News about Ohio honor not ‘Great’ this year

There are no more Great Ohioans, at least not this year.

For the first time in nine years, the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board and Capitol Square Foundation did not add to the list of Great Ohioans. The board has honored 39 people with the distinction since establishing the award in 2003. There were no awards from 20042007 after six people were picked in the initial year.

Spokesman Luke Stedke said the board and foundation, in a meeting Thursday, decided not to add to the Great Ohioans list this year and will re-do the nominating and review process. Nominations were open to the public in November and December.

The award celebrates Ohioans who have played a significant role in an event, or series of events, of lasting significance in world, U.S. or Ohio history. Nominees must have been born in Ohio or lived in the state for at least five years, and 25 years must have passed since the event in which the nominee participated.

Among those already honored: Neil Armstrong, Thomas Edison, Bob Feller, John Glenn, Ulysses S. Grant, Jack Nicklaus, Annie Oakley, Jesse Owens, Eddie Rickenbacker, Albert Sabin, William Howard Taft, James Thurber, the Wright brothers and Denton T. “Cy” Young.

Among the missing: Presidents Benjamin and William H. Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, Warren Harding and William McKinley, along with former Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes, astronaut Judy Resnick and Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes.

The Capitol Square folks also passed a policy for lighting colors on the Statehouse cupola. Red and green lights will be used for Christmas and New Year’s Day, with red, white and blue for Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. No other colors will be used.