Monthly Archives: September 2019

Reward Offered For Information Into Woman’s Death At State Park

(ONN) – The family of a 44-year old woman from Chillicothe who was killed in Hocking Hills State Park on Labor Day wants to know the circumstances surrounding how she died — and they’re hoping a $10,000 dollar reward will help.

Photographer Victoria Schafer was at the park with some high school students to take their senior pictures.

The group was at Old Man’s Cave when a heavy log became “dislodged” and fell on top of her, killing her.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says it’s looking for a group of people in connection to her death, and believe someone saw something that day.

Victoria’s husband, Fritz, hopes getting answers in her death can prevent this from happening to someone else.

Anyone who has information that could help authorities, including video or pictures from the park on that day, should contact Southern Ohio Crime Stoppers at 740-773-8477 or the ODNR at 614-799-9538.

Pickup Truck From Fatal Hit-And-Run Crash Still Not Located

An area man has died from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run crash.

Anthony Ervin, 18, of Bloomdale, was struck around 10:45 Wednesday night by a small, silver pickup truck on Napoleon Road near Terra State Community College in Fremont, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol.

He was flown from the scene to a hospital in Toledo and then later transferred to OSU Medical Center in Columbus.

He died on Saturday.

The highway patrol says Ervin was outside his vehicle after crashing when he was struck by the passing truck, which kept going.

The small, silver pickup was never located, and anyone with information on its whereabouts is urged to contact the highway patrol at 419-322-0085.

Cameras Set Up To Investigate Mid-Block Crosswalk Issues In Findlay

(WFIN) – You may have noticed a large stand with cameras in Downtown Findlay.

Mayor Christina Muryn explained that they have had issues in the mid-block cross and the cameras are there to help.

Muryn said that they don’t think there will be any construction-related projects needed to fix the issue.

Suicide Prevention Vigil & Butterfly Release In Findlay

At an event in Findlay over the weekend, 100 butterflies were released into the air to signify the goal of preventing 100 percent of suicides.

“Yes! There goes a hundred monarchs. This should be your inspiration to get you excited about going out and making a change in this community,” said Eric McKee, the executive director of NAMI Hancock County.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness put on the Suicide Prevention Vigil & Butterfly Release on Sunday at Gateway Plaza, off of Main Street just north of the Blanchard River.

The event featured 11 silhouettes painted black that symbolize the 11 people who died by suicide in Hancock County last year.

Another 12 yellow silhouettes symbolize the projected suicide deaths for 2020, the ones that McKee says we can work together to help save.

At the event, it was also announced that a butterfly garden will be built and two benches placed in the gazebo at Gateway Plaza so people will have a nice place to sit down and talk.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

If you need help or would like to volunteer your time to help someone with a mental illness click here.

Barn Owner Shares Memories Of Her Historic Barn During Event

Hundreds of people enjoyed the Hancock Historical Museum’s Historic Barn Tour over the weekend.

We spoke with Pat Howard inside her historic barn on Township Road 160 in Mt. Blanchard.

“You know, we just have so many wonderful memories with this barn, and I feel blessed to be here and to share it with so many other people who enjoy barns.”

She says, thanks to the museum’s research, she now knows her barn was built in the 1850s and is much older than she realized.

Pat talked about how she had a pet sow that had litter after litter of baby pigs and just loved to be petted.

They named her Pet, and would show her off to their cousins how she would lay down so they could rub her belly.

Five barns were on the barn tour this year.

Storm Brings Down Tree In Front Of Findlay Home

The storms that blew through Findlay Friday night, causing the 2 1/2 hour delay at the football game, brought down part of Scott Wolke’s tree in his front yard on Marcelle Avenue.

“It did clip the edge of the house and did some gutter damage but other than that we did get pretty lucky,” he told us as he was starting to cut up the tree.

Scott says the rest of the tree will have to come down as well, so if you need some firewood, you know who to ask.

Scott’s had bad luck with trees lately. He also had a tree in his backyard struck by lightning and lost another tree to the Emerald Ash Borer.

‘Touch A Truck’ A Big Hit With The Little Ones

Kids were treated to a very cool hands-on experience during the Touch a Truck event at the Hancock County Fairgrounds over the weekend.

We spoke with Lindsey after her daughter Wynter got a ride in a big John Deere tractor.

“She loves big trucks and she was really excited when we told her we were going to see big trucks today.”

Lindsey says they’re having some work done on their house and her daughter has been watching intently and seems to be especially interested in the excavator.

She says Wynter was having a great time at the event, checking out tractors, semis and emergency vehicles as well.

You can see Wynter hopping up into a tractor in the video below.

The event was sponsored by the Hancock County Farm Bureau, Garner Trucking and FIC Dealerships.

President Trump Coming To Northwest Ohio

President Donald Trump will be in northwest Ohio on Sunday.

The White House has confirmed that the president will be in Wapakoneta, and will be joined by the Prime Minister of Australia for a tour of a new Australian-owned manufacturing facility.

Australian officials say their visit will demonstrate the strong trade and investment relationship between the United States and Australia.

This will be Trump’s third visit to the Buckeye State in less than two months.

He held a rally at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on August 1st and he visited Dayton less than a week after the mass shooting there in August.

Findlay Municipal Building Entrance Temporarily Moving

The City of Findlay is letting people know that the entrance to the municipal building will be temporarily moved for a few days.

The city says for Monday, September 16th and Tuesday, September 17th the entrance to the municipal building will be temporarily moved to the south side entrance, which is the entrance that faces the south (Crawford Street) parking lot.

All employees and visitors to the municipal building will have to use the south entrance for those two days.

The Dorney Plaza entrance (east entrance) is being temporarily closed for entryway repair and will be inaccessible during the process.

Sheriff’s Office Tickets Man After Crash On U.S. 224

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says a man was cited for running a stop sign and causing a crash east of Findlay that shook up four people.

The crash happened around 9:15 Saturday night on U.S. 224 at County Road 330.

The sheriff’s office says David Gebby, 53, of Fostoria, was driving north on County Road 330 in his truck when he didn’t yield at the stop sign and was hit by an SUV that was going east on U.S. 224.

Front and side airbags deployed in the SUV.

Gebby and a passenger, as well as two people in the other vehicle, were treated on the scene by EMS crews and released.

The sheriff’s office says Gebby was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign.