Legal Aid marks 45 years of helping people in area

SANDUSKY — Forty five years of helping battered women, people facing eviction, and other low-income residents desperate for justice felt like something to celebrate at Sandusky's Legal Aid Office.The group had an event Wednesday at Berardi's Family Kitchen in Sandusky to mark the milestone.The four people in the Sandusky office of Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. — two lawyers, a paralegal and an administrative assistant — serve a four-county area: Erie, Huron, Ashland and Richland counties.They represent low-income people in civil law cases. Criminal representation for the indigent is handled by a separate agency, the public defender.The four Legal Aid staffers were joined Wednesday by other local people grateful for the agency's services, such as Linda Mitchell, executive director of Safe Harbour Domestic Violence Shelter Inc. in Sandusky."Legal Aid has helped our little shelter for 30 years," Mitchell told the group at Berardi's.Referring to the two attorneys in the Legal Aid office, Carl Anderson and Denise Zanni, Mitchell said, "Our clients are in love with Carl. Denise comes to our support group to answer questions."Zanni said the office does much of its work helping domestic violence victims obtain civil protection orders to protect themselves, and doing other domestic violence work. Housing issues including evictions and foreclosures and obtaining public assistance also are a focus for the office.Zanni also organized the Grandfamilies Legal Assistance Project, providing help for grandparents who find themselves raising grandkids as a result of the drug addiction crisis. She's assisted in that effort by paralegal Rachel Hartshorn. Administrative assistant Tammie Nowak keeps the office running.Obtaining interviews with Legal Aid clients is difficult for privacy reasons, but the local office offered an example of the kind of cases it handles.A local woman largely paralyzed after suffering a stroke was completely dependent on her elderly husband to get her out of bed, feed her, get her to the bathroom and take care of other daily functions. The state of Ohio cut off services to her, kicking her off the program because her home was remote and it was too much trouble to provide aid."Attorneys and paralegals from LAWO and ABLE filed an administrative appeal, arguing that a lack of providers is not a reason to remove an otherwise eligible person form the program. The woman was reinstated to the program and now receives waiver services three times a week, improving the quality of life for both the woman and her husband and allowing them to remain independent," the agency said.Anderson, senior attorney for the office, came to the Berardi's gathering with a copy of the December 1974 incorporation papers for the Erie County Legal Aid and Defender Association.The six attorneys who signed the papers — Robert Oglesby, George Steinemann, George Muehlhauser III, Ronald Kaufman, M.L. McDermond Jr. and Robert C. Egger — acted because they saw a community need, Anderson said. The public defender's office became a separate entity in 2001.Carl Anderson, senior attorney at Sandusky's Legal Aid office, speaks at a gathering Wednesday. Denise Zanni, an attorney at the Sandusky office of Legal Aid of Western Ohio. Legal Aid officials and supporters gathered Wednesday to mark the agency's 45 years in Sandusky.