INSIDE TODAY iN75 • Prices falling at Harris Jewelers and Eddie Money to headline summer car show at Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua. Inside
June 26, 2013
Vol. 123 No. 126
TODAY’S
NEWS
TODAY’S WEATHER
89° 70° For a full weather report, turn to Page 8B.
INSIDE TODAY
Sidney, Ohio
www.sidneydailynews.com
Landmark law halted BY MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Supreme Court threw out the most powerful part of the landmark Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, a decision deplored by the White House but cheered by mostly Southern states now free from nearly 50 years of intense federal over-
sight of their elections. Split along ideological and partisan lines, the justices voted 5-4 to strip the government of its most potent tool to stop voting bias — the requirement in the Voting Rights Act that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting, mainly in the South, get Washington’s approval before changing the way they hold elections.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a majority of conservative, Republican-appointed justices, said the law’s provision that determines which states are covered is unconstitutional because it relies on 40-year-old data and does not account for racial progress and other changes in U.S. society. The decision effectively puts an end to See LAW/Page 5A
County jobless rate at 5.8%
2 goals in 17 seconds • Two hours after clinching the Stanley Cup title, a handful of Chicago Blackhawks wandered back out onto the TD Garden ice in their street clothes. Two of them walked gingerly over to the corner and recreated the goals that brought the NHL season to a stunning conclusion. 1B
DEATHS Obituaries and/or death notices for the following people appear on Page 3A today: • Dorothy M. Tillman • Richard F. Winans • Rosemary (Lauterbur) Laux • Lavon C. Dicke • Lawrence “Larry “ J. Sanders
INDEX Business .............................4A City, County records...2A, 10A Classified.....................10-12A Comics ...............................9A Fort Loramie .......................8A Hints from Heloise ..............6A Horoscope..........................9A Localife ............................6-7A Nation/World.......................5A Obituaries ...........................3A Oh What a Season!.........4-7B Sports .............................1-3B State news........................10A ’Tween 12 and 20...............6A Weather/Sudoku/Abby/Out of the Past/Dr. Roach .......8B
TODAY’S THOUGHT “I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.” — Nora Ephron (1941-2012) For more on today in history, turn to Page 5A.
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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Google Earth Image Photo
THIS PHOTO provides an aerial view of the former Wagner Manufacturing plant in Sidney. It is in disrepair and engineering officials believe that attempts to remove steel beams from the foundry area for scrap metal resulted in collapse of part of the building, seen at upper left.
City grapples with fate of Wagner Mfg. plant BY KATHY LEESE Sidney City Council members Monday night grappled with the best approach to deal with an old problem — how to demolish the former Wagner Manufacturing plant after hearing the results of a study. After the building is demolished, it has been recommended the property be fenced off for safety reasons. Wagner Manufacturing, which produced popular cookware items such as Wagnerware and Magnalite for more than 100 years in Sidney, has been vacant since 2008 and has been in poor condition since the mid 1990s. In addition to the city having to respond to numerous break-ins, the buildings are considered
unsafe and there has been some roof collapse. In response, the city of Sidney plans to demolish the buildings. Since there had been no environmental assessment, it stalled possible redevelopment and grant funding for any demolition and cleanup opportunities. Mark Quimby, a representative of Soil and Materials Engineers Inc., met with the council to discuss the results of the Environment Site Assessments (ESA) that were conducted on the property in order to determine the next steps for the project. As part of that assessment, the company evaluated soil, groundwater and soil gas and how that could affect any cleanup efforts. There was also a hazardous materials as-
sessment to determine the amount of asbestos and other potentially hazardous materials that would need to be removed prior to demolition. The property was assessed using funding from an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant for $185,000 and a Clean Ohio Assistance Fund (COAF) grant for $201,000. Quimby told council members, “everybody in the city is very familiar with this property,” but he noted, “one of the biggest things was the uncertainty” of the potential problems in the building. He noted that his company focused on two main issues including the historical review and the soil and groundwater on the property. See WAGNER/Page 14A
The Shelby County unemployment rate rose slightly in May, from 5.8 percent the previous month to 6 percent, but the number of people employed in the county rose as well, according estimates released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Bureau of Labor Market Information. The estimated number of people employed in the county rose from 22,700 in April to 22,800 in May, but the size of the labor pool increased even more — from 24,100 to 24,300 — accounting for the increased unemployment rate. Approximamtely 1,500 members of the labor force were considered unemployed in May, up from the April estimate of 1,400. Unemployment in May 2012 was 6.6 percent in Shelby County. County numbers are not seasonally adjusted. The statewide unemployment rate for May was 6.9 percent, up from the April estimate of 6.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. The seasonally adjusted state unemployment rate for May was 7 percent, holding steady at the April rate. Last year, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Ohio in May was 7.3 percent. Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted rate of unemployment for May was 7.6 percent, up slightly from April’s 7.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted unemployment nationwide in May 2012 was 8.2 percent. Among the state’s 88 counties, May 2013 unemployment rates ranged from a low of 4.3 percent in Mercer County to a high of 11.9 percent in Pike County. Rates rose in 55 of the 88 counties statewide. The comparable rate for Ohio was 6.9 percent in May. Five counties had unemployment rates below 5.5 percent in May. The counties with the lowest rates, other than Mercer, were Holmes, 4.7 percent; Delaware, 4.9; Auglaize, 5.1; and Union, 5.2. Meanwhile, six counties See JOBLESS/Page 14A
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