Families mourn deaths as arrests continue

MARION – Don and Joy Wolford buried their son Chris at a tiny country cemetery on Friday, while across town Marion firefighters were responding to the 33rd overdose attributed to fentanyl-laced heroin since May 20.

The mourners dressed in red to honor the man who struggled with addiction for seven years, though Wolford had been clean and sober for 45 days when he relapsed.

"He asked if he could come home, and we agreed," Joy Wolford said before the service. "We had 45 days of him being Chris, so we are grateful for that."

The Wolfords also knew Bailey Witzel, who died of an overdose the day before Chris was discovered unconscious at a house in Morral. The deaths have been devastating to the family, though the Wolfords tried to cling to the memory of their son's sense of humor before the service.

"I don't think there's one person here today he hasn't made laugh," Joy said. "He was a funny guy, and he touched a lot of hearts."

Joy tearfully read a poem during the service that Chris had written to her in 2008, which read, in part: "There's nothing ever to break we can't fix together, It's been this long and I see things getting so much better."

"He was 31 when he died, but he'll always be 5 years old to me," Joy said.

Some attending the service had shared Chris' struggle with addiction, including Kenny Jackson, who along with Joe Powers and J.R. Huffing performed songs of loss and regret, including "Miss You" by Incubus.

Jackson, who posts regularly on the Fight Against Heroin Facebook page, said: "I'm getting a little tired singing at my friends' funerals."

Don Wolford expressed a father's fear of the drug and a feeling of helplessness regarding Chris' addiction.

"We saw it, but we didn't see it," he recalled. "The drug is just too controlling. Chris tried to explain it to me, saying that it starts as a party drug, but it gets a hold of them and takes over very quickly.

"It no longer was about getting high, it was about feeling normal. I don't think people know the world (addicts) are living in."

Chris is survived by his daughter, Katelynn Dawn Wolford; his parents, Don and Joy; and his sister, Shelly Wolford. He was buried at the Little Upper Sandusky Cemetery beneath a sunny sky on Friday afternoon.

"It was not so long ago he called me 'Mom,' " Joy said.

Across town, police and emergency services received another overdose call at 2:46 p.m. in the 300 block of West Church Street, with four police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck responding at the scene.

The latest case totaled 28 in the city, with five more in the county, putting the total at 33 since May 20.

"The guys just called me and told me it was another overdose; the Narcan worked," said Chief Bill Collins, of the Marion Police Department. "The person did not die, and it was the blue heroin."

Collins said no arrest was made, but he didn't provide additional information.

Becky Parks-Wood, a neighbor, said that it wasn't the first time there had been a reported overdose at the address.

"It's getting monotonous," she said. "They've been there. One time the ambulance came, they stayed there for 15 minutes. The girl wouldn't go with them, so they left. Twenty minutes later, they got called back."

Mary Spaeth, a former tenant of the apartment the overdose occurred in, said that there had been drug use in the area then, too.

"It's like the mayor and the chief said: They need help, and I agree with them," Spaeth said. "They're never going to get this stuff off the street unless they get help from an outside county or state."

Spaeth said the local police need more officers to better conduct undercover operations as well as assistance from Columbus police and state or federal authorities.

At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Scott Schertzer asked where the federal and state authorities were, given the national nature of drug overdoses and the recent local spike.

jsmiller@gannett.com

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Twitter: @motionblur56

shickey@gannett.com

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Twitter: @SpenserHickey