Nancy M. (Speiser) Smith, age 76, of Stryker, Ohio died peacefully Thursday night, November 14, 2013 in CHP Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center, surrounded by her family. She was born July 27, 1937 in Defiance, County, Ohio to the late Emery and Margaret (Lantow) Speiser. She was employed by Strydel, …

William H. “Bill” Spangler, 75 years, of Evansport, passed away Thursday, November 14, 2013 at Genesis – Twin Rivers Nursing Home, Defiance.  Bill was born December 23, 1937 in Bryan, the son of Carl and Thelma (Missler) Spangler.  He married Cleona J. Lutz on August 29, 1966 in Bryan.  Bill was a machine …

The Bryan Water Depart­ment has started win­ter­iz­ing the fire hydrants. Win­ter­iz­ing the hydrants ensures the hydrants will func­tion in freez­ing tem­per­a­tures if they are called on. Water depart­ment employ­ees check each hydrant to make sure there is no stand­ing water in the bar­rel. If there is, they pump it out. …

The Defi­ance County Fair­grounds will be dec­o­rated this Decem­ber in cel­e­bra­tion of the Christ­mas sea­son. This year will mark the first year of the cel­e­bra­tion at the fair­grounds. On Dec. 6–8 and 12–14 from 6–10 p.m., the pub­lic is wel­come to come on out and visit the first Christ­mas Light …

The vil­lage of Hol­gate is accept­ing bids on the for­mer school prop­erty along Fra­zier Street. There are sev­eral parcels avail­able for pur­chase, and bids are due at the munic­i­pal build­ing by Decem­ber 2nd. Hol­gate Coun­cil will open and review all bids that are received at their next meet­ing, on Decem­ber …

Beth Kelly, a kinder­garten teacher at Pauld­ing Ele­men­tary School, has been named the 2013 Ohio His­tory Teacher of the Year. A vet­eran teacher with nearly 20 years of expe­ri­ence at the pre-K and ele­men­tary level, Kelly grew up in Pauld­ing County and grad­u­ated from Pauld­ing High School. She holds a …

A col­lec­tion is being held for an Oak­wood fam­ily who lost every­thing in a house fire ear­lier this month. Los­ing their rental home to a fire, David and Laura Peters, their three chil­dren and pets are cur­rently liv­ing with a fam­ily mem­ber in Oak­wood. Cooper Com­mu­nity Library is serv­ing as …

The Ful­ton County dog warden’s web­site, www.fultoncountyoh.com/dogwarden, debuted a new sec­tion this week fea­tur­ing pho­tos of dogs avail­able for adop­tion. The page now allows the depart­ment to post pho­tos of lost and avail­able dogs, mak­ing the return of lost ani­mals to their right­ful home — or plac­ing them in new …

Deborah A. Rupp, age 61, of Fort Wayne and formerly of Edgerton, passed away at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 15, 2013, at Vibra Hospital in Fort Wayne. She was a graduate of Edgerton High School and worked for several area businesses including Pepsi Company, the Bryan Times and Park …

Bennie Irvin Beck, age 76, of Montpelier, Ohio, died at 1:15 A.M. on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, in his home, surrounded by his family, after a brief illness. Mr. Beck was a 1955 graduate of Montpelier High School, where he was an accomplished athlete in track, in which he still …