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Sobriety checkpoint
Arrests, citations issued By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
Farm to table
Nearly 100 people came to Shared Legacy Farms, Elmore, to pick up organic vegetables, and free-range turkey (from Weber Ranch, Wayne, OH) in time for Thanksgiving. At left, Amy Kiefer and Lexie Villarreal, Elmore, pick out brussell sprouts, while Todd Kuhl, Bowling Green, bags some apples. At right, Madison Parks, North Port, Florida, reaches for carrots. For more information go to sharedlegacyfarms.com. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Ag land
Bills will add changes to tax formula Bills introduced recently in the state legislature would further amend Ohio’s method of taxing agricultural land. The bills’ sponsors, Rep. Brian Hill, (R-Zanesville) and Sen. Cliff Hite, (R-Findlay), say additional changes are needed in the Current Agricultural Use Value program that allows eligible farmland to be taxed at its agricultural value instead of its market value. The formula in recent years has drawn more scrutiny from affected landowners who’ve been questioning it when their CAUV taxes rose dramatically – more than doubling in some cases. Sen. Bill 246, according to Sen. Hite, would prohibit certain inflation-related factors from being used in the formula and would remove disincentives to engage in some conservation practices. Land set aside for soil preservation, water quality protection and other environmental management practices would not be assessed as though producing crops. Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, said both bills follow OFBF suggestions. He said the current formula assumes land is held for five years but farmland is typically
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I understand why the government is doing this, they just want a piece of the pie.
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By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com
owned for decades. What’s more, the formula inflates farmland by assuming land appreciates – and property owners realize equity build-up – at predetermined rates. In both bills, the equity and appreciation factors would be eliminated. “These factors arbitrarily inflate the value of farmland based on market considerations and do not in any way account for how much income is achieved,” Hite said in a prepared statement. Also, land used for conservation or enrolled in a federal land retirement or environmental program for at least three years would be valued at the lowest amount assigned to its soil type. The Farm Bureau contends taxing conservation land at the CAUV minimum
value is appropriate because conservation acreage isn’t in production, Fisher said. For many area growers higher property taxes are hitting them at a time when grain prices have been falling. “I understand why the government is doing this, they just want a piece of the pie. Farmland that used to be $3,000 or $4,000 an acre is now valued at $8,000 to $10,000,” says Jim Swartz, grain manager of Luckey Farmers, Inc. “But the timing is really bad. Now we have lower crop prices.” In 2012, the average price for corn at Luckey Farmers was $6.92 a bushel. Soybeans averaged $13.28 and wheat $7.36. This year, corn is averaging $3.68 a bushel while wheat is at $5.10 and soybeans $9.31. Daily crop budget reports prepared by Luckey Farmers aren’t painting a rosy scenario for 2016 either. The report issued Nov. 24 projects growers will need corn to be $3.70 a bushel just to break even. Soybeans and wheat will need to be $9.14 and $5.90 respectively. The projection assumes land rent costs at $175 an acre and input costs totaling $646.65 an acre for corn, $457 for soybeans and $442.55 for wheat. Richard Welling, a Lake Township
The Oregon Police Division, in conjunction with the Lucas County OVI Taskforce, conducted a sobriety check in the 2800 block of State Route 2 (Navarre Ave.) on Saturday from 8:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. During the checkpoint, which was located near Kmart, 1,026 vehicles passed through the check point zones, and 1,022 were checked by officers, according to Oregon Sgt. Ed Depinet, who led the detail. Forty-seven were diverted for further inspection. Of these, one driver was arrested for OVI, and 11 drivers were cited for either having no license or a suspended license. In addition, six other citations were issued, eight arrests were made for warrants and one arrest for a drug (marijuana) violation. Some of the citations included having expired license plates and tinted windows. Among the eight warrants was a woman who had failed to appear in a previous court case in Wood County, said Depinet. “There was a warrant from the Wood County sheriff for failure to appear. She drove into the checkpoint and right into Kmart’s parking lot trying to get away. She actually got to spend the weekend in the Wood County jail,” said Depinet. The city conducts up to two sobriety checkpoints per year, he said. “I try to run two – one in the summer and one in the fall or early winter,” he said. “The OVI Taskforce in Lucas County was scheduled to do 30 in Lucas County. The county gets a grant every year for the OVI Taskforce. That money goes for sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols during the major holiday periods to try to limit the number of people who are intoxicated and driving,” he said. Advance notice Depinet said he is required to issue three press releases before the sobriety checks to give advance notice. Continued on page 2
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I write this not for your condolences, but as a reminder to honor the dead by living.
Heather Szozda See page 13
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