Community members line Main Street with flags to cheer on passengers aboard charter buses for the final Logan County Vets to D.C. trip in September. (EXAMINER FILE PHOTO)
Here’s a review of some of the top headlines in Logan County for the second half of 2023 (The top stories from the first six months were detailed in the Saturday, Dec. 30, edition):
July
Bellefontaine students restart sister-city swap — For 32 years, the city of Bellefontaine has maintained a friendship with its sister-city of Suzuka, Japan. But that relationship was kept at a distance for the last few years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 24, eight students and two adult chaperones boarded an airplane to fly 6,000 miles to interact with their host families and other Suzuka officials. Participants included Mason Swisher, Libby Siefring, Winnie Bodin, Lottie Bodin, Declan Shannon, Simon Kauffman, Neil Kauffman and Sophia Kauffman and chaperones Kris Swisherand Ryan Spath.
“This year, the (Bellefontaine) students were asked to prepare a conversation about a certain topic (chosen by the Suzuka students),” said Swisher, who is chaperoning for her third time. “And they decided on the topic of covid. So each student prepared a few statements and things they went through to share with them.”
Once completed, their responses were sent to Japan to be translated so they’re ready to be presented when the kids arrive. Their memories of covid included missing family, how it affected sports, health and social interactions as well as all those “weird signs up at storefronts.”
Each participant will stay with a family in Suzuka during their visit. The week in Japan included sightseeing, shopping and participating in a traditional tea ceremony. They will also spend two days touring Tokyo before starting back for the States Aug. 1.
August
CCS breaks ground on $8.5M school building — Calvary Christian School kicked off a major expansion and construction project Aug. 4 for a new 50,000-square foot school building, which has been “powered by so many stories of God’s hand, working behind the scenes,” Head of School Ryan Hyde said.
The $8.5 million phase two building at 1673 County Road 9, Bellefontaine, will incorporate 25 classrooms, along with a full-sized gymnasium, full-service cafeteria, specials classrooms for programs like art and music, library/media center, intervention space and locker rooms. Earth moving began right away after the ceremony by Link Construction Group.
When the facility opens to students in about 1 1/2 years, it will join the phase one building on the grounds, which also will expand with the addition of several classrooms during this new construction phase.
Logan County Chamber of Commerce Director Lydia Hess said the project is “a huge investment in our community. These types of investments in our youth we’ve found are the most successful.”
The school, which first opened in the late 1970s at 1140 Rush Ave. campus, has experienced exponential growth in recent years, following the school’s accreditation, along with parents wanting new educational avenues for their children during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Head of School Dan Bragg noted.
“Previously, our enrollment was around 100-200 students. Now our current enrollment stands at 450, and with the completion of the phase two building, our projected enrollment will be 750.”
September
LCS opens new $1.7M facility to meet community needs — Lutheran Community Services Executive Director Kim Collum reflected on the organization’s many blessings Sept. 21 during a grand opening celebration for the new facility that doubles its space for coming alongside members of the Logan County community.
It was exactly a year to the date that LCS first broke ground on the building at 820 W. Sandusky Ave., Bellefontaine, across from Harmon Field Park. The new site is just six blocks from its previous location at 230 Oakland Square, Collum noted.
LCS celebrated the brand new, $1.7 million facility that will meet so many community needs for nourishment, clothing, housing and perhaps most importantly — fellowship and friendship — among its walls.
Inside the new space, area residents can pick up a quick sack lunch mid-day, receive a hot meal in the evenings with good company and friendly kitchen staff and volunteers at Our Daily Bread, or enjoy shopping for some new outfits and other bargains at the thrift store.
Our Daily Bread serves sack lunches from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, a program that was started during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has stayed a popular service, with LCS serving as many as 170 lunches some days, Collum noted.
The evening meals are served from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the very first meal served Friday evening, Sept. 22. The kitchen staff are loving the expanded space and new capabilities, they noted during the open house celebration, where they catered a plentiful buffet of items and specialty cupcakes.
In addition to the meals served at Our Daily Bread, LCS also has a food pantry available on a once a month basis to provide enough food for an entire household, now in a better set up, staff member Evelyn Titus noted.
To find out more about LCS and its services, visit https://www.becomebettertogether.org/. Donation information about the capital campaign is also available on the website.
Final Logan County Vets to D.C. trip departs — Seventy distinguished veteran guests traveled to Washington, D.C., this fall in the seventh and final trek to the nation’s capital organized by Logan County Vets to D.C.
