COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — For many people, there’s a place they return to again and again — a favorite restaurant, bar, or gym.

For Technical Sgt. Tyler Simmons, that place was the roller rink.

Simmons was a familiar face at Skate Zone 71, where friends say he spent countless nights gliding across the rink and building a tight-knit community around his love of skating.

Those who knew him say it wasn’t just his skating skills that stood out — it was his personality.

“He would be a light,” said friend James Breneman. “Just seeing him every few months, seeing him come back, it was really good.”

Friends say Simmons had a way of making everyone feel welcome whenever he walked through the door.

“He made it a point to show you love every time he was in a building or any space he was in,” said Rashon Streater, a DJ at Skate Zone 71.

For many at the rink, Simmons was more than a friend.

“That was my brother,” said Ty Carter. “His smile could literally light up a room. His laugh was beyond contagious.”

But skating wasn’t Simmons’ only passion.

He also served his country as a technical sergeant and boom operator with the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base.

On Thursday, March 12, Simmons was among six service members killed when an air tanker crashed during a mission in Iraq.

The news has left his skating community grieving the loss of someone many describe as irreplaceable.

“It’s super sad. It’s super unfortunate. It hurts,” Streater said.

Carter says he’s still struggling to process the loss.

“Still processing everything and now having to adjust life without my brother being here,” Carter said. “Honestly, I’m just still numb.”

Friends say Simmons’ impact will never fade.

“The impact he left can never be matched,” Carter added. “You only get one person like him. I’m going to miss my brother literally to the end of time.”

Those closest to Simmons will gather Saturday at 7 p.m. at Skate Zone 71 to honor his life and the memories he created on the rink.

A woodland species long absent from the forests of Ohio has made a triumphant return. For the first time in centuries, wildlife officials have documented the appearance of a furry creature known as the fisher.

Officials at the Cleveland Metroparks detailed the fisher’s comeback, caught on a wildlife camera last year, in a recent Instagram post. It’s the first verified sighting of the mammal in the region since the 1800s, when it was locally driven to extinction. Its reappearance is likely a sign that conservation efforts in the area and nearby states are beginning to bear fruit.

“This is tremendously exciting, as this is yet another extirpated native Ohio mammal species to be documented for the first time in Cleveland Metroparks,” officials said in the post.

A resurgent fisher

The fisher is formally known as Pekania pennanti (or Martes pennanti). It belongs to a large family of carnivorous mammals known as mustelids, which includes weasels, otters, and badgers. Despite the nickname, these tree-climbing mammals actually mostly feed on rabbits, birds, and other small critters; they’re also one of the few animals brave enough to regularly hunt porcupines.

Fishers are now commonly found in the northernmost forests across North America, but their range used to extend farther south throughout the U.S. During the 19th and 20th centuries, however, fisher populations in states like Ohio were devastated by overhunting (they were prized for their fur) and logging-related habitat loss.

Many states had passed hunting restrictions on fishers by the mid-1950s, allowing them to avoid complete extinction. Their overall population numbers today are healthy, but they still haven’t returned to many of the areas of the country where they were once common, and local populations in northwestern states like Washington remain threatened. That makes their recent reemergence in Ohio all the more monumental.

According to Cleveland Metroparks officials, there have been several dozen reports of fishers in the state since 2013. The animal’s latest camera cameo, though, is the first verified sighting in Cuyahoga County since the 1800s, state wildlife officials said.

Returning species

The fisher isn’t the only animal as of late to have found its way back to the region.

“The return of fishers and other [locally extinct] species like otters, bobcats and trumpeter swans are a result of conservation efforts and emphasize the importance of our healthy forests, wetlands, waterways and natural areas in Cleveland Metroparks,” officials said. Reintroduction and breeding programs in nearby states like Pennsylvania and New York might have also facilitated the fisher’s reestablishment.

There are obviously many other native species in North America that remain threatened. That said, it’s nice to take a victory lap when you can.