DORA districts, dog attacks and other weekend stories you might have missed

DAYTON EATS: DORA districts invite dining adventures

The first day of summer and the longest day of the year will happen this month with the summer solstice on June 21. Climatologists and meteorologists consider June 1 the official start of summer with the warmest temperatures of the year happening during the months of June, July and August.

Regardless of which date you choose, June is the start of the best times to enjoy food and drink outside. Coinciding with this timeframe, the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) in the Oregon District will likely be expanded to most of downtown Dayton in mid-June making it nine times the size that it is now and encompassing 80 food and beverage businesses. This means you will be able walk with a drink from the Oregon District to the see a Dragons Game at Day Air Ballpark or head from dinner to the Schuster Center and not have to rush to finish a beverage.

For me several of the dozen regional DORA districts that are exempt from open container laws are as much about the food as they are the drink. I love being able to walk and enjoy an appetizer at one spot and an entree at another and being able to take my drink with me when I am ready to go to the next spot and enjoy the stroll for a relaxing vacation vibe.

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Dayton among top cities for dog attacks on postal workers

More than 5,300 postal workers were attacked by dogs while delivering mail last year, with six Ohio cities in the top 20, including Dayton.

The U.S. Postal Service released its national dog attack rankings head of National Bite Awareness Week, which starts Sunday and runs through June 10. This year’s theme is: “Even good dogs have bad days.”

“When our mail carriers are bitten, it is usually a ‘good dog’ that had not previously behaved in a menacing way,” said Linda DeCarlo, USPS occupational safety and health senior director. “In 2022, too many aggressive dogs impacted the lives of our employees while delivering the mail. Please help us reduce that number by being a responsible pet owner who secures their dog as we deliver the mail.”

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MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Project READ wants your books!

Imagine not being able to the words on this page. Literacy remains an urgent, multigenerational need within the Dayton region.

The organization known as Project READ was formed in 1990 by a group of educators, business leaders, and philanthropists to pursue the mission of improving literacy in the Dayton area and Montgomery County and surrounding counties. The mission has always been to build skilled workers, strong families and healthy communities through lifelong literacy. That goal is accomplished through book collection and redistribution.

“Project READ addresses an issue often overlooked in the Dayton area, that of literacy and its link to poverty,” says Neta Potts, Donation Center Manager/Bookstore Manager. Potts serves this nonprofit organization full time as part of the national Americorps program designed specifically to fight poverty by fighting illiteracy. “National studies suggest that up to one-third of adults read at or below a sixth-grade level,” she says. “That may mean they aren’t able to read a job application or a prescription bottle.”

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Gold Star family members honor lost loved ones

DAYTON — For Gold Star family members, speaking their lost loved one’s name aloud is not just a simple gesture of remembrance, but also a way to honor their sacrifice and the legacy they left behind.

“(Fallen service members) die two deaths: one when they leave this earth and a second time when no one will say their name,” said Leslie Groves, who lost her son, Army Chief Warrant Officer James Groves III, in a helicopter crash during Operation Enduring Freedom in March of 2013.

As Gold Star family members, Leslie and her husband, Jim, know firsthand the importance of keeping a fallen service member’s memory alive. For the past six years, the couple has played an integral part in planning an annual Gold Star Families Memorial Service to honor the lives lost and comfort loved ones.

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Kettering man gets moving after weighing in at 310 pounds

Americans are too sedentary – sitting more, in fact, than any other time in history. State by state, Ohio ranks 37th in the nation – near the bottom – for physical inactivity. Blame it on sedentary jobs, unpleasant weather or simply stressful lifestyles with too much screen time; but regardless of the reason, about a quarter of Ohioans report doing no exercise outside of their regular jobs.

David Matevia of Kettering found himself gaining weight after returning to Ohio from California in 2001.

“I’m a transplant to Dayton,” Matevia said. “I was born in Troy and graduated from high school in Findlay.”

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