News

Williams County’s com­mis­sion­ers begin their meet­ing tomor­row morn­ing at 8:30 on the fourth floor of the courthouse. The meet­ing includes an update from the Williams County Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, as well as one from Fron­tier regard­ing EMS. Defi­ance County’s com­mis­sion­ers also meet tomor­row morn­ing at 8:30. This meet­ing includes dis­cus­sion …

Williams County’s audi­tor says real estate tax bills should arrive in the mail any day now. Deb Nester says prop­erty own­ers can use a pair of tax sav­ing pro­grams through her office. Peo­ple 65 and older can par­tic­i­pate in the Home­stead Exemp­tion Pro­gram. This pro­gram also wel­comes per­ma­nently dis­abled peo­ple, …

The phone ser­vice provider for Hill­side Coun­try Liv­ing has given a rea­son why the facil­ity has had phone issues over the last year. Notes in a Fron­tier Com­mu­ni­ca­tions repair ticket blames the prob­lems on “fly­ing squirrels.” Regional gen­eral man­ager Dick Hutchin­son claims squir­rels and mice often cause tech­ni­cal difficulties. Hill­side …

The high­way patrol has a new com­man­der at the Van Wert post. The patrol has pro­moted Sgt. Tim­o­thy Grigsby to lieu­tenant as part of his transfer. Grigsby has spent most of the last nine years at the post in Lima. He did spend a year at the Van Wert post …

Bryan Police yes­ter­day arrested a woman from another state on a bench warrant. Police described the ini­tial charge against 35-year-old Kim­berly Sharp of Cam­den, Mich. as pass­ing bad checks. They turned Sharp over the sheriff’s depart­ment, and then she went to the cor­rec­tions center.

Gov­er­nor John Kasich has taken the oath of office for a sec­ond term. In his inau­gu­ra­tion address, he has requested an infu­sion of basic val­ues like respon­si­bil­ity, resiliency, and empa­thy in order to meet challenges. Kasich says his fel­low Repub­li­cans some­times mis­take eco­nomic pros­per­ity as the end goal. He describes …

The ani­mals who have sur­vived the Titan Tire oil spill go home soon. John Win­dau in the DNR’s Wildlife Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Office says offi­cials intend to release the first group of birds back into the wild on Thursday. This release takes place at some spot on the Maumee River. Win­dau says …

The National Alliance on Men­tal Ill­ness next month holds a free edu­ca­tional sem­i­nar for fam­ily and friends of those with men­tal illness. The class has the title “Fam­ily to Family.” It begins Feb. 5 at 6 o’clock at Sher­wood State Bank in Defiance. The 12-week course meets for two and …

The state­house speaker has named Tony Burkley vice chair of the House Agri­cul­ture & Rural Devel­op­ment Committee. Burkley says he feels hon­ored, and that he looks for­ward to find­ing ways to help agri­cul­ture remains the state’s top industry. He has started his sec­ond term in the House.

Three fires in Defi­ance County kept fire­fight­ers busy on Friday. One of these fires sig­nif­i­cantly dam­aged a home on Rosedale Road in Edger­ton, but fire depart­ments appar­ently put it out quickly. That fire sup­pos­edly started with the cou­ple liv­ing there not at home. A sec­ond fire destroyed a pole barn …