Speaker 1: Billy coming in the Great America and welcome this Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 1: In the Try Stage, Reds baseball kicks off about six
Speaker 1: oh five tonight, because I thought that maybe Trevino should
Speaker 1: start the game because he seems to have more results
Speaker 1: in the starting pitching crew. Looking at the last two
Speaker 1: games at my ballpark, the Great American, the Reds on
Speaker 1: Monday night lost five to one. They lost last night
Speaker 1: twelve to two. That means collectively they're seventeen and three.
Speaker 1: This isn't a football score, a baseball score. Seventeen and
Speaker 1: three against Miami, not exactly the seventy six Reds, but nonetheless,
Speaker 1: they try again tonight. We'll see what happens tonight with
Speaker 1: Avan on the mound, and then they have one more
Speaker 1: game tomorrow with Miami than three with the Rocks in
Speaker 1: town and getting ready for the All Star break and
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. Maybe one of the other good teams
Speaker 1: won Trevino to pitch for them, because he seems to
Speaker 1: be the best pitch of the Reds half. But until then,
Speaker 1: there's all hell breaking loose throughout the Try State in
Speaker 1: many different quarters. I have a guest on tomorrow to
Speaker 1: talk about what happens in Clifton in front of the
Speaker 1: fire station, the skyline chill. On a regular basis. We've
Speaker 1: had on guests from Covington about the what's happening on
Speaker 1: the riverfront there and also in Cincinnati. But Red White
Speaker 1: and Blue Ash is a signature event in Hambleton County's
Speaker 1: We're going on for about thirty years, and until a
Speaker 1: few days ago there was no difficulties whatsoever. Then all
Speaker 1: hell broke loose. Joining you and I now is Mayor
Speaker 1: Jill Cole, and Mayor Cole is in charge of the
Speaker 1: city of Blue Ash, the little tree that grew, and
Speaker 1: Mayor Cole welcome, i think for the first time to
Speaker 1: the Bill Cunningham Show. So first of all, can you
Speaker 1: tell me tell the American people the event itself, the
Speaker 1: planning for the event before the events took place later
Speaker 1: on in the evening that were terrible. Now just talk
Speaker 1: in general about what Red White and Blue Ash seeks
Speaker 1: to do for the past thirty years.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on, Billy. Yes, it's my first
Speaker 2: time talking with you, and I'm really grateful to be here.
Speaker 2: You know, Blue Ash is an amazing city. We have
Speaker 2: a long history of being safe and welcoming and we're
Speaker 2: in the we have the ability to do a lot
Speaker 2: of amazing things, including our annual Fourth of July celebration.
Speaker 2: As you said, we've been putting these on for over
Speaker 2: thirty years, and I've always been so proud that despite
Speaker 2: the thousands and thousands of people that attend, there have
Speaker 2: rarely been any problems. However, last Friday night, a small
Speaker 2: group of individuals made poor choices and they frightened the
Speaker 2: people around them. I know I had one of my
Speaker 2: family members that was right in the middle of it,
Speaker 2: and it was very scary. Fortunately, our police officers were
Speaker 2: nearby and they were able to quickly respond to the situation.
Speaker 1: Fortunately, Yes, very serious injury, and there's other serious injury
Speaker 1: or deaths or nothing at some of these events. As
Speaker 1: far as the entry of the facility, I was last
Speaker 1: there about ten to twelve years ago and it was
Speaker 1: easy to get into, easy to go. Is there an
Speaker 1: entry point where people were more or less checked a
Speaker 1: little bit or not ors simply catches catch can just
Speaker 1: come in for any any quarter that you desire.
Speaker 2: It is just to catches catching Can. It's ad over
Speaker 2: one hundred acre park and we do want to keep
Speaker 2: it very opening and welcoming, and so we don't have
Speaker 2: a checkpoint. And you know, obviously we're going to look
Speaker 2: at this and see what safety measures we might need
Speaker 2: to implement for next year. I think that one would
Speaker 2: be a difficult one to do because of the size
Speaker 2: of the park and also again we just want to
Speaker 2: keep the welcoming, family friendly environment of it.
