7/3/17 – 7:20 A.M.
Local gas prices continue to fall, even as we’re in the middle of the extended Independence Day travel weekend. OhioGasPrices.com reports the average price in Findlay is $2.01 per gallon today. That’s down 13 cents from last Monday. Some Findlay stations are back under $2 per gallon.
Last year we were paying around $1.94 per gallon at this time.
Drivers in Ottawa report paying $2.09 per gallon today. That’s a 10 cent drop over the last seven days.
7/3/17 – 7:09 A.M.
A one-car crash killed a man in Allen County over the weekend. The State Highway Patrol reports the incident happened just before 1 a.m. Sunday near Harrod.
21-year-old Erik Neely was driving east on Clum Road when his pickup truck went off the road and hit a power pole. The truck overturned and ejected Neely.
A witness said the truck was driving at high speeds just before the crash. The State Patrol suspects alcohol is a factor in the incident.
7/3/17 – 7:02 A.M.
A fixture at Findlay’s Chamberlin Hill Intermediate School is making a comeback. The Courier reports a community effort to restore the Land Lab outdoor learning space has brought back the facility. The outdoor space had been a place for students to learn about science in a hands-on environment. Seven Eagle Scout projects over the years helped improve and add to the facility.
However unwanted growth at the lab increased, eventually to the point where the school couldn’t use it anymore.
That changed when neighborhood resident Sarah Palmer and Susie Stratton of Stratton Greenhouses in Bluffton asked if they could fix it. Members of the Findlay High School football team helped remove weeds and thistles. Millstream Career Center students repaired the boardwalk and benches in the area.
MORE: The Courier
7/3/17 – 5:35 A.M.
It will be a fairly quiet week for Putnam County road work. ODOT says crews will replace berm stone in two locations. You’ll see possible lane restrictions on State Route 613 between Leipsic and the Hancock County line as well as on State Route 613 between Continental and the Paulding County line.
The ODOT Putnam County maintenance garage will perform the work.
7/3/17 – 5:30 A.M.
Road resurfacing will continue to keep construction crews busy in Findlay this week. ODOT says resurfacing work is set for U.S. 224 between Broad and Main Streets, on State Route 12 from I-75 to Main Street, State Route 37 from Lincoln Avenue to Blanchard Avenue, and on State Route 568 between Main Street and Beech Avenue.
ODOT will reduce the roads to one lane at times as the work continues.
Elsewhere crews will reduce State Route 613 between Van Buren and Fostoria to one lane while they remove pavement reflectors for an upcoming chip seal project.
7/3/17 – 5:30 A.M.
There are several questions that come up when it comes to maintenance and the Blanchard River. Hancock County Commissioner Brian Robertson recently sat down with us to answers some of those questions. Robertson says a common misconception is that Hancock County can act on its own for maintenance projects…
Audio: Brian Robertson
Robertson says even plans to clean up the Dalzell Ditch required the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to sign off on the permit for the project.
A common complaint often heard about Blanchard River is that trees removed from the river aren’t taken out of the floodplain. Robertson says it’s not the best plan, but it is more cost effective…
Audio: Brian Robertson
Robertson says the lower price point is a big part of getting other counties involved in funding the project to sign off on it.
The Hancock County Commissioners would like to see more Blanchard River maintenance in the future. Robertson says the county sales tax paid for Hancock County’s share of the 2013 river maintenance…
Audio: Brian Robertson
Robertson says a part of the proposed three-quarter percent sales tax could pay for regular river maintenance, as well as other flood reduction projects.
7/3/17 – 5:18 A.M.
The investigation into a weekend crash that killed a Findlay woman in Wyandot County continues today. The State Highway Patrol reports 67-year-old Darlene Kujawa lost her life after her car hit a semi-truck attempting a U-turn on U.S. 23 between Upper Sandusky and Carey Saturday night.
A medical helicopter took Kujawa to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo in an attempt to save her. Medical helicopters also took a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old in Kujawa’s car to St. Vincent for treatment. They were in stable condition Sunday morning. EMS crews took a 7-year-old in the car to Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay. Doctors treated the boy and then released him.
Investigators say 35-year-old Normurod Roziko of Nile, Illinois was driving the semi. He attempted the U-turn at the intersection of U.S. 23 and County Road 42 around 10:30 p.m. The State Patrol says Roziko failed to yield to Kujawa while turning left. They do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash.
The collision closed both sides of U.S. 23 for around three hours.
7/3/17 – 5:02 A.M.
Putnam County emergency responders rescued a kayaker stuck in the Blanchard River Sunday afternoon. The sheriff’s office reports 27-year-old Casandra Brinkman was kayaking with friends near Gilboa when she got stuck in a logjam around 12:30 p.m. Metal debris in the river damaged the kayak, separating Brinkman from it.
The sheriff’s office says the river was running high due to recent rain.
A volunteer searcher on an ATV found Brinkman about a quarter-mile west of County Road 5. The Continental Fire Department used a water rescue boat to get to the woman.