Sept. 22, the largest contingent yet for the Logan County group, about 180 strong when including traveling companions and volunteers, departed the Logan County Fairgrounds in three charter buses.
Among the ranks of the retired service members are six Korean War veterans, along with a number of Vietnam War era veterans. Their sacrifices for their country are honored with the fully paid trip to D.C. to see their war memorials and participate in a number of other meaningful activities as a group.
The annual trips began in 2016, and continued through 2019 prior to the pandemic.
While the 2020 and 2021 trips were put on hold, two D.C. trips were conducted last year — one in the spring and another in the fall.
The decision that this 2023 trip would be the final trek was made after recent application numbers had dwindled a little. Organizer Scott Stewart said the organization believes it has reached nearly all of those county residents who were interested and eligible for the trip, which has included retired service members from the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War eras.
“It is bittersweet thinking about the trips coming to an end. I’ve cried more than I thought that I would,” the organizer said. “But we have really accomplished what we’ve set out to do. We’re grateful to be able to enable veterans to get to see their memorials and have this time of healing and remembrance and to be able to make connections with fellow veterans and their families.
“The community support has been second-to-none. I know first-hand how giving people are in Bellefontaine and Logan County.”
Moving forward, Logan County Vets to D.C. will not disband, but plans to continue hosting local events for veterans and its mission of supporting retired service members.
October
Opening of Riverside Community Health Center celebrated — After more than two decades, residents in the village of DeGraff and the surrounding areas — young and old alike — have medical care available to them at a close-to-home site unveiled Oct. 13 at the dedication of the Riverside Community Health Center.
The 1,500 square-foot health center addition installed at Riverside Local Schools at a cost of approximately $2.8 million is made possible through a “crazy idea,” according to Superintendent Dr. Scott Mann, and a close collaboration between the school and Community Health & Wellness Partners.
It was a need that sprung out of the pandemic, when the district leader observed the delays that families in the area experienced with having their children seen at medical offices located in nearby bigger cities. The students often missed multiple days of school before they could be seen by a provider, and it was challenging for parents to rearrange work schedules to make it to the appointments.
Dr. Mann and Riverside Treasurer Ronnie Fitchpatrick reached out to CHWP President/CEO Tara Bair in 2020 regarding the need for a school-based health center, which quickly evolved into the idea for a health center serving the entire community.
Bair applied for and was awarded a school-based health center grant from the Ohio Department of Health/Ohio Department of Education for the site totaling $683,000.
Garmann Miller provided the design work for the space, and in recent months, construction firm H.A. Dorsten Inc. completed the build.
Now Riverside students and staff, along with area residents, can take advantage of medical and behavioral health care available at the Riverside Community Health Center, which features clinic spaces for students and staff on one end of the building, and separate clinic space for the public on the other side of the facility.
To make an appointment, the clinic can be reached at (937) 599-1411.
New aerial ladder truck now in service — A special delivery several years in the making arrived at the Bellefontaine Fire Department Oct. 31 in the form of a $1,376,000 aerial ladder truck.
BFD’s Truck 21 is creating a real enthusiasm and energy among BFD firefighters, who trained on the new mid-mount Sutphen apparatus with a 100-foot platform during the first several weeks, Assistant Fire Chief T.J. Weikart said just days after its arrival.
The city was awarded a Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant grant totaling $763,333.33 that helped to secure the purchase, as previously detailed in the Examiner. The fire department’s previous 28-year-old ladder truck had become unreliable in recent years and needed to be replaced, officials noted.
“We’re very excited to add this new ladder truck to our Fire Department,” Mayor Ben Stahler said. “We’ve been applying for grants and setting aside funding for such an event for many years.
“In 2020, we applied once again for outside funding (FEMA – Assistance to Firefighters Grant) and after receiving notice of the grant award, we ordered the fire truck in the fall of 2021.
“Like other automotive production, it’s been a waiting game over these past two years. While our previous ladder truck was built in Nebraska, our new one was built just down the road in Dublin, Ohio.”
Bellefontaine’s longtime Smeal 1995 aerial ladder truck, which arrived here in 1996, has undergone significant repairs to keep it in service. It will be kept as a back-up ladder truck for the department, Weikart noted.
November
Groundbreakings marked for Bellefontaine, Indian Lake hotels — Anticipation was in the air Monday, Nov. 6, as community members, local investors and city and county officials gathered for two separate events to celebrate the groundbreaking of two Cobblestone Hotels, one located at Indian Lake and the other in Bellefontaine.
