Archive - 2013 - News Article
April 12th
ST. MARYS — Roughrider senior Austin Dysert exudes everything artsy — the energy in his voice and mannerisms shout theater, but Dysert says this was not always evident to him.
“When I was in elementary school I thought I wanted to be either a chemistry teacher or a chemist,” he said.
His family was big into football, and games would be on every Saturday and Sunday at his house. Dysert hated musicals and had no idea the people he watched on TV were paid to do what they do.
ST. MARYS — St. Marys students swept the national Eagles art competition this year, winning three first place prizes and a fourth place prize when judged against third through sixth grade students from all 50 states.
In the third grade category, Navaeh Emerich won first place, among fourth graders, Konnor Houston won second place, among fifth graders Yuki Kawamura won first place, and among sixth graders Keegan Sawmiller won first and Michael Hurley won fourth place.
MINSTER — After a 25 percent dip in tourism because of lake issues in 2009 and 2010, the Auglaize and Mercer Counties Convention and Visitors Bureau celebrated an 8 percent increase in 2012 tourism, improving on the previous year’s 1 percent gain.
The CVB held its annual awards luncheon, which included special speaker Kathleen Phipps talking on Scenic Stops, a local television show bringing attention to sites and people around Ohio.
April 11th
NEW BREMEN — New Bremen Board of Education members will move forward by looking at scheduling options for community meetings about the November bond issue, as numbers on the cost of a new building may come in as early as next week.
Board member Mandy Niekamp said she believed it would be a good idea to get started with community feedback and get the issue on the ballot for November, then if community feedback is completely negative, there would be time to take the issue off the ballot.
April 10th
CELINA - A St. Marys man was shot and killed Wednesday in Celina, following an incident with law enforcement officials.
CELINA — An unidentified, shirtless man reportedly wearing a cowboy hat and waving a firearm was transported for injuries relating to a shooting on Market Street outside the Lakeshore Auto Sales Wednesday afternoon.
Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said dispatchers received a 911 call about a man in Celina walking down the street with a weapon. The call was transferred to the Celina Police Department.
"Once the officer was on the scene, the next call was that shots were fired and we needed an ambulance," Grey said.
CELINA — Twelve people have been arrested following a drug investigation by the Grand Lake Task Force.
In a news release, Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said the investigation was a combined effort of law enforcement agencies in Mercer and Auglaize counties. Deputies also were assisted by the Celina Police Department.
Those arrested were:
• James C. Prater, 23, 813 Sycamore St., Celina, on three counts of trafficking in heroin, fifth-degree felonies, and one count of trafficking in heroin, a fourth-degree felony.
WAPAKONETA — The Allen County Regional Bomb Squad safely removed a hand grenade from an alley in Wapakoneta Tuesday evening and detonated the explosive device at the Wapakoneta Police Department shooting range near the city composting facility on Wapak-Cridersville Road.
Carol Bogart, 408 Court St., was cleaning yard debris from under an evergreen tree along an east-west alley between Logan and Court streets in the 300 block of West Benton Street when she discovered what appeared to be a hand grenade under the tree.
NEW BREMEN — The search for a new police chief in the village of New Bremen has been whittled down to a list of three candidates.
Councilors held a special session, during which they entered executive session, before the regularly scheduled council meeting Tuesday night. During the special session, officials interviewed two potential candidates for the police chief post. Councilors then interviewed a third following the regular meeting. New Bremen Mayor Jeff Pape said a decision will not be made until background checks can be completed.
ST. MARYS — Dr. Zoheir Abdelbaki, “Dr. Baki,” chief of cardiology at St. Rita’s Medical Center, discussed risk factors for heart disease with contenders in the Grand Health Challenge Tuesday night in Memorial High School auditorium, covering how to help and heal the heart as well as which risk factors are changeable and which are fixed.
To picture the heart, he asked the participants to visualize all the blood flowing in the arteries, and realize that inside each vein there was a tissue coating akin to the non-stick surface of a pan.
