A man with decades of youth min­istry expe­ri­ence is becomin the head of Defi­ance Area Youth For Christ. Brad Sis­son becomes the fourth exec­u­tive direc­tor in the ministry’s his­tory. After turn­ing down inquiries about the open­ing before Sis­son even­tu­ally felt he was being called to the work.

It’s a total loss and now the inves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ues into a house fire at 437 Williams Street late Wednes­day night. Neigh­bors reported the blaze, which the Bryan Times reports had been par­tially obstructed by trees in the front yard. By the time fire crews got there, the whole first floor …

New fenc­ing and ken­nel gates will be going up at the Williams County Dog Pound. Com­mis­sion­ers okayed the projects Thurs­day, reports the Bryan Times, and they also instruc­cted shel­ter offi­cials to start seek­ing quotes on what anew build­ing would cost to put at the cur­rent site just out­side Bryan. The …

Mary J. Lee, 90, of Toledo and formerly of Montpelier passed away Wednesday morning at Hospice of Northwest Ohio in Toledo.  She was born on July 3, 1925 in Bryan, Ohio to Otis W. and Helen Ethel (Trefflich) McClelland.  Mary graduated from Bryan High School in 1943.  On September 26, 1948 she married …

There’s a new per­son atop the Williams County Depart­ment of Aging. Mag­gie Fisher is the department’s for­mer fis­cal offi­cer and replaces Donna Sprow, who left in late August for a posi­tion with Hill­side Coun­try Liv­ing. Fisher’s career at the Depart­ment of Aging began as a seniro cen­ter site man­ager for …

The Coast Guard offi­cially ended its search Wednes­day for the miss­ing crew mem­bers from a U.S. cargo ship that sank off the Bahamas dur­ing Hur­ri­cane Joaquin. Petty Offi­cer Mark Bar­ney said the search for sur­vivors from the El Faro ended at 7 p.m. Ear­lier Wednes­day, the Coast Guard broke the …

There’s a Fall Fes­ti­val hap­pen­ing in the vil­lage of West Unity on Sat­ur­day. The Bryan Times reports it gets under­way with a fire­fighter breakkfast at 6am at the fire hall fol­lowed by a silent auc­tion between 9am and 3pm at the Amer­i­can Legion. Items being bid­ded on includ­ing gift cer­tifi­cates, …

In Spring­field Town­ship, vot­ers have a bal­lot ques­tion to con­sider in the form of a new, five year 1.5 mill levy to help pay for roads and other infra­sc­ture there. Town­ship offi­cials call it crit­i­cal con­sid­er­ing the loss of fund­ing from the estate tax, which the state elim­i­nated. They say …

Karen S. Smith, age 70, of Wauseon passed away Tuesday October 6, 2015 at Heartland of Wauseon. Mrs. Smith was born on February 27, 1945 in Archbold, Ohio the daughter of the late Jefferson and Edith (Grieser) Wyse. At the age of 14, she was baptized at Lockport Mennonite Church. …

Patrick A. Thiel, age 52, of Bryan, Ohio, and a lifelong resident of the Edon, Ohio, area, passed away on Monday, October 5, 2015, in his home. Mr. Thiel was a 1982 graduate of Edon High School and was currently employed by Bryan Packaging. He was a member of St. …