The 54-room Indian Lake hotel will be situated at the southeast corner of the intersection at Route 33 and Lincoln Boulevard in Russells Point and was already under construction at the time of the groundbreaking.
According to Russells Point Mayor Robin Reames, this is the largest economic development since the amusement park was built at the turn of the last century.
“This is a big you-know-what’n deal,” Reames said. It’s also the start of a new business development between Russells Point and the nature preserve.”
The project will not only bring jobs to the area, but give them leverage for other opportunities. Mike Major, president of the Indian Lake Hotel Investment Group, said he sees it making a difference in year-round tourism.
In Bellefontaine, the four-story, 80-room Cobblestone Hotel will be situated at U.S. Routes 33 and 68 next to the Mary Rutan Health Center.
The vision for a hotel at this site dates back to 2016, when an initial feasibility study was conducted by the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and Mary Rutan Hospital.
However, it wasn’t until after the opening of a Cobblestone Hotel in Urbana in the summer of 2020 that momentum picked up for seeing a similar model built in Logan County.
“The studies showed that not having these hotels, meant incredible amounts of economic benefit were leaving Logan County for Marysville, Dublin, Sidney and Springfield,” Logan County Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Ben Vollrath said, noting that a hotel had not broken ground in Logan County since the early 1990s.
“The estimated lost revenue to our community was more than $15 million over a five-year period.”
Cobblestone Hotel owner Jeremy Griesbach noted that the growing company, based in Neenah, Wis., includes 172 hotels in 29 states.
“We’re very grateful to be here,” he said. “We’re looking forward to being a part of the community.”
Voters select new city mayor — Republican David Crissman was elected the City of Bellefontaine’s mayor during the Nov. 7 general election, after defeating his Democratic challenger Tim Steinhelfer.
A retired firefighter/paramedic, Crissman served with the Bellefontaine Fire Department from 1991 to 2022. He related that during that time, he served under five different mayors and had the chance to observe the differences in leadership and management styles.
“After serving the community for more than 30 years as a firefighter/paramedic, I want to serve you in a different capacity,” he said when announcing his candidacy earlier this year.
Local domestic relations attorney Steinhelfer offered a statement reflecting on the challenges and successes of the campaign and expressing deep appreciation to his supporters.
“This election season has been challenging, but it has also given us the opportunity to form lasting bonds built on our shared values of justice, tolerance, and unwavering commitment to Constitutional freedoms. To my dedicated supporters: my gratitude knows no bounds. Your passion and hard work have illuminated this campaign, and I am honored by the trust and enthusiasm you have placed in our vision.”
During the May primary election, Crissman defeated incumbent candidate Ben Stahler.
Stahler was appointed to the office of mayor in October 2014, and was elected to four-year terms in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
“I’m very grateful that I could serve as mayor for nine years, first appointed as a Democrat, then elected as a Democrat and the second time elected as a Republican in 2019,” Stahler said on the primary election night.
“Since 1880, only two mayors have served Bellefontaine for more than eight years — Richard J. Vicario and I. It’s been an honor to serve our community for so long and I’m looking forward to the upcoming months finishing out my term. I’m going to leave our award-winning city in good hands.”
December
Fully restored Knowlton Library unveiled — It was an occasion worth celebrating for all ages, as the Knowlton Library reopened to the public Dec. 13 after nearly a year of restoration work following the Christmas Day catastrophic flooding sustained throughout the entire building in 2022.
Logan County Libraries Executive Director Beverly Arlequeeuw said while it has been a long and involved process over the last year, she is very pleased at the reaction of the patrons and the finished product – an open and light space that is welcoming and with a redesigned layout that is easier to navigate and browse for items.
“It has all been redesigned and built from the ground up and we’re so pleased with how everything turned out,” she said, noting how now the sight lines from the front of the library by the circulation desk now stretch all of the way to full-length windows facing north Main Street.
“I think we’ve created something to give back to Logan County. It’s Christmastime, and this is our gift to the community and we hope that they use it.”
Arlequeeuw reports that a grand opening celebration for the library is set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24. More details will be forthcoming.
The final costs and insurance claims are still being finalized, but Library Fiscal Officer Stacy Sandy said she estimates the final insurance claims are over $1 million. All of the claims are fully covered by the Ohio Plan, which covers all Ohio libraries, and taxpayers are not shouldering the cost of the project.
The hours of operation at the Knowlton Library have also returned to pre-COVID hours for the first time: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
