The Hancock County Veterans Service Office and Owens Community College will be holding a Veterans Empowerment Fair.

The event will be held at Owens Community College at 3200 Bright Road in Findlay from 9 to 3 on Saturday, February 25.

The free event will include more than 30 resource booths with information on support programs for wellness, finances, home/environment, growth, and life resources.

Doors open at 9, and 15 minutes later Nichole Coleman, Executive Director of the Hancock County Veterans Service Office, will give the welcome and opening remarks.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol joined forces with other members of the 6-State Trooper Project to focus on speed, safety belt and OVI enforcement on Interstate 75.

During the project, 682 people in Ohio were issued citations including 618 for speed and 52 for safety belt violations. Additionally, 12 people were cited for OVI.

The I-75 high-visibility enforcement effort included the Kentucky State Police, Michigan State Police and OSHP.

The initiative began on Friday, February 17 at 12:01 a.m. and continued through Sunday, February 19 at 11:59 p.m.

Collectively, troopers from Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio cited 955 during the multi-state enforcement effort, including 873 drivers for speed-related violations and 68 for safety belt infractions.

An additional 14 were cited with OVI.

The 6-State Trooper Project is a multi-state law enforcement partnership aimed at providing combined and coordinated law enforcement and security services in the areas of highway safety, criminal patrol and intelligence sharing.

The state police agencies in Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia did not participate in this enforcement effort, as this initiative only included I-75.

(story courtesy of the Ohio State Highway Patrol)

Registration is underway for Camp 911 in Hancock County.

Camp 911 is an interactive safety camp is for kids entering kindergarten and helps them learn basic safety.

The free camp presents important safety lessons such as stranger danger, drug safety and pedestrian safety through a combination of demonstrations, videos, and activities.

Camp 911 is a joint effort led by local emergency response agencies, including Hanco, Findlay Fire and Police Departments, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and Hancock Public Health.

The camp is available to kids across Hancock County who will be entering kindergarten in the fall of 2023.

The camp will be held in June at at First Presbyterian Church at 2330 South Main Street in Findlay.

There will be morning and afternoon sessions.

See some of the activities from last year in the video below.

The Kiwanis Club of Findlay Pancake Day fundraiser is coming up.

The all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausages event is the club’s biggest fundraiser and will be held on Saturday, March 11th at the Findlay High School cafeteria from 7 to 1.

Kiwanian Sarah Clevidence says proceeds from Pancake Day help the Kiwanis Club of Findlay support the youth of Findlay and Hancock County.

The club’s most recent accomplishment was the creation of Brucklacher Memorial Park at the Little Red Schoolhouse, which was the club’s 100th anniversary gift to the community.

The club says support of Pancake Day allows them to reinvest the profit from the event into the community’s youth.

Some investments in the past have included Kiwanis Closets which provide basic clothing supplies to every elementary school in Hancock County.

Pre-sale tickets for Pancake day are $7 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under and seniors.

Tickets may be purchased from any Kiwanis member and also at Smarty Pants Findlay and AAA Findlay Automobile Club on Tiffin Avenue.

The Fostoria Police Division named officer Kyle Reinbolt Officer of the Year for 2022.

The police department cited Officer Reinbolt’s online investigations that caught 15 child sex predators – special investigations he conducted while still working patrol and handling daily calls for service.

Officer Reinbolt also conducted a traffic stop in September of 2022 that led to the arrest of a drug trafficking suspect and confiscation of enough fentanyl to kill everyone in Fostoria twice.

“The City of Fostoria is truly blessed to have you as a member of the Police Force,” read a proclamation from the mayor and police chief.

(Officer Reinbolt is pictured below in a picture courtesy of the Fostoria Police Division)

(ONN) – People are asking what can be done to prevent another train derailment in Ohio after the one in early February in East Palestine.

That question was at the center of a Homeland Security hearing at the Ohio Statehouse.

Tightening safety regulations, and enforcement of those safety regulations has to come at the federal level.

That was the message from a leader of one of the state’s largest rail labor unions.

John Esterly is the chairman of the Ohio State Legislative Board with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the union that represents many railroad employees.

Esterly is pushing for tighter safety regulations in a transportation budget request.

He wants to see two-person crews maintained on freight trains and clearer guidance on wayside defect detectors, which detect issues with rail cars.

Chamberlin Hill Elementary announced the three finalists in its CH Shake competition.

CH Shake is a professional skills competition in which 5^th grade students went through three rounds of handshakes, conversations and interviews and also had to develop a business plan and present it to a panel of judges.

The finalists were Eliza White, Sylvia Alimov and Katie Lichtle who will now represent the school for a day at Chick-fil-A.

On March 6^th the students will report to Chick-fil-A and work alongside employees, doing everything from the cash register to the dining room and drive-thru, and at the end of the day the restaurant will choose a winner.

The winning student will receive Chick-fil-A for their class, and if they end up being the Hancock County winner they’ll receive Chick-fil-A for their entire school.

“They are very excited, they’ve all worked so hard,” said STEAM teacher Tonya Thorbahn.

“I wish you could’ve seen their business proposals because they were just dynamic, and even the judges said we don’t think there are adults that could’ve done what these kids did.”

In the video below we talk to the youngsters about their business proposals and get more from STEAM teacher Tonya Thorbahn and Reading Specialist Rhonda Hiatt.

It turns out that a Findlay house severely damaged in a fire last May will be torn down after all.

Last November, the City of Findlay said the owners of 824 South Main Street told the city they planned to repair the damage, and that structural engineers determined the house would be able to be fixed up.

Now, the owners have decided to have the house torn down, with the demolition to be facilitated by the city.

The city says the money for the demolition will come from the homeowners’ insurance escrow account.

Demolition is slated for March 1^st.

A few weeks after the fire, Fire Chief Josh Eberle told WFIN that the official cause was listed as undetermined. (video of the fire is below)

He said there was a significant amount of damage done to the area of origin, making it hard to pinpoint the exact cause.

And when investigators can’t arrive at a specific cause, a fire must be listed as undetermined.

The house had not been lived in for a while and nobody was injured in the fire.

The house was built in 1898 by Milton Neff, whose family owned Neff Lumber Company in Findlay.

It was in the Neff Family for nearly 100 years until it was sold to the current owners in 1996.

A woman is facing charges after a drug task force executed a search warrant at her Findlay residence.

The Hancock County METRICH Drug Task Force along with the Findlay Police Department and Hancock County Sheriff’s Office searched 614 Putnam Street.

The task force said the search of the residence yielded approximately 2.5 kilograms of marijuana, 34 grams of Psilocybin mushrooms, 226 grams of hashish wax, 461 THC vape pens and cartridges, 59 packages of THC edibles and $1667.00 in cash.

Also collected were numerous items of paraphernalia and items indicative of drug trafficking.

As a result of the search, Brittany M. Hill, 35, was arrested and taken to the Hancock County Justice Center on charges of Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Psilocybin, Possession of THC wax – all 3rd-degree felonies.

She was also cited for some animal violations by the SPCA of Hancock County.

Additional drug-related charges are expected at the conclusion of the investigation.

The Hancock METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit is supported by METRICH in Mansfield, OH and funded in part by the Office of Criminal Justice Services.

The City of Findlay has announced a time change for City Council meetings.

Going forward, City Council meetings will begin at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.

Meetings will continue to take place on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.

The next council meeting will be on Tuesday, March 7^th at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers in the Findlay Municipal Building.

Meetings are also streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.