Elegant ‘American Sky’ tome chronicles flight adventures
American Sky: Good Landings and Other Flying Adventures is the story of how Ravenna resident Fred Tribuzzo has “made grooves in the heavens” in his life as a professional pilot, beginning in 1981 as a flight instructor at Miller Field in Alliance and advancing to fly a Boeing 737 for a private jet company.
Although music fans may recognize his name as a former bass player for the popular Kent-based Numbers Band, Tribuzzo, also has expanded his resume to literary agent and promoter. Writing with elegance and maturity, he tells of the “unending view of America” and the world he enjoys from 30,000 feet.
For an early assignment delivering bank checks, Tribuzzo flew from frozen Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Buffalo, back and forth, several times a night, with a failing heater. Most later assignments were more comfortable, involving flying businessmen and families to meetings and vacation destinations, learning from everyone he meets. Throughout, Tribuzzo maintains a special relationship with his mentor, a World War II veteran who challenges and encourages him.
American Sky (264 pages, softcover) costs $16.95 from Koehlerbooks. Fred Tribuzzo will appear at a pancake breakfast at the MAPS Air Museum, 2260 International Parkway, North Canton, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. The $8 cost includes museum admission. Tribuzzo also will appear at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble, 198 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake.
Writer says Akron native was serial killer
The families of Ricky Beard and Mary Leonard surely would find some solace in finally learning who killed the Akron teenagers, who disappeared in 1979 and whose remains were found in 1985. According to John A. Cameron, former Montana police detective and parole analyst, the man responsible was Akron native Edward Edwards.
Cameron’s It’s Me: Edward Wayne Edwards, The Serial Killer You Never Heard Of, spends a great deal of the book on his argument that Edwards also was the Zodiac Killer, and committed hundreds of murders over six decades, beginning in 1945 just before Edwards’ 12th birthday.
Edwards was convicted of the “lovers’ lane” double murder of a young Doylestown man and his girlfriend in 1977. He also was convicted of killing his foster son for an insurance claim, and sentenced to death, but died in prison in April 2011 at age 77 before the sentence could be carried out.
Edwards’ known life of crime had started many decades before, with jail in Akron and time in Leavenworth, from which he was paroled in 1967. He claimed to be rehabilitated and even wrote a book about his reformation, making public speeches and an appearance on What’s My Line? Cameron claims that the lesser crimes to which Edwards confessed in his book were covers for the many murders he was committing, and it was by comparing the dates and places of these robberies and arsons to “cold case” murders that he arrived at his conclusions.
The list of “The Known Victims” of those murders occupies six pages in It’s Me, and includes “Black Dahlia” Elizabeth Short (Edwards was 13 years old, and Cameron says she was his fourth victim), Adam Walsh, JonBenét Ramsey, Jimmy Hoffa, Chandra Levy, Laci Peterson, Marilyn Sheppard, Toledo nun Margaret Pahl, candy heiress Helen Brach and at least 23 of the victims of the Atlanta child murders. Cameron also says that Edwards was behind the anthrax-laced letters mailed to media and Senate offices in 2001.
Despite the appearance of Mary Leonard and Ricky Beard on the list of “The Known Victims,” their names appear nowhere else in the book, so it’s impossible to say how Cameron researched this case.
It’s also not clear why Cameron made the choice to write in the third person when he is describing his own three-year investigation; perhaps it’s so he can include self-congratulatory remarks like “Cameron had nailed it” and [Edwards was] “impressed with Cameron’s tenacity.” It’s Me (404 pages, hardcover) costs $29.95 from http://coldcasecameron.com.
Events
Reed Memorial Library (167 E. Main St., Ravenna) — Cleveland novelist Nick Shamhart talks about his novel The Fog Within, about a woman with autism, 2 p.m. today.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Beachwood branch, 25501 Shaker Blvd.) — Celebrity chef Michael Ruhlman talks about and signs Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World’s Most Versatile Ingredient, 2 to 3:30 p.m. today.
Portage County District Library (Streetsboro branch, 8990 Kirby Lane) — Brimfield Police Chief David Oliver will talk about social media and sign his book No Mopes Allowed, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Stow Safety Center (3800 Darrow Road) — Mary McClure gives a slide presentation and signs her pictorial history Silver Lake Park, about the 19th-century amusement park, 7 p.m. Monday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Garfield Heights branch, 5400 Transportation Blvd.) — Bryan Fritz and Ken Krsolovic discuss League Park: Historic Home of Cleveland Baseball, 1891-1946, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Akron-Summit County Public Library (Fairlawn-Bath Branch, 3101 Smith Road) — Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Moceanu talks about her life and career and signs her memoir Off Balance, 6 p.m. Thursday.
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson) — Robert Sabuda, children’s book illustrator and pop-up book designer, signs his work from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday; a 9:30 a.m. breakfast with the author is by reservation. Call 330-653-2252.
Strongsville Holiday Inn (15471 Royalton Road) — Members of the Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America chapter and guest Christie Craig hold a book fair at their annual conference, 11 a.m. to noon Saturday. See the list at http://neorwa.com.
Barnes & Noble (198 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake) — Author and filmmaker Scott Lax (The Year that Trembled) reads from and signs his suspense novel Vengeance Follows, 1 p.m. Saturday.
Mac’s Backs (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights) — Novelists Bill Hillman (The Old Neighborhood, about a boy who grows up amid gang violence in Chicago) and Dave Megenhardt (Dogs in the Cathedral, about a drug mule trying to start a new life) read from and sign their work from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Annabell’s Bar & Lounge (782 W. Market St., Akron) — Rochelle Hurt, Hannah Stephenson, Meg Johnson, Frank Giampietro and Carter Strong take part in “The Big Big Mess Reading Series,” 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.