Well, I figured my series of columns about local Playboy Playmates might have a bit of a run, but when I wrote about Jeffrey Dahmer recently, I didn’t think readers would start sending me emails about personal encounters with serial killers.
Bob: Had to chuckle when I read your story about playing tennis with a serial killer. I, too, played tennis with one — not Jeffrey Dahmer, but Tom Dillon, the former Canton Water Department employee who was convicted of killing [five] hunters in southern Ohio.
He and several other water department employees played tennis at lunch at the now-closed Northeast Community Center. It was my first job out of college and I oversaw the programs, memberships and fitness activities, so I often filled in the foursome when needed.
The job didn’t pay much, so I was living at home at the time, and I remember my mom picking up the Beacon and saying to me, “Do you know this guy who killed the hunters in southern Ohio? He works in Canton.”
I said, “Mom, Canton is a big place. Come on.”
I grabbed the paper and remember saying, “Oh my God! I do know him! I play tennis with him!”
She flipped.
The FBI came and searched his locker at the center. It was quite an interesting day.
Amy Wong
Akron
Amy: Sadly, my only claim to a sporting event involving a serial killer is a tenuous connection to the next item.
WRONG MESSAGE
Bob: On the back cover of [last week’s] Enjoy is a headline, “Kids get shot at Blitz races.” When I first saw it, I thought something terrible had happened.
Looks like it is right up your alley.
Bob Roach
Akron
Bob: No, it’s not. I don’t shoot kids. Unless they’re on my lawn.
HISTORIC GEM
OK, you’re right. I’m plugging this TV show only because I’m in it.
But the real stars are Deborah Mergenov of Cuyahoga Falls and her sisters, Denise Dollinger of Uniontown and Linda Lytle of Akron.
Their father, the late Paul “Bud” Ross, was among the World War II soldiers who were sketched in Europe by a roving American Red Cross worker and artist named Elizabeth Black.
Black sent her portraits to the families back home to boost their spirits. She took photos of many of her drawings before shipping them off.
The nicely done documentary, called Finding Elizabeth’s Soldiers, was assembled by WQED, the PBS station in Pittsburgh, Black’s hometown. When about 100 of the photos were discovered in an old trunk in 2010, carrying only names and towns, WQED embarked on a crusade to track down the soldiers or their offspring by posting the images on its website and enlisting the help of genealogists.
I’m on the show because I saw an Akron man on the WQED site and helped hook the station up with Mergenov, who was absolutely thrilled to receive a copy of the 70-year-old portrait and was more than happy to talk about it on camera.
The show will be broadcast all over the nation at various times chosen by individual PBS stations. Locally, it will premiere on Fusion (WNEO 45.2/WEAO 49.2) at 9:30 p.m. May 28, and repeat at the same time June 1.
Western Reserve Public Media’s high-def channels (WNEO 45.1/WEAO 49.1) will air it on June 19.
SIGN FUN
I’m told by one of their patients that the Merriman Valley dentists with the accidentally provocative sign have another sign on their property that is intentionally funny.
An anonymous voicemailer clued me in to a warning at the entrance to the rear parking lot at Valley Dental:
“Doctors only please. All others will be extracted.”
Good stuff. But I still like the other sign better.
If you missed the photo last week, a sign in front of the building includes a couple of stick figures that are supposed to represent a dentist leaning over a patient but to many eyes look a lot more like an illustration from a Kamasutra book.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31