HEROES | Staff Picks

Best Star-Struck Fundraiser: Oscar Night, staged annually by People Working Cooperatively (the latest version was this past Sunday night, March 24). Attendees get all dressed up and can watch the direct video feed from the Academy Award ceremony -- no commercials, all the behind the scenes stuff -- so it's almost like being there. It's a good cause, too, helping PWC help everyday folks. People Working Cooperatively, 7107 Shona Drive, Bond Hill, 513-351-7921.

Best Local Heroes of Sept. 11: The 62 Ohio firefighters, including Assistant Fire Chief Tom Riemar and Lt. Steve Ober of Greater Cincinnati, who were immediately called to Ground Zero as members of the elite FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Urban Search & Rescue Team. Eight days, eight agonizing 14-hour shifts. The pair snaked through twisted steel, exploring deadly wreckage for survivors, sifting tangled debris for the remains of victims. "It was unbelievable. Everything completely incinerated. No blood. No clothes. No nothing. Everyone, just gone," Riemar now recalls. "It was beyond belief, beyond anyone's comprehension, working the pile. We were literally standing there breathing in the dust of the souls."

Best Sept. 11 Response for the Rest of Us: Frequenting the American Red Cross Store across from Eastgate Mall, where you can support the organization by purchasing all manner of First Aid kits, sweaters, jackets, caps and survival gear. CPR and First Aid classes are also offered. American Red Cross Store, 4530 Eastgate Blvd., Summerside, 513-943-6600.

 

Photo: Jymi Bolden Best Sleeve-Roller: Doug Newberry Doug Newberry serves as president of Improve Pleasant Ridge, a group formed after the closing of the IGA store on Montgomery Road last September. Through the group's efforts, the store will open as an upscale Findlay-type market in May. Newberry has previously been involved with the Pleasant Ridge Community Council as the treasurer, serves as director of Ridge Day, a community festival in July, and has coordinated 5K runs to benefit Toys for Tots, Cincinnati Habitat For Humanity, the Heimlich Institute and the Pleasant Ridge Community Council. "It's a fun thing to do and it helps support and improve their community that they live in," Newberry said of volunteerism, for which he nabbed a Readers Pick in this year's Best of Cincinnati. "We want to live here and we want to make our place the best place we can, so stepping up and rolling up your sleeves is the best way to do it." (MR)

Best Voice for a Disease: Cincinnati playwright Dan Stroeh, whose autobiographical work, it is no desert, recently won the Kennedy Center National Playwriting Award. The play documents Stroeh's own battle with neurofibromatosis, a disease of the nervous system. He's performed it twice in the last year at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, including March 22-23.

Best Service to Parents of Sick Kids: The country's largest Ronald McDonald House happens to be located next to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The home lets parents of sick children -- many from two or three states away -- stay overnight for just $5.50. The $9-million facility, which opened late last year, employs six full-time staffers and includes a cafeteria, children's theater and 48 guest rooms. And that's not clowning around. Ronald McDonald House, 229 Erkenbrecher Ave., Avondale, 513-221-7777.

Best Lost Cause: The bid for bringing the 2012 Olympic Games to Cincinnati. Sure, it was a pipe dream. Yeah, maybe Nick Vehr got paid a nice salary to jet around the world. OK, so they owed a few thousand dollars back to the state when the books were closed. Still, in a town where very few people get off their asses to try something different, the Cincinnati 2012 folks should be applauded for their efforts. And maybe the U.S. Olympic Committee's rebuff has finally convinced some locals that, for Cincinnati to be considered a world-class city, we're going to have to do something about our weak public transportation system and our anti-gay and lesbian bias.

Best Motorcycle Gang: The Pink Fairies, a group of 30 or so prominent Cincinnatians who hop on their Harleys and Kawasakis for good causes. The Fairies include FreeStore director Steve Gibbs, WEBN legend Frank "Bo" Wood and former Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce President John Williams, plus dentists, oncologists and attorneys. With their collective education level, at least we can expect all their tattoos to be spelled correctly.

 

Photo: Geoff Raker Streetvibes vendor James Bybee Best Underdog: Streetvibes Known as the homeless grapevine, Streetvibes is the tiny, independent paper that was verbally sucker-punched by Mayor Charlie Luken and Councilman Jim Tarbell last fall in the city's rush to condemn panhandling. The paper gathered forces and began a postcard campaign to explain to city leaders it helps homeless people by giving them a voice in the media and a small job: Each paper costs $1, with 80 cents going to the vendor. More than 2,000 people sent in cards. Lately, Luken hasn't said much about Streetvibes, although council once again passed a law restricting panhandling in the city. The irony, of course, is that Luken signed a proclamation declaring May 30, 2001 as "Streetvibes Day" in Cincinnati in recognition of its fifth anniversary. (DT)

Best Holiday Hero: If you enjoyed the Rudd family's Christmas display in Adams County the past 36 years, you'll be glad to know that -- even though the Rudds have retired from putting on the region's largest light show organized by a private homeowner -- a Butler County dairy farmer, Bob Niederman, has purchased the 1 million bulbs for display on his farm this coming Christmas. Robert Niederman Farm, 4972 LeSourdsville-West Chester Road, Liberty Township, 513-887-0725.

Best Over-the-Rhine Police Officer: Eric Voglepohl, who's represented the Cincinnati Police Division very well in Over-the-Rhine for the last several years. CPD might have lost him to the FBI, which is our loss and their gain. We miss him already.

Best Over-the-Rhine Police Officers, Part 2: Cincinnati Police have started foot patrols again in this troubled neighborhood -- a practice that many, including CityBeat, have called for since last year's riots. Let's hope that the cops can get to know the residents a little better, and vice versa. It can only help.