HUNTERS GUIDE

2015 10A

FALL HOME &

GARDEN Insert

Harvest Times - Insert

Tips, Recipes, Predictions for Fall

WEDNESDAY,
APRIL 30,19,
2014
WEDNESDAY,
WEDNESDAY,
SEPTEMBER
NOVEMBER
23,
2014
2015

E Edition at www.progressnewspaper.org
Volume 141 No. 5, Paulding, Ohio

One Dollar

USPS 423630

INSIDE Sentence handed

Special sales
events from ...
Chief, Rite Aid,
Rural King,
Westrichs

Around
Paulding
County
Lehman benefit
planned Sept. 26

PAULDING A benefit
event is planned for Oscar
Oggie Lehman on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Paulding
Eagles. Admission is a $1
lottery ticket.
Lehman was diagnosed
with stage 4 cancer in July.
The day starts with an
8-ball pool tournament with
sign-up from 10-11:30 a.m.
and play starting at noon.
A poker run begins at noon
with last bike in at 5 p.m. A
corn hole tournament will
be held at 7 p.m. as well as a
kids corn hole tournament at
2 p.m.
Also scheduled are a DJ
at 7 p.m., food by free will
donation, raffles, 50/50, silent
auction and bake sale.
Anyone wishing to donate
to the event should contact
Kasey at 419-506-2930 or
Stacey at 419-399-9164.

Lady Panthers
to host Volley
for the Cure

PAULDING It will be
a special night of volleyball
at Paulding High School on
Monday, Sept. 28. The Panthers will host a Volley for
the Cure event at their match
against Delta. The teams will
be raising awareness and
funds for the Susan G. Komen
foundation for breast cancer.
The event will start at 4:30
p.m. with the freshmen team
playing followed by junior
varsity and varsity matches.
There will be a bake sale
and 50/50 raffle taking place
during the games.
The Lady Panthers would
like to invite the community
to wear pink or the 2015
Volley for the Cure shirts
that were sold, and come out
to support the team and this
great cause on Monday.

down for fatal

traffic accident

By DENISE GEBERS
Progress Staff Writer
PAULDING A Paulding man was sentenced for
vehicular manslaughter last
week for the death of a Grover Hill woman last September.
Lewis Belcher, 74, who
had entered a no contest plea
to vehicular manslaughter
(M2) in August, was given
a multi-faceted order by the
Court on Sept. 17 following
emotional statements to the
Court by family members of
the deceased.
He was ordered to pay
$12,349.81 restitution to the
family of Shirley Hunsaker
who passed away last September of injuries she sustained in an Aug. 24, 2014
crash at the intersection of
Roads 232 and 143 in Emerald Township.
His drivers license was
suspended for two years and
he will need to pay a reinstatement fee to get it back at
the end of the suspension.
Additionally, he was
placed on a two-year probation, being required to attend
monthly meetings with his
probation officer during the
period.
Fine and costs totaled
$933.47. He is to pay $100
each month and must pay
the total before his probation
will be released. The entire
amount must be paid by
June 24 or the matter will be
turned over for collection.

Belcher was also ordered

to complete 80 hours of
community service.
A 90-day jail sentence
was suspended as long as he
complies with the balance of
his sentence.
A charge of negligent vehicular homicide (M1) had
been filed by the Ohio State
Highway Patrol in Dec. 10,
but the State of Ohio filed
an amended complaint on
Aug. 5 including the second
charge.
The original charge was
dismissed.
A Progress article about
the crash said Belcher ran a
stop sign while westbound
on Road 232, his minivan
striking a minivan driven
by Hunsaker on Road 143.
Her husband, Dewayne, was
a front seat passenger. All
three were transported from
the scene.
Belcher was treated at
Paulding County Hospital
and released. The Hunsakers
were transported to Defiance
Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Fort
Wayne for treatment.
Mrs. Hunsaker passed
away on Sept. 14 at Van
Wert Inpatient Hospice.
Alcohol was not a factor in
the collision, and blood tests
on Belcher revealed he may
have had a heart attack.
A civil lawsuit against
Belcher by the Hunsakers is
pending in Paulding County
Common Pleas Court.

Melinda Krick/Paulding County Progress

Vandals damaged a skateboard ramp at Pauldings skateboard park early Sept. 14 after lighting
a mattress on fire. The incident is under investigation.