Speaker 1: As far as what occurred that night, I know you've
Speaker 1: been working on this with the city manager and the
Speaker 1: police chief. Tell the American people what happened Friday night
Speaker 1: that caused the injury to the police officer, and just
Speaker 1: give us the facts of what happened that turned out
Speaker 1: not so well for that particular event.
Speaker 2: Sure, you know, I just want to reiterate though that
Speaker 2: we're still doing research on this, that we're still analyzing
Speaker 2: you but what we know is that again, there was
Speaker 2: a small group of individuals that were throwing fireworks at
Speaker 2: each other under the canopy area, which if you've been
Speaker 2: to the park, you're familiar with that. And then unfortunately
Speaker 2: they ran through the crowd saying that gunshots had been fired,
Speaker 2: so they added confusion and upset to the area. Again.
Speaker 2: The people that witnessed it were very upset, rightfully, so,
Speaker 2: fortunately it was fairly well contained and again the police
Speaker 2: responded quickly.
Speaker 1: As far as injuries, what was the injury to the
Speaker 1: police officer.
Speaker 2: He had a burn on his legs from a firecracker
Speaker 2: that hit him. He was treated at the hospital and released.
Speaker 2: In fact, he was back on duty last night.
Speaker 1: And as far as I read somewhere in the media
Speaker 1: that juvenile court, which in my editorial opinion, often does
Speaker 1: a terrible job relative to holding juveniles accountable for serious misbehavior,
Speaker 1: is it true that juvenile court dismissed most of the
Speaker 1: charges against the individual that injured the police officer.
Speaker 2: That is true, and unfortunately we can do our part,
Speaker 2: but we can't control what happens after that, which is
Speaker 2: really unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Did that happen with your permission? With you're okay?
Speaker 2: Wow, I wasn't there. Would have to talk with the
Speaker 2: people that were there. But I don't know that we
Speaker 2: have a choice in that. That's the magistrate's decision and.
Speaker 1: The police officer. I would assume it was. I just
Speaker 1: understand it's without prejudice, which means that it could be
Speaker 1: brought again. And the magistrate in the media said that
Speaker 1: they can't identify the person who did this because it's
Speaker 1: a juvenile. But nonetheless it was over the objections of
Speaker 1: the police officer and according to media accounts, the city
Speaker 1: of Bluish was not involved in the greeing to the dismissal.
Speaker 1: The magistrate did it on her own. Is that your.
Speaker 2: Understanding, that's my understanding.
Speaker 1: As far as going forward, one of the council members
Speaker 1: has come forward about monitoring social media, almost like a
Speaker 1: CIA function in which you're going to have large numbers
Speaker 1: of people monitoring social media of individuals who may come
Speaker 1: to the party, may not come to the party. As
Speaker 1: far as entry points and searches of bags, have you
Speaker 1: begun the planning yet to do? What number one, is
Speaker 1: the event going to continue next year and if so,
Speaker 1: how will it be different?
Speaker 2: Well, you know the event will continue next year. At
Speaker 2: this point, you know, we're just beginning to look at this,
Speaker 2: and we have a whole year and so we work
Speaker 2: closely with our law enforcement, our parks and w REC
Speaker 2: people and we'll carefully look at what happened and see
Speaker 2: what we can do if we need to make adjustments
Speaker 2: or changes to ensure that it's a states and welcoming event. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: you know, we do as a policy in our council
Speaker 2: appoint the mayor and the city administration as official spokespeople.
Speaker 2: But unfortunately we had a council member that's gone out
Speaker 2: on his own and has made statements that are not
Speaker 2: reflective of the views or the values of the city,
Speaker 2: describing the individuals as you know, just confusing language that
Speaker 2: stigmatizes and dehumanizes these people, which were just young kids.
Speaker 2: They made stupid mistakes, but that was no real you know,
Speaker 2: we shouldn't be out ahead of this event without understanding
Speaker 2: all of what happened and criticizing the young people that
Speaker 2: were there.
