{"id":16626,"date":"2025-07-17T19:22:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=16626"},"modified":"2025-07-17T19:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:34:08","slug":"michael-ashfords-21st-summer-picnic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/michael-ashfords-21st-summer-picnic\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Ashford\u2019s 21st Summer Picnic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Toledo Board of Education Vice President Chris Varwig<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Fletcher Word<\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The July 12 Saturday afternoon rainstorm may have dampened the turnout for Lucas County Recorder Michael Ashford\u2019s 21st<\/sup> annual summer picnic but the rain certainly did not dampen the enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

In spite of the downpour, over 50 guests turned out to hear a few Democratic officeholders and candidates address some issues, to partake of some delicious picnic food \u2013 grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and a potatoes au gratin dish whipped up by the host himself – and to admire the horticultural accomplishments of the Recorder\u2019s wife, Ruth Ashford.<\/p>\n

The rain came just as the party was getting started which forced the proceedings into the large garage at the back of the yard. That venue, however, was comfortable enough for the guests and enabled the various Democratic Party elected officials, particularly those on the ballot in the fall, to put forth the case for re-election in the few short moments allotted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do everything we can to get out and retain these folks,\u201d said Michael Ashford as he began introducing those officials.<\/p>\n

\"\"
City Councilwoman Brittany Jones, PhD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Varwig, vice president of the Toledo Board of Education, kicked off the addresses by explaining some of the goals of Toledo Public Schools and the access to information that the district will continue to provide in the future in ever greater detail.<\/p>\n

Blair Johnson is an independent candidate for a City Council at-large seat who noted that he wants to approach the task of governing from a \u201cdifferent perspective \u2026 and not just fix things when they are broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have options,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe have a lot of good systems but they are not being used properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Brittany Jones, PhD, is seeking to retain her at-large seat in November. She emphasized that the issues an at-large council member faces involve the entire city \u2013 all Toledo are her constituents.<\/p>\n

Lucas County Auditor Katie Moline was appointed to her position in January 2024 and is running for election in her own right this fall. Her concern, she noted, was the continued smooth operation of the property evaluation process which has been of paramount concern for her office.<\/p>\n

\"\"
City Council candidate Blair Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Judge Myron Duhart of the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals is not on the ballot for re-election until 2026, but he observed that voters need to \u201cmake sure that elected officials are aligned with your values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, \u201cknow who your judges are,\u201d said Duhart as he noted the national issues that are filtering down to the local level. \u201cThis is a time of unprecedented assault on the due process of law \u2026 on the rule of law,\u201d said the judge. The defenders of due process and the rule of law, added Duhart, tend to be judges and lawyers.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the afternoon was not all storms, rain and confinement in the garage. The bad weather cleared up and the guests kept in order to enjoy an event that continued into the late afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor The July 12 Saturday afternoon rainstorm may have dampened the turnout for Lucas County Recorder Michael Ashford\u2019s 21st annual summer picnic but the rain certainly did not dampen the enthusiasm. In spite of the downpour, over 50 guests turned out to hear a few Democratic officeholders and candidates address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[252,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[302],"class_list":["post-16626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16630,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16626\/revisions\/16630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16626"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=16626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}