Fire damages skatepark

By MELINDA KRICK
Progress Editor
PAULDING Paulding Police Department
is investigating a fire that damaged a portion of
the villages skatepark early last Monday.
The department received a call about a fire
at the park at 5:07 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14. On
arrival, a police officer found a mattress on fire
atop one of the skate ramps. No one was observed in the park, which is closed from dusk to
dawn.
The Mary Sal Hench Skateboard Park is
located off Emerald Road next to LaFountain
Park. It opened Oct. 30, 2005 and was named
for its major benefactor, who grew up in Paulding.
The Paulding Fire Department arrived on
scene and extinguished the flames.
No injuries were reported.

The damaged ramp originally cost $4,500

when installed, but replacement cost will be
higher, according to police.
On Tuesday, a gate lock was found broken
and a gate was bent.
Village resident Carol Cowell, who helped
spearhead the skateboard parks construction,
spoke to police and was given permission to
clean up debris from the fire and reopen the park.
We worked hard over the weekend and now the
park is open, Cowell reported Monday.
An insurance claim has been filed for the
damage, she added.
Cowell, who is a member of the villages
recreation committee, said officials are looking
into placing a security light as a vandalism deterrent.
If anyone has information about the incident,
contact the police department at 419-399-3311.

Scenes from the Fall Festival

Thanks to you ...

Tawnya English/Paulding County Progress

Wed like to thank Emma

Rosengarten of Leipsic for
subscribing to the Progress!

There was plenty to do at this years Flat Rock Creek Fall Festival,
held at the fairgrounds in Paulding Sept. 18-20.

Judy Wells/Paulding County Progress

ABOVE The broommaker, whos been at the

same corner for the past
several years, drew a
large crowd of onlookers
at the Festival.

Five Star Construction

Specializing in:
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Roofs (shingle or metal) Concrete
Decks Siding Pole Barns

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Home & Roof
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Tawnya English/Paulding County Progress

Fall Festival visitors enjoyed a quilt show among the many attractions. Other events included championship draft horse pulls,
antique tractor pulls and live music.

2A - Paulding County Progress Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Active meeting for Antwerp Council

By JOE SHOUSE
Progress Staff Writer
ANTWERP Antwerp Village
Council on Monday accepted a bid
for its old fire truck, heard the lowto moderate-income confidential
surveys continue to be received and
new Christmas decorations will be installed this holiday season downtown.
After receiving three bids for the
purchase of the old fire truck, council unanimously passed a motion
to accept the bid by Baker Farms of
$2,025.
There were no bids received on the
two properties located at 118 and 120
Oswalt Street. The consensus was to
seek bids in the spring of 2016.
New Christmas decorations have
been purchased and will be installed
in Nov. on 20 poles throughout the
village. The mounted LED lighted
decorations were purchased by the
generous donations from the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce, VFW
and Antwerp Community Development Committee (ACDC). During the
meeting, the ACDC presented council with a donation in the amount of
$2,500. The VFW gave $1,911 and
$1,000 from the chamber.
ACDC members approached coun-

cil seeking information on how to

request additional electrical outlets
during the annual ribfest to accommodate the vendors. Council assured
ACDC they would pursue their request to be better equipped for next
years event.
Village administrator Sara Keeran
reported:
Waterline replacement project on
West Woodcox is to start this week.
The project is to be completed by the
end of the year. Traffic will be open to
local traffic only.
The new standards for building/
rental properties are still being considered. The standards used by the
Village of Montpelier have been forwarded to the Maumee Valley Planning Organization for their housing inspectors to review. Based on their suggestions, a public service committee
meeting will be called to review their
suggestions for establishing a rental
inspection program for Antwerp.
The second of three rounds of
mailing the confidential income survey was completed and as of Sept. 14,
178 surveys have been returned. A
total of 300 returned surveys are required for a qualified survey. Of the
178 returned, 79 were non-LMI and

99 were LMI (low to moderate income) which is 55 percent LMI. The

threshold to meet is 51 percent which
the village is surpassing at this time.
A third mailing is scheduled to go out
later this week. After the final mailing if additional surveys are needed,
a door to door canvassing will be undertaken. Residents with questions or
needing a survey should contact the
village administrator.
Currently a $100 water/sewer/
trash deposit is required by renters
when moving in to a dwelling. The
$100 deposit is not enough to cover
a normal quarterly water bill let alone
additional trash pick up. Currently
the average quarterly bill without any
water usage is a minimum of $90.74.
Therefore, Keeran suggested the deposit amount be increased from $100
to $150. An amendment to the ordinance allowing the increase will need
to be brought before council at a later
date in order to permit the increase.
By a recent Ohio Supreme Court
decision, it was determined that metal
storage bins (grain bins) are now considered personal property. Due to the
new decision, the Village of Antwerp
was informed by the Paulding County
Economic Development office that all