Speaker 1: Well, that council member was almost Cosloane. A couple of
Speaker 1: days ago. He talked about the punks, about individuals that
Speaker 1: don't deserve to come to events like that. He was
Speaker 1: very accusatory of those being charged. And so you're saying
Speaker 1: that does not reflect the viewpoint of city council in
Speaker 1: blue Ash nor the mayor.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is that we shouldn't be talking about
Speaker 2: individuals like that. First of all, we need to leave
Speaker 2: the communication, particularly to the administration, So what was released
Speaker 2: is clear and factual and doesn't conflict with other people
Speaker 2: are said, and I just personally think and I know
Speaker 2: that my council members share my view that his statements
Speaker 2: were inflammatory and were not necessary or helpful and just
Speaker 2: made the situation worse.
Speaker 1: Some of the charges were kept inside the City of
Speaker 1: Bluish and Mayor's Court. As you know as the mayor
Speaker 1: that there are misdemeanor charges that could be brought and
Speaker 1: kept in Mayor's court and if it's a juvenile it
Speaker 1: must be sent down to Hamlin County Juvenile Court, which
Speaker 1: is a history of dismissing charges against those charges with crimes.
Speaker 1: And I will and Nelly basis are you going to
Speaker 1: is there a sense of pursuing the charges in the
Speaker 1: City of blue Ash Mayor's Court to it to their
Speaker 1: logical conclusion and not to dismiss them.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't have any information about what the
Speaker 2: plan is. As you know, we have a magister. You
Speaker 2: may know that we have an outside person run our
Speaker 2: mayor's court now a lawyer, so that it's handled completely appropriately,
Speaker 2: of course, and so I have not been engaged in
Speaker 2: any conversations talking about what what will be this is
Speaker 2: the decision about these charges.
Speaker 1: So as far as the planning for the future. The
Speaker 1: idea of having a place where people are checked is
Speaker 1: almost impossible to do because I've been there many times
Speaker 1: and you can come into that park from three sixty
Speaker 1: You can come in from almost any angle. Secondly, to
Speaker 1: have a weight line for people to come in starting
Speaker 1: in the afternoon until ten thirty pm at night, which
Speaker 1: take forever to get through the line, that would be
Speaker 1: a problem. And so there's been comments made by some
Speaker 1: about parents that aren't possibly being the kind of parents
Speaker 1: they should be relative to their children. There were comments
Speaker 1: made by state officials and I know police officer and
Speaker 1: chiefs of police and other cities have said where are
Speaker 1: the parents? How come parents on supervising their own children?
Speaker 1: As far as the age of those involved in these activities?
Speaker 1: Is the number about ninety because the police chief said
Speaker 1: it was about ninety people, What can you tell us
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 2: How many people? I've heard media reports that there were
Speaker 2: four hundred people that I haven't heard anything official from
Speaker 2: our folks that determine that that was the number of
Speaker 2: this group. But again, it was a very small number
Speaker 2: of young people that made these poor choices and use
Speaker 2: these actions that scared people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question and I think ninety might be a
Speaker 1: small number. At one point it was four hundred and
Speaker 1: as far as the tenants is ninety thousand people, I've
Speaker 1: heard some say there's ninety to one hundred thousand people
Speaker 1: attending it. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2: You know? I've heard varying numbers from fifty to sixty
Speaker 2: to seventy in the park to the numbers that you're
Speaker 2: talking about when you consider the people that watch the
Speaker 2: fireworks from around the park and then surrounding commercial buildings.
Speaker 2: So it is a big event, you know, in a
Speaker 2: Blue Ash we only have about thirteen or fourteen thousand residents.
Speaker 2: So we put on this event for the whole community,
Speaker 2: the whole region, and we're happy to do it and
Speaker 2: just will work really hard for next year to make
Speaker 2: sure that we can do anything possible to minimize any
Speaker 2: events like that's happening to disrupt what's otherwise an amazing
Speaker 2: event and a.
Speaker 1: Mayor cole it's fair to say the great majority of
Speaker 1: those attending this event are not from the city of
Speaker 1: Blue Ash. Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2: Can't bember the numbers speak for themselves?
Speaker 1: Yes, what does everybody park? I mean, I look at
Speaker 1: numbers of fifty to sixty thousand people. That's like a
Speaker 1: that's almost up to the level of paid course stadium.
