Maybe a thousand feet of East Livingston Avenue lie between the two gas stations, with the Livingston curve of I-70 slicing through middle of the short stretch.
Situated as they are among freeway exits and on-ramps, the Exxon and Shell stations draw the ebb and flow of tidal traffic patterns. Ohio drivers dominate, but there are license plates here from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, even Colorado.
Travelers gas up and are on their way again, or maybe they stop a little longer for food. The Exxon, which is east of the freeway, is sandwiched between a Mr. Hero and a Taco Bell; a Popeye s and a restaurant from homegrown chain Wendy s round out the nearby options.
Two double-homicides within 12 hours prompted Columbus police to once again call for help from the community to help solve cases. I ve never seen anything like this, said Deputy Chief Michael Woods, who has worked for the division for 32 years. Almost daily a serious shooting.
The city has seen a record 173 homicides in 2020. The previous record was 143 in 2017. It s been a very difficult year, Woods said during a Tuesday press conference outside police headquarters Downtown.
Two people died and another is in critical condition after reports of a stabbing around 5 a.m. Tuesday at the Summit Park Apartments in the 4400 block of Walford Street in the Northland area.
As Columbus embarks on a new year, it leaves in its wake one of unmatched violence, of record homicides and felonious assaults. The emotions surrounding high-profile police shootings remain raw even as the calendar turns.
“Each of these shootings, homicides, assaults, is a neighbor of ours, a brother, sister, friend. And a loved one of a family in our community,” Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said in an exclusive interview. “So our heart breaks over each and every one of them.”
Ginther spoke with The Dispatch this week about the city’s violent year, police shootings, the future of policing in Columbus and what he thinks must happen next so that everyone can feel safe in the city that he leads.
Thank you for being informed and engaged in this place we call home.
By reading The Dispatch, Dispatch.com, ThisWeek Community Newspapers, Alive and Dispatch magazines, you show that you care about Columbus and central Ohio that you are armed with information that allows you to get involved when you see an opportunity.
We have seen the best evidence of that in times of need, whether by an individual or across the community.
One example is your response to the uplifting story of Jacquez Worthy by Theodore Decker, the Dispatch metro columnist.
Worthy, who goes by Jackie, smiled constantly, even though he was missing his front teeth, which had been knocked out when he stepped in front of a fist to protect his girlfriend. People he had befriended on his Grove City sanitation route were so taken by his kindness in their daily lives that they returned the favor by launching a GoFundMe account to help him secure new teeth.
It occurred to me one night last week, as I placed a glass of cabernet sauvignon on the desk in my home office, that there are distinct pros to this work-from-home business.
It occurred to me moments later, as a lake of cabernet sauvignon spread across the desk in my home office, that there are distinct cons to this work-from-home business.
I stood transfixed, afflicted with that special kind of paralysis that only spilled red wine can cause. It might as well have been lava, flowing in that slow but relentless manner, gobbling up my notebooks and drooling off the edges of the desk onto the beige carpet below.