metal corrugated modular units which

can be disassembled and reassembled,
moved or sold are not personal property and will not carry a value as real
property. This will be adjusted for tax
year 2015 payable in 2016.
The village currently has two community reinvestment area agreements
with Mercer Landmark for grain
storage bins. One was established in
August 2006 with an expiration date
of July 15, 2015. The second bin was
established in June 2007 with an expiration date set for June 10, 2016.
Mercer Landmark has been paying
to the village approximately $4,571
each year because the bins have been
classified as real property. Now, with
the court decision, abatement will not
generate any more re-directed taxes to
the village after the payment this year.
The new facility that will house the
office for Dr. Sarah Mowery continues to take the necessary steps for construction. The architect has submitted
a zoning application and the building
permit was also included in the application. The new projected cost is estimated at $600,000.
Trick-or-Treat is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 31 from 5-6:30 p.m.
The mayor will have Thursday

night with the mayor from 6:30-7:30

p.m. Mayor Tom Vanvlerah will be
in office to meet with village residents
who may have a question or concern
they would like to share with the
mayor.
Council heard the first reading of
Ordinance 2015-28 establishing a
policy on the reimbursement to the
village for emergency medical technician training costs. The purpose of the
ordinance is that training is very expensive and in order to advance funds
for the training, which at times can
cost in excess of $5,000, the recipient
will be required to complete the training and stay with the program a minimum of one year. If the trainee fails to
complete the agreement, they will be
required to pay back to the village the
amount invested in their training.
Police Chief George Clemens reported that 214 calls for service were
received in August with 34 offenses
written into mayors court.
The council gave permission to
Fire Chief Ray Friend to install a new
300-gallon diesel fuel tank to be located between the fire house and the
EMS building. There will be no cost
to the village for the new tank or its
installation.

Paulding Council hears drainage

complaints from two residents
By SAMANTHA HABERN
Correspondent
PAULDING Two citizens came to the
Paulding Village Council on Monday, Sept. 21
to discuss drainage issues in their areas.
The first was Karen Sunday, who was returning to make sure the drainage issues at Emerald
Acres she had brought to the attention of the
council last week was still being worked on.
She stated she knew that the problem wasnt
going to be fixed overnight, but didnt want the
issue to be put on the back burner. She said she
was happy as long as progress was being made.
The council stated that the issue is being
looked into. This past weekend, during the rainfall, tests were run to figure out where all the
water was going from one water basin. To the
councils surprise, it was going, for some reason,
to a sanitary sewer.
It was stated that the council is learning more
about the area and that hopefully a short-term
fix will be found for the time being while a longterm solution is being looked at.
The second citizen was Sarah Knapp. After
living at her home for nine years, she was forced
to leave on June 27 due to flooding, costing her

about $15,000-$20,000 in damages.

The flooding was speculated to be the result of
the drain in a nearby alley not working properly.
Knapp stated that this had never happened before.
Council was stumped as to what caused the
problem in the first place, and admitted that they
do not know a lot about the area. The council
plans to meet with Knapp this week to piece together what the issue is and hopefully resolve it.
A utility meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 28 to discuss the drainage issues.
Council heard the second reading of Resolution 1309-15 accepting the amounts and rates as
determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying
them to the county auditor.
Councilman Tim Boss was appointed to the
Planning Commission board.
A pre-construction meeting will be held at 9
a.m. Friday, Sept. 25 to discuss the Gasser Road
and Walnut Street project.
There was an executive session held for legal
matters.
The next council meeting will be at 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 5.
BIKE RODEO Cub Scout Pack 317, Paulding, recently held a Bike Safety Rodeo. The children
learned about bike safety rules, skills and hazards. They had a campfire with snacks, and got to
run some cars down the Pinewood Derby track. It was a very fun day. Anyone interested in joining
the pack can find them on BeAScout.org.

The Progress ...

has been serving
county readers and
businesses for more
than a century!

Paulding County Progress

copyright 2015 Published weekly by The
Paulding County Progress, Inc. P.O. Box 180,
113 S. Williams St., Paulding, Ohio 45879
Phone 419-399-4015 Fax: 419-399-4030
website: www.progressnewspaper.org
Doug Nutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publisher
Advertising - dnutter@progressnewspaper.org

Melinda Krick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor

News - progress@progressnewspaper.org

Ruth Snodgrass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circulation

subscription@progressnewspaper.org

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Judy Wells/Paulding County Progress

Eating corn on the cob was just part of the fun at the Flat Rock
Festival for 4-year-old Tyler Hanneman of Fort Jennings. He and
Tawnya English/Paulding County Progress
his mom and dad and sister said they enjoyed the sunny weather Signs of autumn were everywhere at the Flat Rock Creek Fall Festival last weekend.
on Sunday.

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