COMING WEDNESDAY iN75 • See what's in store for the Downtown Troy Farmers Market in this week's iN75. Also, Ginghamsburg Church welcomes all children for its Vacation Bible School this month. Inside
June 10, 2013
Vol. 123 No. 115
Sidney, Ohio
www.sidneydailynews.com
$1
For a full weather report, turn to Page 14.
Vo-ag returns to SHS
INSIDE TODAY
BY MELANIE SPEICHER mspeicher@civitasmedia.com
TODAY’S
NEWS
TODAY’S WEATHER
79° 61°
American Profile • Let’s Get Grilling: Four recipes from grilling experts Bill and Cheryl Jamison, plus tips on making your flame-kissed mean a grill-tastic taste experience. Inside
DEATHS Obituaries and/or death notices for the following people appear on Pages 3-4 today: • Clifford H. Hoying • Jim R. Higgins • Jon J. Allen • Terry L. Hughes III • Raymond N. Larson • Marion Theodore Alexander • Bede A. Monnin • Rita E. Bertke
INDEX Agriculture .............................8 City, County records..............2 Classified .......................15-16 Comics................................13 Hints from Heloise.................6 Horoscope ......................6, 13 Localife ..............................6-7 Nation/World.........................5 Obituaries ..........................3-4 Sports............................10-12 State news ............................4 ’Tween 12 and 20 .................6 Weather/Sudoku/Abby/Out of the Past/Dr. Roach ........14
TODAY’S THOUGHT “I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool.” — Katharine Whitehorn, British newspaper columnist For more on today in history, turn to Page 5.
NEWS NUMBERS News tips, call 498-5962. Home delivery, call 4985939. Classified advertising, call 498-5925. Retail advertising, call 4985980 Visit the Sidney Daily News on the Web at www.sidneydailynews.com
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SDN Photo/Jason Alig
ABOUT 100 yards from the finish line in the Botkins 5K Saturday a dog named Zoey decided she was not going to cross the finish line with Leah Schmerge, of Botkins, and sat down in the midst of the other runners. Leah said that Zoey loves to run with her, but today’s race must have scared her and Zoey wanted nothing to do with the finish line.
Ideal weather for Botkins Carousel Crowd enjoys Friday night dance BY RACHEL LLOYD rlloyd@civitasmedia.com There was a bit of a chill in the air Friday night, but overall the weekend weather was ideal for the annual Botkins Carousel festival. “It was a wonderful weekend,” Audrey Gutman, one of the even organizers, said Sunday after as the festival started to wind down. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better.” Gutman said although Friday evening was a little chilly, the numbers held steady from last year, with one of the featured events of the evening, an open air dance, well attended.
“The dance Friday night had a DJ as opposed to a band this year,” Gutman said. “It was a little chilly, but we had about the same crowd. People liked making requests and hearing just the song they wanted to hear.” As always, Friday night’s real highlight was the pageant, which includes not only the talent of the contestants, but also entertainers filling in to keep the crowd between pageant segments. “All the talent was local talent,” Gutman said. “It’s a fun thing to see people returning home and being able to participate in the festival.” Saturday turned out even better.
“Saturday night had a wonderful crowd,” Gutman said. “It was a great night with wonderful weather. I don’t have a number, but it was one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had.” She said the evening’s featured entertainment, Tricky Dick and the Coverups, is a great, high-energy group. “No one’s ever bored when they’re watching them.” Saturday’s chicken dinner, sponsored by the CYM, sold out, and the mechanical bull rides were popular with the kids early on, then were joined by the braver among the grownups later, Gutman said. See BOTKINS/Page 9
After an absence of 50 years from Sidney High School academic rosters, an agriculture/food and science techology (vo-ag) program will once again be part of class curriculum. The new program is being established through a joint venture of Sidney City Schools and Upper Valley Career Center. The creation of the program, said Sidney Superintendent John Scheu, has been on ongoing process for about 18 months. “This all started with Gene Gooding (former high school principal),” said Scheu. “He did a survey and he was surprised at the positive reaction of the parents and students to starting a vo-ag program at the school. “There is a big potential, big opportunities with the program,” he said. “The food industries in the county are solidly behind this program.” Upper Valley Career Center is created a pathways for agribusiness and production and food science and technology as part of the school’s curriculum. The program will operate at Sidney High School as a satellite offering of the Career Center. Kreg McCulloch has been hired by the Upper Valley Career Center to teach the program. Pathway courses for Argibusiness and production include agriculture, food and natural resources; animal science and technology; plant and horticulture science; agronomic systems; animal nutrition; health and reproduction; business management; greenhouse and nursery management; livestock science; and meat science. See V0-AG/Page 8
Why is the expiring 9.9 mill levy being replaced? Editor's note: In preparation for the August special election, the Sidney Daily News, in conjunction with the Citizens for Sidney Schools levy committee, will be publishing a question of the week to inform voters about the five-year, 1 percent income tax levy. Why is it necessary to replace the expiring 9.9 mill levy? The 9.9 emergency property tax Levy will expire in 2013 (last collection in 2014). In 2008 a 0.8 mill permanent improvement levy expired and in 2010 a 4.73 mill emergency levy failed to renew. Since then, major incremental cuts in expenditures were made totalling $6.6 million per year. Without these cuts, the annual expenses for 2013 would be $37.1 million instead of $30.9. The most significant event was the concessions in salary and benefits
SIDNEY SCHOOL
LEVY FACTS
(5.8 percent salary reduction/benefits increase) made by teachers in 2011-12 to the extent of $2 million per year. This was the largest pay reduction in the state of Ohio. All salaries are frozen until 2015. The staff was cut from 500 to 401. During this period of historic cuts, all day kindergarten was added, a math teacher and an economics course were added at the high school, unified arts programs were expanded at the elementary schools, and security has been enhanced, all without additional taxes. Just recently an Agricultural/Food Services and Technology program has been added which directly relates to the strong presence of agriculture and food supply opportunities in our community. Whether financial comparisons are
made with our own data or to comparable districts, our current financial performance is solid and we ask taxpayers to review it. Our school’s continued positive fiscal outlook is contingent on passage of the 1 percent income tax levy on Aug. 6. This action will allow the 9.9 mill property tax funding to be replaced by a new method of funding. It will allow the district to continue to run efficiently, effectively and within the same budget that we are working with today. Please let us know what additional information is desired to make an informed decision. The only question we fear is the one that is not asked. The district's five-year fiscal forecast can be found at http://www2.sidney.k12.oh.us/. Additional levy information is at www.sidneyschoolslevy.org.
Holy Angels Parish Picnic & 3rd Annual 5K Run/Walk
Saturday, June 15
Picnic • 2:00 pm to Midnight • Rides • Games • Food • Refreshments Featuring the Band “Karma’s Pawn” • Playing 8:00pm to Midnight
Public Welcome! At tendance Prizes!
5K Run/Walk • Starting at 8:30 am Race day registration is from 7:00-8:15 am • Download registration form at:
w w w.HolyAngelsSidney.com
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