Copyright 2006 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
By MICHAEL K. McINTYRE
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
A few local safety forces saw their ranks thin out over the past three months — and that’s a good thing.
Police in Chardon, firefighters in Concord Township and members of the police and fire departments in Aurora shed a platoon of pounds — most about 10 to 30 apiece — in the 9-1-1 Fitness Challenge.
The goal of the national program is to make real-life rescue heroes look more like . . . well, the chiseled Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes.
The biggest loser appears to be John Kloski, the executive captain for Concord fire, who shed about a pound a day. Kloski dropped 86 pounds during the 12 weeks, going from 336 pounds to a more svelte 250 at Friday’s final weigh-in. His waist shrank so much he just ordered new uniform pants.
Kloski, 40, vows to maintain his new healthy regimen, but he still has cravings.
“I feel great now,” Kloski said. “I want a beer and a Romanburger, though.”
Holy day, not holiday: Good Friday has been a great Friday for employees of U.S. District Court in Northern Ohio. They got the afternoon off - paid.
But Chief Judge James G. Carr this week notified employees that the unusual practice is canceled. Employees will have to use comp time or take some leave.
Federal court employees, apparently unaware that almost no one in the real world gets such a perk, griped about the unfairness of it all and worried, hyperbolically, whether Carr, who is based in Toledo, might go after Christmas next. His colleague, Cleveland-based Judge Patricia Gaughan, declared in an e-mail that she has jurisdiction over her people, and she’s letting them keep the perk.
Indians Idols: It was an odd question during the Indians “First Pitch Luncheon” this week: “Do you guys watch ‘American Idol’?” Fans grumbled. “Ask a baseball question,” groused one. But third baseman Aaron Boone saw it as a fastball down the middle: “We’ve got a pool going in the clubhouse,” he said, praising his TiVo because he couldn’t watch live Tuesday night, there being a ball game and all. Boone’s two pool picks - Paris and Chris - are still alive. Grady Sizemore is rooting for Taylor (Tipoff’s favorite); Travis Hafner has Katherine; Bob Wickman has Elliott; minor-leaguer Trevor Crowe has Kellie and C.C. Sabathia, the Tribe’s ace, appropriately has Ace. Last week, “American Idol” contestants sang songs from Queen. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Indians sing a Queen song in October? Say, “We Are the Champions”?
Wedding blues: The Cleveland team of Olivia Lupson and Adam Ciroli lost out last week in the final “Marriage Madness” competition on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning show. A couple from Jupiter, Fla., won the wedding at ESPN studios, $20,000, several nice trips and a 65-inch flat-screen TV. The runners-up got lovely parting gifts, including a 42-inch flat-screen TV.
“That was great,” said Lupson, trying to put on a good spin. “The 65-inch would have looked ridiculous in the condo.”
All in: Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Detective Gene Sharpe had a lot of friends at work yesterday. Sharpe, playing the Ohio Lottery’s scratch-off Texas Hold ‘Em game, won $150,000, though the legend grew throughout the department that he had won another $70,000 or so on a second ticket. “It was only the $150,000,” said Chief Douglas Burkhart. “We love Gene. Well, we used to love him. Now we really love him.”