a false alarm. According to the Ohio Revised Code, false reports are often considered a first degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and up to a $1,000 fine. If the false report causes economic harm, the charge may be classified as a fourth- or fifth-degree felony, punishable by six–12 months jail time.

The counselor was placed on administrative leave yesterday by the Glen. According to Glen Helen Ecology Institute Director Nick Boutis, the counselor is a college student (not from Antioch) who worked for the Glen’s Outdoor Education Center last summer and had done well, so the Glen asked him back this summer. All of the Glen’s employees must pass background checks before being hired by Antioch College, the body that owns the Glen. And he passed the check, Boutis said.

One of six boys dorm monitors at Eco Camp, the counselor had not exibited any suspicious behavior before last week’s incident, Boutis said.

“It feels shockingly out of character and history,” Boutis said about the counselor’s behavior. “I can only imagine what was going on in his life that would have precipitated this…and I think it’s reasonable to say that he did not anticipate the force of the reaction,” his report would create.

Boutis also understands that the incident caused serious concern for a lot of families. And he is most grateful for the professionalism and effectiveness the rest of the Glen staff and local authorities exhibited in the face of the perceived threat.

“However it plays out, the quality response our staff demonstrated in the face of a very concerning event was significant and powerful,” he said. “Now we’re left with the question, what would motivate someone to do this?”

Refer to next week’s issue of the Yellow Springs News for updates on the possible prosecution of the case.

Update: 12:40 p.m. According to a Village of Yellow Springs press release, the situation that led to a police search for a local man this morning began at 9:42 a.m. when police were called to an address in the 600 block of Limestone Street regarding an attempted suicide by 24-year-old Stefan Ritchie, who was believed to be armed. Police were told the man had left the house on foot.

Police immediately contacted the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, who responded with a K-9 unit. The ACE Task Force and an Ohio Department of Natural Resources ranger also responded. Ritchie was found at 11:45 p.m. in a field at the south end of the village.

When apprehended, Ritchie turned over his gun to his father, who had also helped in the search. Officer David Meister secured the weapon, according to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford.

Ritchie was transported to the Greene County Memorial Hospital, and charges are being considered, according to the press release.

Update 11:45 a.m.: According to the Greene County Sheriff’s department, sheriffs and Yellow Springs police have found Stefan Ritchie, the village resident they were searching for following a domestic dispute, who had self-inflicted wounds. Ritchie was located in the South High/East Herman Street neighborhood and taken into custody.

At 11:20 a.m. the Yellow Springs police put out a request to the public to be on the alert for Stefan Ritchie, a 24 year old village resident, who they are trying to locate following a family dispute at his home on Limestone Street. Police were called out to the home on a possible suicide attempt, and he is believed to have self-inflicted injuries.

Ritchie is 6 foot 1 inches tall, and was wearing a black t-shirt and khaki shorts.

Anyone who sees him should call 911 to alert police to his location, but should not approach him, according to Police Chief Anthony Pettiford. It is not known if Ritchie is armed. Police are currently in the South College Street area searching.

The barricades that blocked off the 600 block of West Limestone Street for about an hour and a half this afternoon, Friday, July 13, have been removed, and police say the area is safe, according to Yellow Springs Police Chief Anthony Pettiford at 4:20 p.m. today.

Police had barricaded the street at around 2 p.m. when family members of Stefan Ritchie, who was arrested yesterday after a domestic dispute in which he inflicted wounds to himself, found what they believed were potential bomb-making materials in the house. Pettiford called in a unit of the Dayton bomb squad, who found that the materials were regular survival items and not dangerous. After an hour and a half, the barricade was removed

“It was a precautionary measure and the barricades have been taken down. It turned out to be nothing,” Pettiford said.

At about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, Yellow Springs Police sent out an emergency alert to homes in the northern end of the village advising that a shooting had taken place between the 200 and 300 blocks of North High Street. The message also advised residents in the 200 block of Stafford Street to vacate their homes.

According to Yellow Springs Police dispatchers, following an assault in that area around 10:45 p.m., an active shooter had holed himself up in a home on North High Street.

As of 1:26 a.m. police were still “trying to acquire the shooter,” who remains holed up in his North High Street home, according to Police Dispatcher Chris Collins.

Updates on the incident are forthcoming.

A Yellow Springs man was found dead in his North High Street home following a police shoot-out that began around 10:45 p.m.last night, Tuesday, July 30, and ended a little after 5 a.m. this morning. About 40 police and law enforcement cars were on the scene most of the night., along with emergency and SWAT vehicles.

“We train for the worst but hope for the best. No one wants a fatality,” Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said when the stand-off was over.

The Sheriff’s Department will launch an investigation into the stand-off, which Fischer described as “a very dangerous situation. Dangerous for my deputies and dangerous for the neighbors.”

The department will not at this time release the name of the deceased man. However, the stand-off began when Yellow Springs police were called to the home of Paul Schenck due to a domestic disturbance between Schenck and his son. The officer who responded met with gunfire, and called for back-up, at which time police and sheriff departments from both Greene and Clark Counties responded. The first sheriff deputies who responded also took gunfire, Fischer said.

The son of the shooter sustained injuries and was transported away from the home by the Miami Township Fire Rescue Squad before 2 a.m.

The sounds of gunfire were heard in the neighborhood until about 2:20 a.m., when the last shots were fired. Before that, police fired several rounds and the local man fired what Sheriff Fischer estimated were “dozens” of shots. The investigation will determine if the villager died from a self-inflicted wound or from police fire, Fischer said.

A trained hostage negotiator, Sheriff Fischer said he attempted to negotiate with the shooter.

“We tried to open up a line of communication by phone but were unsuccessful,” he said.

No more shots were fired after about 2:20 a.m. The Sheriff’s department sought a warrant from a Greene County judge and were given one at about 4 a.m. A helicopter was brought in at that time to perform surveillance on the house and a SWAT team robot was sent to make entry at the front door. The robot gained entry and the deceased was found.

See the Aug. 1 Yellow Springs News for a more detailed story.