Speaker 1: Where do people park? How do you get there?
Speaker 2: We have well, we have a lot of commercials, a
Speaker 2: commercial areas around sum At Park, and so the office building.
Speaker 2: Some of the office buildings, not everyone, but many of
Speaker 2: them allow us to have visitors park there. We put
Speaker 2: up portlets and so forth, you know, to accommodate the
Speaker 2: needs of the people. But you know, we have good
Speaker 2: relationships with our surrounding businesses. We try to take really
Speaker 2: good care of our businesses and they help us out
Speaker 2: from time to time with situations like this.
Speaker 1: Well, going forward, how does this hurt you as the
Speaker 1: mayor of this city, which I think Blue Ash is
Speaker 1: fabulous that it's a motto is the little tree that
Speaker 1: grew it's now a fabulous community. How does this hurt
Speaker 1: your heart when there's something like this happens.
Speaker 2: Well, again, I said, it just hurts my heart because
Speaker 2: I've been so proud of the fact that, you know,
Speaker 2: as you were talking about earlier, crazy things are happening
Speaker 2: all over that we've always been able to host this
Speaker 2: event that has been pretty much trouble free and it
Speaker 2: is discouraging that this wasn't the case this year, But
Speaker 2: I really have a lot of confidence in our team,
Speaker 2: and I know that we will carefully look at every
Speaker 2: angle of it and will develop a very effective, safe
Speaker 2: plan going future, you know, going forward. So we'll also
Speaker 2: still keep it welcoming and family oriented events.
Speaker 1: So the event will go on no matter what. The
Speaker 1: planning will continue. You can't let these few individuals, which
Speaker 1: might be half of one percent or less of those
Speaker 1: who attend, can't let them ruin it for the other
Speaker 1: ninety nine point eight percent of the people that attend.
Speaker 1: I often reference this. Then it's not exactly the same.
Speaker 1: But when something happens terrible in Israel and some terrorist
Speaker 1: blows up a pizza parlor, the next day, the pizza
Speaker 1: parlor is filled with customers because you can't let the
Speaker 1: myscreyants determine your activities. As an American, we have to
Speaker 1: stand up to this stuff, and we can't back down
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, we're not going to do this anymore,
Speaker 1: because someone may get hurt. Someone may get hurt just
Speaker 1: walking across the street, for God's sakes. And so when
Speaker 1: these things happen, whether it's on the Banks, whether it's
Speaker 1: Washington Park, whether it's in Covington, whether it's in Middletown,
Speaker 1: whether it's in Blue Ash. When these events take place,
Speaker 1: we must stand up together and say not on my watch,
Speaker 1: and we're going to continue to have this event. We're
Speaker 1: going to police it maybe a little bit a little
Speaker 1: bit better. But I don't know how you could have
Speaker 1: anticipated this from occurring. It hadn't happened in thirty years.
Speaker 1: And nonetheless your head over one hundred police officers present,
Speaker 1: and at this point the planning must go on. Is
Speaker 1: it your attitude that as long as you're the mayor
Speaker 1: of Blue Ash, this event will transpire.
Speaker 2: Well, that is my sincere hope. And I've heard no
Speaker 2: one on staff mention at all the idea that this
Speaker 2: would not go forward. And this is a very important
Speaker 2: community event we're very proud to put on celebrating our countries.
Speaker 2: So I have no information at all that discontinuing it
Speaker 2: is being considered, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Mayor Joe Cole, thanks for coming on. And Friday
Speaker 1: night was a good night until at the last thirty
Speaker 1: or forty minutes, and then a few individuals acted up,
Speaker 1: made fools of themselves, committed crimes and next year it
Speaker 1: will be more prepared. But Mayor Joe Cole, once again,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show, and thank you.
Speaker 1: Mayor thinks Bill. Let's continue with more, and there you
Speaker 1: have it, and fortunately no one was seriously injured, no
Speaker 1: one was hurt seriously, no one was killed, fortunately, but
Speaker 1: nonetheless had the potential of some serious injuries from individuals
Speaker 1: that don't know how to act in public. Let's continue
Speaker 1: with more. Bill Cunningham, News Radio seven hundred WLW